Page 75 of Queen of Fire

I grinned as Cyrus held the door open for me, letting me pass him into the large space.

It reminded me of an arena. The ground was covered with fine sand, creating dust clouds where people were being thrown down onto it, and the walls were nothing more than large stands. Rows of wooden seats were worked into a large circle around the room, and while some soldiers were fighting on the ground, some were scattered around the seats — lounging with their friends, or watching the fights closely, passing money back and forth between each other.

Cyrus raised his eyebrow at that sight, and I assumed it had been a while since he had been in here if he had no idea about that.

I let my eyes roam the space, trying to decide where to go and sit to spectate, get a feel for the space before I jumped into the middle of the ring. My eyes went wide when I saw Calliope sitting right on the edge of the ring, her arms crossed on the barrier and her eyes trained on a particular fight. I nudged Cyrus with my elbow, pointing to where she was sitting, and he let out a heavy sigh.

We picked our way through the few gathered soldiers on the lower levels of the seats, all of them scurrying to get out of our way, standing and saluting us both as we passed.

Calliope barely acknowledged us as we approached, but the way her shoulders stiffened, and she sat up straighter told us that she knew we were there. Cyrus cleared histhroat, sitting in the seat directly next to her and bumping her with his shoulder, raising his eyebrows at her when she finally looked at him.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, his eyes going from where she was sitting to the fight she had been watching so intently.

“Killing some time,” She shrugged, her attention never fully leaving the fight, “I want to learn how to fight like this,”

“You should,” I said, nodding my head at the same time Cyrus scoffed, “It’s too dangerous for you.”

I frowned at him. He was watching the same fight that Calliope was, his eyebrows furrowed in the middle and his arms crossed over his chest.

“Calliope is perfectly capable,” I told him, and he tore his eyes away from the fight to glare at me. I raised an eyebrow in challenge, seeing the way Calliope was watching us now over his shoulder, her lip pulled between her teeth.

“She is too young.” He said through gritted teeth, his cheeks red.

“No, she isn’t.”

“The army is no place for women, Kira.”

I laughed loudly, drawing the attention of the nearbysoldiers, and causing Cyrus to turn an even darker shade of red. Calliope’s eyes were wide, her lips pressed into a tight line as though she was trying to hold in a laugh.

“Maybe that attitude is why you have won no wars recently.” I snipped at him, pleasure coursing through me at the look of pure rage that flashed across his face. Standing from my seat I turned my attention to Calliope. “Go and find some training leathers, Cal. I’ll train you.”

“You are out of practice,” Cyrus hissed, but he did not make a move to stop her as she scurried from her seat and took off towards the back of the large arena, disappearing through the small tunnel that was attached to it. Cyrus shot up from his seat when she was out of sight, towering over me and glaring.

I met his gaze, challenging him without saying anything. I knew he could not do anything here, not with at least half of his army in the same space.

“You are deliberately undermining me.” He hissed, reaching out and taking my arm in his hand, squeezing it tightly.

“You are stopping her from exploring something that might be good for her,” I said, keeping my tone even. “One of the best members of my army is a woman — you don’t think Calliope has that kind of potential? If trained properly, she could be an asset to you. To us.”

Cyrus grit his teeth together, his eyes looking to the ceiling as he took deep breaths through his nose. I knewhe was angry, but I also knew he could not pass up the opportunity of strengthening his sources. His grip loosed on my arm enough for me to pull it free, and before he had the chance to answer me, I turned on the spot, walking quickly from the stand where we had been sitting to the sandy floor of the arena.

Calliope came running from the tunnel in a set of leathers almost the exact same as mine, a grin on her face and a wooden training sword strapped to her waist. I smiled at her as she dodged past the already established fights and came skidding to a stop in front of me, her chest heaving as she breathed heavily, her excitement contagious.

I took in the sight of her leathers, unworn and with a monogrammed ‘CC’ on the chest, and pursed my lips together, fighting my smirk.

“It’s almost as though you got them made specially,” I quipped, steering her towards an empty corner of the ring to make sure we had enough space.

Calliope grinned, shrugging her shoulders, and unsheathing her sword from her waist, spinning it around in the air a few times.

“I cannot confirm nor deny,” She shrugged, and I laughed loudly, shaking my head as I turned away from her, taking a few steps away until I was at a comfortable distance. It felt so natural to be back in a training ring, and the atmosphere of the space had me grinning from ear to ear. I knew people were watching us from every corner of space, but I did not mind.

It must have looked funny, the newly wedded Queen and her husband’s little sister wearing fighting leathers and training the day after the wedding.

I turned my attention back to Calliope, who was watching me expectantly. I rolled my shoulders, taking a deep breath in and lifting a wooden training sword that had been left on the ground near where we had taken our space. The weight of it in my hand felt more natural than anything I had ever experienced, and with a grin still on my face, I looked Calliope in the eye.

“You need to strengthen your stance first.”

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