Page 5 of War Hour

I double over as a fist folds my stomach from the force of the hit.

Again.

Again.

Coughing, I gasp. Sharp pain stabs my chest as I try to reinsert the air into my lungs. A final blow to my jaw knocks me down. A metallic taste coats my tongue, and I spit to the side, blood landing on the ground next to me.

The seething men turn from me toward the young girl, and I panic.

When you’re on your own, the only consequence of failing is on you. But here I am, thinking I could help for once and now someone else would pay for it. My heart squeezes from failure’s sting, but desperation claws through me.

I know I’ll regret this, but I can’t stop the urge to do it anyway.

With a glance down the alley, I confirm there aren’t any members of the Guard in sight—no one.

Hesitating, I tear the layer of fabric obscuring the metal hilt of my dagger. Pulling the blade from its concealed sheath, I push off the ground and get my feet under me.

I’m not afraid, with its blade poised as a protective barrier between me and them. Instead, my confidence surges, the thrill of the fight pulsing through my veins like lightning. Waking me up from a pacified neutrality.

Creeping up behind the men that crowd the young girl, I get my arm around the leader’s neck and angle the dagger toward the delicate skin of his throat.

Roebin becomes stone beneath my hands, a strangled yelp drawing the attention of the other two men. Circling me, they eye their friend’s predicament, exchanging a worried glance.

With the upper hand, I position myself between them and the younger girl. Adrenaline thrums through my body, and I feel more awake—more alive than I ever have before.

Their faces reflect their stirring anxiety at my grasp on the weapon, but their expressions shift. Mouths drop, eyes widening—not at me but several inches above my head.

Sputtering intangible sentences, the men step backward, the first time they retreat since entering the narrow alley.

Inching forward, I knit my eyebrows as I watch them flee and knock over stacks of garbage lining the walls in their haste.

Real loyal friends, abandoning the man trying to pull my weapon away from him.

A weapon in the streets may warrant a double take but not enough to make threats just run away.

Turning my head, I hold my breath as I look to see what scared the men, as it certainly hadn’t been me.

The brazen girl who startled me with her uncanny resemblance to a younger Lysta is no longer behind me.

Height climbing, shape morphing from a small girl to a teenage boy. Features shift in the blink of an eye. The darker blonde hair that had resembled mine has lightened into a fairer shade, and his gray eyes are swallowed in blue.

Panicking, I release the still struggling man, and he falls to the street in a heap. Roebin scrambles to his feet and runs, the smack of his shoes against the cobblestone echoing in the alley.

I don’t understand. My mind whirls to catch up with the change of events, but it feels as if I’m leagues behind.Nothing about the boy in front of me soothes the fear billowing inside me, my inflated confidence shrinking into the hole it just dug itself out of.

It isn’t one of the powers you can earn from the Court of Valor’s Trial, changing your appearance as if you were shedding a shirt.

Understanding pieces itself together, as rumors slot into place with what just happened—I realize he’s a shifter.

I know so little about the other courts of Aloria, but I’ve heard of people from the Court of Change. It must be where he’s from.

He takes a warning step in my direction, as if knowing what runs through my mind. When I back up, heart racing in my chest, he matches each stride before reaching out to grab hold of me.

“I really wish you hadn’t done that.”

The low timber of his voice, a drastic difference from the girl who stood here a minute ago, breaks me free from my paralysis like shock.

A scream for help catches deep in my throat as I tug, trying to rip my hand free from his steely grip. The more I pull, the tighter he squeezes until my fingers release the dagger. It hits the ground with a clatter of metal on stone.

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