Page 88 of A Warrior's Fate

“I had other obligations,” Ameera cooed, almost mockingly. “But I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to check out the new blood.”

“Your alpha did well,” Eli remarked, again with the touch of something caustic. “Beat them all.”

Her alpha?

“You’re of Deimos?”

Isla’s outburst earned Ameera’s attention again.

“Not everyone who becomes a warrior has goals of ‘ascending’ into the Imperial Pack.” Ameera cast another long look up and down Isla. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

Isla was convinced Ameera could cut down entire battlefields with her stare alone, but she wouldn’t cower beneath it.

Pushing her shoulders back, she stood a bit taller and stuck out a hand. “Isla. I’m the new blood.”

Ameera looked at the appendage for a few moments before grabbing Isla’s forearm in the greeting.

“She was second to your alpha.” It was Eli who bragged from beside her, gesturing upwards to the banner before the call of his name drew his attention away.

One of Ameera’s perfectly sculpted brows rose. “Was she now?” But she never looked up to observe the display as the two women pulled away from each other. Her eyes never left Isla’s, in fact, even when Eli excused himself and walked off.

Just them now, the air seemed to shift. Became tenser. As if a curtain had been raised.

Isla didn’t know the reason but refused to be the one to break form. She’d hold Ameera’s gaze as long as she needed to.

Ameera, seemingly realizing what she was doing, chuckled. “You are certainly not what I expected.” She ended the stalemate carelessly by looking down at the clear liquid in her glass.

“And what were you expecting exactly?” Isla asked.

“The warrior capable of killing two bak,” she said. “Imagine my surprise when all I’ve seen for the past hour is General Social Climber’s latest obsession skulking around like a nervous, lonely, little mouse and playing the part perfectly to his face.”

The words took Isla aback. “Excuse me?”

Ameera continued as if she hadn’t spoken at all, “You’re going to go down as greater than most of the triumphant in these ranks for what you achieved in there, as if they weren’t already prepared to chew you up and spit you out for training to be here in the first place. And now you’re granted your first mission before you even bear your mark when they haven’t even left their own pack borders?” She snickered. “I suppose being the Imperial Beta’s daughter has its perks.”

Isla wasn’t sure which part boiled her more: the mention, yet again, of her parentage, that damned tone that seemed to be a Deimos custom, or the subtle, assuming look Ameera had cast in the direction Eli had departed.

Isla wasn’t dense, she knew the general’s manner around her wasn’t what was expected between a commander and their subordinate, both at the feast and here today. But maybe a small piece of her had hoped it had stemmed from a genuine interest in her…but “General Social Climber”?

“Look, I don’t know who the hell you think you are to pass any sort of judgment on me after an hour but believe me, I’ve earned my right to be here,” Isla snapped, sending Ameera’s eyes blazing with delight as if drawing out any grit had been her goal. “I’m more than just some Beta’s daughter.”

“And so am I.” As Isla’s face fell out of her scowl, Ameera added, “It seems we have that in common.”

It didn’t take long for Isla to put the pieces together, for her heart to drop to her shoes, and for her eyes to practically bulge from her skull. A beta’s daughter from Deimos?

“You—you’re Ezekiel’s daughter?”

At either Isla’s faltering or the mention of the beta’s name, Ameera’s face became more crestfallen. “Warrior General Ameera of Deimos,” she introduced, not confirming or denying Isla’s claim.

That part didn’t matter anymore, though.

I don’t know who the hell you think you are to judge…

Isla forced her arm to remain at her side before she smacked her own forehead.

Goddess, this girl was a general? A general? She couldn’t have been more than a couple of years Isla’s senior.

“Good luck on your mission, new blood,” Ameera said, the most genuinely gleeful Isla had heard her. “I guess I’ll be seeing you soon.”

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