Page 55 of Bloody Business

Era drew a knife from under her skirt and turned on Julep.

There was precious little in the bathroom that could be used as a weapon, but Artur had recently taken the time to give her basic self-defense.

The first rule, he said, was that everything was a weapon.The tea in a teacup was a distraction, the teacup to the face was even more effective, especially if it was applied rim first.

Julep would have said that he had spotty success with the lessons.She did her best to be attentive, but she just wasn't a warrior.

However, with the threat of being stabbed, she suddenly found inspiration.She grabbed the small metal garbage can and tossed the trash in her attacker's face.Then she yelled as she'd been taught and rammed the can's opening over Era's knife hand, pinning it and Era to the door.

“Keep hitting her,”Artur would have said.“Don’t stop until she’s on the ground!”

So Julep eased up on the can and then rammed it into Era.That wasn't very effective, and Era had an arm free and was hitting and clawing at her face and pulling her hair.

Artur had talked about that.Clawing and hair pulling wasn't fatal.Knives were fatal.

She really didn't want to let the knife free, so Julep shifted her weight and stomped on Era’s foot.

That worked so well that Julep pulled back and smashed the garbage can in Era's face.

Unfortunately, Era’s wild swinging managed to get in a knife strike.Hot pain seared Julep's arm.

Oops!Letting the knife free might have been a miscalculation.Well, it's not as if she was going to become an expert from a couple of sessions on self-defense.

For now, the knife was bad.Get rid of the knife.

Julep was so hopped up on adrenaline, she barely noticed the pain in her stomach.She whacked the garbage can rim into Era's wrist repeatedly until she dropped the knife.

That was when the doorexplodedoutward.The noise and light made her cringe, and she barely registered people rushing at her.

She belatedly thrust the garbage can in front of her as a shield, only to have it gently pulled away.

The guard who had been stationed outside the shop said, “Easy, it's us!We've got this.Are you hurt?”He hustled her out of the bathroom as she thought about it, so she didn't see what happened to her attacker.

Tashi Yal was outside the door, concern on his face.He leaned forward, looking her over for damage.“Madam?Are you okay?Oh, you're bleeding!Send for a doctor,” he told his bodyguard.

“No need, we'll take her there,” the guard who had gotten a face full of burning dust said.He was drenched in water and his eyes were red and streaming, probably from the effort to rinse his eyes.

He glanced at his partner.“The attacker is secured.”The way he said it made it sound like she waspermanentlysecured.

Julep started to shiver.It was nerves, of course.The idea that there might be a dead body left behind was appalling, but Era had attacked her first.Julep didn’t regret defending herself, but the rage and fear were taking a toll.

“It doesn't look too deep,” the outdoor guard said, examining Julep's cuts.“Here, press this towel to your side.”He tied another towel around her forearm.“Let's go, Madam.The carriage is ready.”

She found out later that Tashi had been nearby when he heard the commotion.He'd seen her carriage and investigated, and it was a good thing, too.The door had been magic sealed, and her guards never would have gotten through without his help.

Although Artur was sure that she'd been working on Zul Kan's behalf, he couldn't prove it, because Era was dead.The bodyguards hadn't been taking chances once they finally busted in.

“Although I think at that point you would have finished her,” Zac said confidently.They were sitting in the family parlor the next day, helping Julep to soothe her frazzled nerves.

Zac was unexpectedly proud of her.He clearly hadn't expected his honorary aunt to have a steel spine.“I never heard of anyone winning a knife fight with a trash can.”

“I don't know why you're surprised,” Gal said loftily.“I told you she had grit.Just think what she can do with a little more training.”

“Hey!”Julep held up her hand in protest and winced.It wasn't her cut hand, it was her left side that had taken all the knife strikes, but she had pulled something in her right shoulder.“I don't think so.I'm clearly not meant to be a warrior.”

Gal started to protest, but Artur said, “Let her recover from this bout first, child.Although it's heartwarming to see you have such confidence in her, not everyone wishes to be a warrior.”

Gal didn't seem to agree, but she took a sip of tea instead of arguing.

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