Page 121 of Last of His Blood
Ophele only had a second to blink before Leonin whirled to shield her from the explosion of splinters, yanking her to one side and turning to absorb the stinging cloud with his armored back.
“You’re all right, wife?” Remin asked.
“I’m fine,” Ophele replied, peeking over Leonin’s shoulder. “Do they normally do that?”
“Hisdo,” Davi groused, picking splinters from his cheek.
“My lord, perhaps we ought to try steel,” Leonin suggested. “I don’t believe this is appreciably safer—”
“No,” Remin said immediately. His black brows lowered. “We’ll try…something else. I would rather you kept Ophele away from swords altogether.”
“That ain’t quite what we practiced, Your Grace…” Davi pointed out as he trailed after Remin to dispose of his own damaged sword. Both of them had been made of solid oak.
The three men were lightly armored for this exercise, which had seemed very exciting when they first began and then became increasingly less so. The objective was simple: to allow Ophele to practice moving between her guards without tripping them. It didn’t sound like a difficult thing to do, and Ophele had worn her most practical boots and presented herself at the mess hall of the barracks at the appointed time, secretly hoping to impress Remin.
Except Remin did not want to be impressed.
In fact, she got the distinct impression that he did not want any of this to be happening.
“Same objective,” he said when he returned, plucking another practice sword from a nearby barrel and pointing to the end of the hall with it. “Try to make it to those doors. Go for speed this time.”
“I’ll defend first,” said Leonin. “My lady, stay with Davi and just keep moving.”
“All right.” Ophele tried to sound enthusiastic, but she had a growing list of objections to this plan, the first of which was that Remin wouldn’t let her doanything.
It was true that there wasn’t much she could do against armored men, and a lady could hardly wander about Segoile in armor. She doubted she could even get her teeth through their gloves. Though if anyonedidtry to snatch her, she fully intended to bite whatever parts of their anatomy were available.
But surely she could try to dodge them on her own before then, couldn’t she? All this time she had been privately planning to scramble up to some high place and wait for Leonin and Davi to dispatch them, or for rescuers to arrive, or for her abductors to get bored and go away. It used to work on Julot.
And that was another thing. What were the oddsreallyof a three-hundred-pound juggernaut like Remin trying to abduct her? They must think of the worst thing, yes, and it was also possible that a Bhumi water bison might escape from the Imperial menagerie and try to run her down in the street, but it seemed to her that there were other, more likely scenarios they might have been practicing.
But Remin absolutely would not hear of anyone attempting to lay hands on her, so here they were.
“Go,” he ordered.
Ophele went.
Stars, he was terrifying. She could hear armor rattling behind her as she bolted forward with Davi to her left, hauling her along by her elbow. He was a left-handed swordsman, an important advantage against most opponents, and a perfect complement to Leonin. Backed into a corner, the two of them could defend for a very, very long time, even against the Duke of Andelin.
That was the last resort, though. They did not want to be backed into a corner.
“Don’t look back,” Davi warned as swords clacked together behind them, one-two-three, blows in such rapid succession that Ophele really would have liked to see it. But all too soon there was a curse, a thud, and then heavy, pounding boots, accelerating. Ophele knew that sound. It meant Remin was overtaking them. The double doors at the end of the hall were still fifty paces away when Davi suddenly swore and whirled about, flinging up his sword and thrusting Ophele behind him. She immediately stepped on the hem of her gown and sat down. Hard.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she said immediately, scrambling back to her feet with a red face. Remin had already stopped and was shoving Davi aside. “It’s this stupid skirt, I’m sorry.”
“You could bundle it up while you’re running,” Remin said, coming to examine her hands. “Is women’s clothingmeantto hinder? Perhaps Tiffen could take off a couple inches…”
“Not in Segoile, Your Grace.” Leonin shook his head, appearing with a fresh welt over his jaw. “We might as well announce that we’re not able to defend her, quite aside from the scandal of fashion. If we really meant it, we’d have Her Grace practicing with a train and dancing shoes.”
“This is sufficient for today,” Remin said, looking grim.
“I can do it,” Ophele said, trying to sound competent. “Shall we try again?”
The whole thing felt a little unreal. She knew that it waspossiblethat someone would really try to kidnap her, but it felt about as likely as being run down by one of the Emperor’s bison. It gave her an uncomfortable, queasy feeling to see them all so serious, when she was just a bastard, and no one couldreallywant her for anything.
But this was a chance to prove to Remin that she could take care of herself, and maybe he didn’t need to worry so much. She was fast on her feet. It was just trying to dodge about Leonin and Davi that was throwing her off.
So the next time Remin saidgo,she was off like a rabbit.
