AllFreeNovel
Share Us
If Alexey had been wrong, if one of the men from Barbezht was still alive… I fought to remain calm. Was it Han? Yakov?
I couldn’t give myself away by asking questions. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from demanding answers from the whispering countesses that stood perusing the table of fabrics.
Princess Alisa, thankfully, couldn’t stand being left out of any conversation. “What are the two of you muttering about back there?”
They turned to her. “The Survivor of Barbezht, princess,” one said.
The dowager tsarina scoffed. “Traitorous scum. I cannot fathom why anyone cares about him at all.”
“I expect it’s the scar,” one of the duchesses said. “I saw the broadsheets. It does lend him a certain air of mystery.”
A scar. Sweat broke out over my body. Han?
One of the countesses lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “I heard Borislav gave him a new hand, made from wood and magicked to function like a real hand.”
“Borislav did no such thing,” the dowager snapped. “His Gifts of the Blood are mediocre at best. He couldn’t give someone a new hand.”
A scarred Survivor of Barbezht. The room seemed to swim around me. That could have been anyone. It didn’t have to be Han. But still… He was fighting for Borislav.
I had to know. Swallowing, I focused my attention on the fabrics I was arranging and willed my voice to be calm. “Survivor of Barbezht? I thought they’d all been killed.”
Silence fell, and I cursed myself. Servants and trade workers were to be silent in the presence of royalty unless spoken to. I shouldn’t have drawn attention to myself.
But I needed to know if Han was alive. If my husband was alive.
After a moment, Tsarina Desislava answered. “It appears at least one evaded capture.”
“Yes, and he’s made quite the name for himself,” another noblewoman said. “I hear he was the one who made the Drakra alliance.”
“I thought that was Prince Radomir.”
“No, Radomir’s been heading the campaign.”
The conversation turned to Prince Radomir’s movements as my head spun. A survivor of Barbezht.
I had to know, had to discover the man’s name. If it was Han, if he was alive…
What would I do?
*****
By the time the tsarinas released me, I barely had time to dash across the palace grounds to meet Alexey for my daily training session.
He frowned t me as I rushed in. “You’re late.”
“I was working,” I snapped. I tossed my coat into a corner and dropped into position. I wasn’t in the mood to talk. There was too much on my mind.
He didn’t push, just moved into a fighting stance as well, a wooden dagger in his hand. This week, we were focusing ondisarming. As he’d told me, I wouldn’t always have a weapon. I needed to be able to take down my enemy without one.
He lunged, and I dodged, aiming for his legs, as he’d taught me.
In an instant, he had me pinned, the dagger to my throat. My heart raced, but not with fear. I shook him off and stood. “Again.”
He raised a brow but nodded, leaning back into a crouch.
Again he lunged, again I dodged, and again he pinned me.
He stood, holding out a hand to help me up. “Where’s your head, Sofia? You’re not even trying.”
