The battle masters of the high plains will say that the eyes are the most vulnerable organ. A king might say that it is the mind, susceptible to attack from foreign thought. The truth is, the heart is the most vulnerable, but that is also its strength.

  -Proverbs, from the tome of Kadish

  Danfalla has a beauty all its own in the night. Not that I have ever seen it during the day, but I have always found something special about the night, the cool breeze, the illumination of the stars, the lack of people. Most likely, it was the lack of people.

  The nastiness with that woman Priscilla finished, Jess worried over me for a time before I assured her that I was alright. She and Dovik were less than convinced, but Jor’Mari took me at my word. Hells, he never seemed worried in the first place.

  Our plans continued where they had left off before the interruption, Jor showing us the sights of the city that he thought most important to visit. Instead of heading back to the theatre, he led us to a restaurant on the north side of town that still operated in the dark hours. The place specializes in sweets, my favorite being a frozen confection made from cream; cold cream. I do not have the words to adequately describe how incredible it was, but I did demand to be shown the kitchen and purchased a large steel freezer packed with ice and buckets of cold cream for quite a sum.

  On the way from the confectionery, Jor’Mari saw fit to give me my wine back. He called it a reward for my conquest that day. I didn’t mind, taking a sip before squirreling it away into my vault where it couldn’t be removed again. The final site he had planned for the night was a stroll through a statue garden.

  Certainly, the statues were interesting and incredibly detailed, but I didn’t find much interest in them until we arrived at a section devoted solely to depicting animals. I hurried forward, pulling Jor’Mari by the arm as I found a statue of a massive chicken rendered from pristine marble, emeralds set into its eyes so that they glowed in the wan light. I didn’t even notice that Dovik and Jess had left us alone, venturing off somewhere else in the garden as I moved between the statues.

  I stand before one made from a dark stone so deep that it looks as if the rainbow is trapped inside of it. Jor’Mari approaches the dog statue I am staring up at, running his hand along the smooth surface of the stone. The light we stand in is a warm blue glow given off by the budding flowers planted to the sides of the stony path that winds through the garden. The light casts him in its light, turning his robe a deep cerulean, a faint sheen shining from the edges as he moves. A smile, a genuine smile, comes over his face. He turns that joy my way, and I am not so sure that it is the buzz that makes my face grow warm.

  “This was my father’s dog,” he says, patting the paw of the statue. “Baron.”

  I step closer to the statue. My fingers brush the meticulously carved form of the animal’s paw, and it is almost as if I can feel the fur of it under my fingertips. There are scratches in the very nails of the animal, purposeful imperfections that give life to the simulacra of stone. “He must have been a good dog,” I say.

  “Oh, he was terrible, ask any of the staff in the manor about him and they will tell you.” Jor’Mari points to the animal’s face where its jowls seem to sag. “A Kilichuk Mastiff, you can tell by just how huge the head is. They were bred to kill monsters, the weak ones at least, out in the rural swamps where there weren’t enough people with magic to handle them. They are fearsome and brave, but also the laziest animals you will ever meet. Apparently, Baron would drive the housekeepers crazy by climbing on top of and eventually crushing various pieces of furniture, if he didn’t just chew them to bits. Still, my father loved that dog.”

  Jor’Mari pats it again, running his hand along its side. I notice then that the iridescence in the cut of the stone is purposeful, the stripes of rainbow color forming a pattern that almost gives life to the fur of the animal.

  “Do all these statues have stories?” I ask.

  He shrugs, walking up to a depiction of a huge and stripped cat. “Probably. Who would dedicate the time to making something like this without there being some kind of story after all? But if there is one, I don’t know it. I just know about Baron because I like dogs.”

  “I guess that is something else that I get to know about you now. You are arrogant and you like dogs.”

  “Horses too,” he says. “I do like horses. Also, don’t forget how handsome and humble I am, can’t forget those.”

  “Certainly not.”

  He turns back to me, quirking an eyebrow and plastering on that smirk of his. “So, you think I am handsome.”

  “I think that you think you are,” I say, stopping for a moment when I am through to make sure that makes sense. The wine bottle appears in my hand once again just before I take another sip. Like a striking asp, Jor’Mari’s hand lashes out and steals the wine away. He holds the bottle to his lips. “Dangerous,” I warn him. “It is probably too much for you.”

  “I am used to danger,” he says. “It has never stopped me from getting what I want before.” He takes a swig. I can see him suppressing a groan as the burning liquid slides over his tongue. “It’s good.” His voice comes out harsh. “Good.”

  I steal back the bottle. “Well, now I am thoroughly impressed.”

  “That’s also good,” he says, coughing into his fist. “Makes it worth it. Gods, you’ve been sipping that all night? It tastes like poison.”

