Page 20 of Obsidian Prince

The spider-kin wondered if her face would be lined by bitterness when she was her mother’s age, rather than laughter.

“Daddy taught me how to fight. So did Stella. I’d have a better chance than you.”

“I defeated both Stella and your father.” Liliana dropped into a fighting crouch holding up one finger.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“My finger is a knife. You are left-handed. Your left arm from elbow to wrist is a short sword. We will fight as if this yard were the dome. If I kill you with my knife, I will fight as your father’s champion. If you kill me with your sword, you will fight for him.”

Kazi’s scowl flattened to a grim line as her lips tightened together. “Deal,” she said, holding up her arm with hand flat like a blade.

Without further warning, she drove the flattened fingers toward Liliana’s face.

Liliana dropped to one knee, removing the support of her legs so gravity pulled her down faster.

Kazi’s hand skimmed the top of Liliana’s hair as the spider seer’s knees hit the lawn grass.

Liliana poked the tall girl in the belly with her finger.

Kazi looked down. Her deep frown returned. “That wouldn’t be fatal.”

Liliana shrugged and stood again with her weight on her toes.

When Kazi swung the “sword” toward her neck in a feint, spun with a foot-sweep and finished with a slashing blow to the body, Liliana stepped in close to her opponent. The feint would have missed so she ignored it. Liliana skipped over the foot-sweep and trailed her finger along Kazi’s neck as she spun, deflecting the final blow with her wrist to the taller woman’s elbow.

“GRRR!” Kazi growled and started to shift.

Her father’s hand closed on her shoulder. “So, my daughter is a sore loser. Is that what I see?”

Kazi froze. Her shift reversed before her dark skin had finished growing tawny fur. “She cheated! She only won because she’s small. I can beat her in my other form.”

“She will still be small in the dome,” Daniel Magoro said. “She’s been careful not to hurt either one of us. That alone should make it obvious she’s better than either you or I. It’s a lot harder to defeat without harm than to hurt someone to win. You taught me that.”

Kazi blinked tears. “Stella taught us that when she was training us to use minimal force as a bouncer.”

Liliana closed her first eyes and opened her fourth. She watched Stella teaching angry young women with chips on their shoulders, Kazi among them. They were all angry for multiple reasons but being strong women in a world that encouraged strength only in men contributed to the rage in them all. Stella taught them to channel it, to control it, to turn that rage into an advantage.

And Kazi loved her for it. Liliana could see the admiration radiating from her young face as she looked at Stella in an unguarded moment in the past.

When Liliana opened her human eyes, a tear streamed down her cheek. “I am so sorry.” But she knew there were not enough apologies in the world to ever make this right. “I cannot bring Stella back. You may not believe me, but I would if I could.”

There was only one way she could atone. A life for a life. “Your father will die in three days if I do nothing. He intends to challenge Tray Bradley, himself.”

Kazi looked up at her big father in horror. “Daddy, is that true?”

Arel, who had been watching up until then, shook her head in exasperation. “We talked about this.”

Daniel shrugged. “The man is going to target my family. Plus, I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing this time.”

Arel put a hand on his massive arm. “You had no way of knowing Periclum would be such a terrible king.”

“Maybe not,” Daniel growled. “But I know now. I won’t let it happen again.”

Liliana cut into what looked to become a heated family argument. “It no longer matters. I will face Tray Bradley. If I live, Daniel may not believe he can be a great king, but he will be a better king than Tuffy.”

Daniel huffed his surprised chuckle breaking the tension. Even Kazi was surprised into cracking a half smile.

Liliana turned her full attention to the young woman again. “I will give you a life in exchange for the life I took. Either my life or your father’s. If I die in the dome, my life is given. If I win, then your father’s life is given, since I will keep him from dying in the ring.”

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