“Enough!”
They froze at the shout from their trainer. At six feet in height, Kara was a well-trained soldier. Her short, slicked-back black hair matched Narcissa’s and they all shared the same sharp, exotic features and black eyes. Muscular and curvaceous, Kara and her twin sister had once been members of the High Guard for their queen. A queen who just happened to be Desideria’s mother and Kara’s older sister. Once Desideria and her four sisters had reached a trainable age, Kara had honorably quit the Guard to be their private instructor.
Kara had been merciless to them ever since.
Kill or be killed—that was her aunt’s only motto and it was one she strove to drive home to her nieces.
“Narcissa, hit the showers. We’ll talk later about your outburst.”
Narcissa curled her lip as she wiped the blood from her nose and glared at Desideria. Without a word, she headed across the ring for the stairs that would take her into the shower rooms.
Her aunt turned that deep, fierce scowl on her. “You…”
Desideria sighed in resignation as she ignored her bleeding lip and swelling eye. “Punishment. I know.” Well at least the good news was she’d lose some of the extra weight her mother always complained about her carrying. Not the way she wanted to do it, but…
Kara glowered at her. “Why didn’t you strike when you had the chance?”
Because Cissy may get on my nerves to the nth degree, but at the end of the day, she’s still my older sister and I love her. I would never really hurt her, never mind kill her. Desideria knew better than to even breathe a hint of that sentiment out loud. Kara would never understand it.
She was Qillaq and they didn’t have those weaknesses.
When she didn’t answer right away, her aunt grabbed her by the shirt and jerked her until they were nose to nose—an impressive feat since Desideria was a full six inches shorter. The force of her jerk caused Desideria’s braid to fall over her shoulder and dangle loosely down her back. “No mercy. Ever. No matter who it is. When you fight, any fight, your opponent is your enemy. Do you understand?”
Desideria nodded.
Her aunt shook her. “Do. You. Understand?”
“Yes.”
Kara slung her away and she barely caught herself before she went tumbling into the dirt. “Pathetic waste. Just like your worthless mongrel father.”
Those words resonated deep inside her and before she could rein herself in, she attacked.
Laughing at her audacity, Kara sidestepped her charge and unsheathed her own sword to engage her.
Desideria hesitated as she realized what she’d done. But it was too late. She couldn’t back down. A challenge issued was a challenge met. To withdraw now would be an official and public beating.
True to the nature of her people, her aunt was ruthless as she tried her best to kill her.
But Desideria didn’t want to hurt her aunt any more than she’d wanted to kill her sister. It’s your father’s blood tainting you. That accusation had been made by everyone around her. And it was true. Unlike her sisters, she was only half Qillaq which made her less in the eyes of all.
You are my delicate rose—the most precious thing I have. She could still hear her father’s last words to her. Delicate rose was what Desideria meant in his language. He’d talked her mother into naming her that even though he’d had to lie about the meaning at her birth in order to get his way. Her mother thought it meant “strong warrior.”
The name Desideria was his inside joke on her mother’s warring people who’d enslaved him.
And he’d died under questionable circumstances.
Now no one was allowed to even speak his name out loud and she’d been forbidden to mourn him.
To this day, she wanted blood over that too. But right now, as she fought her aunt, she didn’t feel like she was part Gondarion. She felt the heat of her mother’s people and she wanted to hear Kara cry for the insult she’d given Desideria’s beloved father.
Delving deep to tap every bit of her training, she swung her sword and twisted it, catching Kara’s blade. In one deft move, she disarmed her. Desideria caught the sword with her left hand and angled both of them at Kara’s throat as she circled her.
There was nothing Kara could do without getting her throat sliced.
“Yield?”
Kara narrowed her dark gaze. “Only because this is a training exercise and you’re still to be punished.”
Of course she was.
But she’d won the fight and that was the most important thing. “You may punish me, but we both know the truth. I’m no longer your pupil.” Not after she’d defeated her. Now she was a master and deserving of her aunt’s respect.
Mixed blood or not.
Kara inclined her head to her and held her hand out for her sword.