  I shrug as I look down at the bottle, entirely unable to read the flowing elven script that covers the label. “Tastes fine to me. A little sweet even.”

  “I fear for your palate. Let’s stick to Jess doing the cooking for us when we are out in the wild. It might be a good idea to invest in some decent livery before we leave Danfalla. I’ve never taken part in a beast tide before, but I am willing to assume that most of it will happen outside the city.”

  “That was the point,” I agree. “Kill the monsters before they get in the city. I don’t think that my particular brand of monster killing would do all that well with buildings and people around.”

  “Fire mages, the bane of civilization,” he agrees. He strolls a bit of the way down the path for a moment before turning back to me. “You are going to do well,” he says, unprompted.

  “At what?”

  “The culling of the beast. My family’s reputation and need have attracted some big names for this little occasion, but I already know you are going to perform outstandingly. Maybe you will even do as well as me.”

  “High praise,” I say. “Almost as well as the famed Jor’Mari. What more could a girl ask for?”

  “Very little,” he says, turning grave. “It is not just women that seek to approach my aptitude but men as well. It is so lonely at the top.”

  I can’t help but snort a laugh as I roll my eyes. “It must be. Maybe I will know what that is like someday.”

  “Hope that you don’t.”

  We wander along for a time, looking at the statues, admiring the craftsmanship put into them. It is nice, a simple night, the events of earlier almost forgotten. But, I can’t forget them. A question that has been nagging at me for hours wells up, like a lump in my throat, and eventually I can’t stop the words. Before I can ask though, Jor’Mari speaks up.

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  “I wonder what Jess and Dovik are up to about now,” he says.

  “Probably admiring some historic statues. Dovik strikes me as the kind that likes history, and Jess’ whole mission is to learn about the world.”

  “She has a mission?”

  It occurs to me for a moment that I might be telling, but she never let on that her reason for traveling around was any kind of secret. “She is on a pilgrimage of sorts,” I tell him. “At least, that is what she told me. She was sent out to see all she could of the world. On her twenty-second birthday, she will start her trek back home, and likely never leave those lands again.”

  “That explains some things,” he says, nodding at the explanation. “She always struck me as the touring kind. So, we are the trip friends while she figures out what the wider world is about.”

  “That’s not all that different from me,” I tell him. “I am just traveling around with people I meet too. One day I will probably go home to stick, but I have no idea when that will be. At least she has a date.”

  “There is not much difference between an adventurer and a vagabond,” he says. “I never really saw the appeal of that kind of lifestyle. Much better to become a court magician, set yourself up in a prominent noble’s employ, and while your days away dealing with mundane magical affairs while you are showered in coinage.”

  “Is that your plan?”

  “It is my father’s plan, and I think it is good enough for me too. If I become powerful enough and learn enough in the magical arts, he has committed to having my older brother bring me on as his court magician when he takes over for my father. Of course, that could be centuries from now, so there is plenty of time to be a traveling adventurer in the meantime, living off my meager savings and braving the wilds.”

  I laugh. “Yes, flying around in a golden ship is such a hardship.”

  “You don’t have to sleep near Dovik,” he says. “That man kicks in his sleep. Not the annoying little kicks either, but full blows that take his foot from his cot and onto your face a good five feet away. The man is a menace.”

  “I thought about purchasing real beds for the ship, but I don’t think it is large enough.”

  Jor’Mari shrugs. “I just hit him back when it happens. Hasn’t helped stop it from happening, but at least it feels good.” He pauses a moment, his smirk coming back. “Speaking of cots, that’s where I bet they are.”

  “On the ship?”

  He leans back against a statue of a magnificent bird, staring at me with arms folded like I am the most dense girl in the world. I almost feel the muddled pieces in my brain slowly click into alignment, understanding his meaning with a gasp. Perhaps I should cut back a bit on the drink. “No!”

  “Yes,” Jor’Mari nods, his smirk only growing wider. “Oh yes.”

  “Dovik and Jess? Since when?”

  “At least since before you left to go home,” he says. “I started to notice it a bit more once you left. Those two think they are subtle, but, well…let’s just say that they aren’t.”

  “Shocking.” I join him at the statue that must be some kind of hawk, its wings splayed open like it is breaking from a dive. We pass around the bottle as we admire the figure, and I can’t help but hang a hat on its head before we move on.

  I wouldn’t ever call myself an especially deep thinker, but for the last few hours, my thoughts have run off from me. Glancing to my right, I find Jor’Mari walking along, self-satisfaction peeling off him in waves. I wonder if he has ever been troubled with worry, but then I know he has. He told me as much himself, hadn’t he?

