Page 85 of Of Empires and Dust
“With who?”
“People. No matter what House they hail from, they respect you, Dayne.”
“I do not havea waywith anything.”
“Yes, you do.”
“People are simple, Mera,” Dayne said as he nodded to two passing guards. “Show them they matter to you, and you will matter to them. Show them you will bleed for them, and they will bleed for you.”
“Yes,” Mera said, letting a long puff of air out her nose. “Simple.”
Ahead, the path widened to an area of loose dirt dotted with large rocks that rose a few feet over Dayne’s head, tents scattered around the perimeter.
At the centre of the opening, in a rough-marked circle, Alina sparred with two of her newly formed Royal Guard: Alcon ofHouse Arnen – Tyr Arnen’s son – and Glaukos of House Nerok. Glaukos was taller than Dayne and broader by a distance, while Alcon was leaner and just a little shorter. They both bore full markings of the spear and blade and moved like kats.
Dayne had hand-picked both men, as he had her entire guard.
After The Night of Broken Oaths, Alina – at Dayne’s insistence – had allowed the formation of a ten-strong Royal Guard. It was a large enough number to keep her safe and a small enough number to ensure their loyalty. She had given Dayne the task of selecting each member.
As he looked around the makeshift sparring pit, he could see the other seven members standing at attention, fully armoured with valynas and ordos in hand, swords at their hips. On the far side of the pit, the new commander of the guard, Olivian Arnon, nodded to Dayne, her gaze leaving Alina only momentarily.
Mera inclined her head towards where her wing-sisters – Amari and Lukira – leaned against one of the large rocks, watching Alina spar. Lukira pursed her lips as Alina whirled beneath an arcing swing of Glaukos’s staff, then spun sideways over a sweeping strike from Alcon.
Dayne could do nothing to hide the smile that crept across his face as his sister danced between the two warriors. A blue bruise marked her left eye, and fresh blood trickled from her lip and from a thin gash on her forearm, but both men bore wounds of their own.
“How long have they been at it?” he asked when Amari nodded to them in greeting.
“Hours now.” Lukira gave Dayne no more than a glance, her head weaving and bobbing with Alina’s movements.
“She broke only to send for you.” Amari folded her arms and leaned back against the rock, giving Dayne her attention, herlips curled in that ever present half-smile. “Where is your sharp-tongued friend?”
“Belina? Last I saw she was getting some Vakirans drunk and stealing their coin at dice.”
“Go to her,” Lukira said to Amari, a wry smile on her lips as she pulled her gaze from the sparring.
Amari glared at her wing-sister, a touch of rose on her cheeks. She pulled herself forwards from the rock and turned towards the pit. “We received word from High Commander Joros yesterday.”
Dayne raised a curious eyebrow. They’d spent days marching after the ambush at the Lost Hills and had heard nothing in that time.
“Myrefall is ours once more. As soon as Joros waved our banners, the citizens turned on the small garrison and opened the gates in Queen Alina’s name.”
Dayne drew a lungful of air, then tilted his head back and watched his breath rise, a knot untwisting in his chest. “Thank the gods.” He narrowed his gaze at Amari. Her face was devoid of any sense of victory. “What is it?”
“A Hand assassin waited in Myrefall’s keep. She killed both of Joros’s sons, his wife, and his two daughters, along with a slew of his captains while they all slept. The High Commander was still drunk from the celebrations and stumbled upon the woman standing over his daughter’s body.”
“… Joros?”
“Alive. He took her head from her shoulders and mounted it on a valyna in the city’s plaza. Then he executed every member of the Thebalan garrison to the last, setting their heads alongside the first.”
Dayne nodded, looking to Mera, then over at Alina in the sparring pit. His family. “I’d have done the same.”
“I’d have done worse,” Lukira said without turning her head.
Mera rested her hand on the small of Dayne’s back, the warmth of her skin seeping through his thin linen shirt.
He folded his arms and watched the sparring, unable to force more words from his lips. Joros’s world had just been ripped from under him. The man had been loyal to Dayne’s family for decades, and now it had cost him everything. That was a pattern that seemed to repeat itself across all those loyal to House Ateres. A pattern he would stop.
Alina glanced in Dayne’s direction, giving him an almost imperceptible nod as she sidestepped a thrust of Glaukos’s staff, then cracked him on the inside of his knee with her own. She twisted, swinging her staff upwards into Alcon’s chin, then shifted her weight and allowed the two men to crash into each other.