  “Why am I going to do well?” I ask him.

  “When?”

  “In this beast tide business. You said that I am going to do well. There will be a lot of people there, so why do you think I am going to stand out?”

  He snorts, the sudden slip of his immaculatly mannered front incredibly endearing. “All you do is stand out, why would I think this would be any different?” He glances my way, finding me unsatisfied with the answer. “If you want me to be specific, let’s say that you hit far harder than someone at your level should. I can hit above my rank. Dovik can work up to it, and Jess probably can as well despite her focus on defensive fighting, but you seem to be narrowly specialized at unleashing that kind of power.

  “You are specialized, very much so as far as I have been able to tell. You lean purely into offensive action and don’t seem to have a single defensive ability. That is dangerous for a magician to do, to specialize so massively, but in a group setting it is fine. More than fine, it is good. As long as you have people to cover for you, to make room for you, you will unleash hell on these monsters we are going to need to destroy. Even if you don’t, you stand out when you fight on your own as well. You took Priscilla apart tonight.”

  “I just ran away from her,” I say, shrugging. “All anyone has told me about the endowed nobility is that they will be faster, stronger, and more durable than me. I can fly, so that’s what I did.”

  “A good plan. It worked. But let’s not pretend like you didn’t utterly dominate the duel once you began to attack. Like I said, you took her apart. Destroyed her grimoire even.”

  “Did I?” I hold up my hand, a brown leather book appearing in my palm. Flipping open the cover, I find a myriad of diagrams and runework littering the pages, all the text written in the secret elven script. “I had a blank journal. I’m surprised she didn’t notice when I switched them.”

  Jor’Mari stares at me for a moment before falling back against the base of a statue, laughing uncontrollably. It takes him a good minute before he can recover. He gestures at me. “Brilliant. I love it. Make sure no one in my family notices that you have that or there could be some real problems. She will get the worst of it for allowing an outsider to snag her grimoire, but it wouldn’t be pleasant for you either.”

  I make the grimoire disappear once more. “You don’t care?”

  “No. She got what was coming to her.” He wipes a tear from his eye, shaking his head.

  “Was she actually supposed to be strong?” I ask, moving away toward a statue depicting a school of fish.

  He joins me, standing close. I can smell the scent of my wine on his breath, almost feel the warm radiation of his body. It’s nice in the cool nighttime air. “Is she strong…If you asked me if she was stronger than you, I would say yes. She is faster than you too. While she may not be the favored child of her father, some of his power was still passed to her, putting her squarely at the precipice of the third rank in terms of power. She was schooled in spellcraft from childhood, as well as being trained in the art of the sword. Add to that, she has managed to come out ahead in a few real duels before. It isn’t hard to see why she was so confident in facing you.”

  “She was confident because she didn’t think a human could beat her,” I say with a sigh.

  He moves in front of me, standing close so that I have to look up at him. “That’s true. I doubt that even now she will understand why it is that she lost, but I always knew she would from the beginning. She lost because you have what she lacks, experience. I have seen it all Charlene. I was there when you had your power for less than a day. I saw how you were then, and I see you how you are now, really see you.

  “You have something special. Despite all of the shit that has happened, you have managed to take it in stride somehow, turning it into your power. There was no chance that a little princess who has only ever been doted on or coddled by her family and tutors could ever compare. You showed her, you showed her hangers-on, and if my guess is right, the entire city will know about it in just a few days. No one in Danfalla is going to underestimate you again, they will know just how dangerous you are. They should be wary.”

  “You make me sound like a monster,” I say, still looking up at him.

  He stares back into my eyes, smiling. “Not a monster. A dangerous woman, an incredibly attractive one at that.”

  “Attractive?”

  “You know you’re beautiful,” he says.

  My hand seems to move on its own, fingers curling into the silk of his robe and pulling him down. Jor’Mari doesn’t resist, bending until our lips meet. The kiss is different than the last time; he pours passion into it, his strong hand wrapping around the back of my head and weaving into my hair. We meet, and I feel the strength running through him; it is both captivating and terrifying. Our bodies shudder as Jor’Mari’s back thuds into the base of a statue. I seem to have pushed him into it.

  He breaks away for a moment, looking down at me seriously. “Are you sure?” he asks. “We’re drunk.”

  “Not too drunk,” I say.

  My desperate hands pull him back to me, pushing our lips harshly together once more. He pulls away again, face sliding down, pointed teeth grazing the skin of my neck. The sensation overwhelms me for a moment. Something comes over me, and I jump onto him, wrapping my legs around his waist as he catches me. I attack him with my lips, and like the fighter he is, Jor’Mari meets me.

  “Not too drunk,” he manages between gasping breaths.

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