Page 5 of Dawn of Hope
Fuck him.
I will prove he is wrong.
There are a few weeks left to prepare to be the best representation of Blackwood that our people and the other kingdoms wouldfinallysee.
I will prove to him I can be queen, that I can hold my own amongst the other leaders despite years of being hidden away, giving me less of an advantage. I will be the best queen this kingdom doesn’t have a choice but to accept.
I am tired of being alone and disregarded. It is my time, a time I’ve been looking forward to for years, and I will not let him take it away from me.
CHAPTER TWO
“You canstop pretending to be so formal now.”
Brynne’s words ring through the hall, and bounce right off my tense shoulders. The wooden door slams into the wall as I push my way through it. I step outside the castle and immediately flinch at the bite of the cold on my sweat-soaked clothes.
The mist and fog that covers our kingdom every day hangs in the air and immediately dampens my hair. I can see my breath as I huff my way toward the practice weapons. I just want to get back to the ring and work off this energy. I need to do something, feel something other than anger coursing through my veins.
“I’m not being fucking formal,” I call out, refusing to look back at her.
“That’s better.” She is just behind me now, her longer steps have caught up easily to my short ones.
“I just want to get back to the training from before we were so uselessly interrupted.” I stalk over to the rack of weapons and reach for a sword. It isn’t one of my strongest weapons, whichis why I need to practice it more often. I am much more comfortable with a bow, but Brynne constantly reminds me a bow is useless if someone attacks at close range.
“Not so fast.” Brynne grabs my arm and turns me back to her. She reaches behind and pulls a dagger from her belt, extending it out to me. I grasp the hilt and pull it from the sheath, flipping the handle to get a feel for the weight. The blade is dull, just like the practice swords I am accustomed to sparring with, but I’ve never used a weapon this small before. It feels too light and awkward in my hands.
I groan. “Not today, Brynne, please? Can’t we just start those lessons tomorrow?”
“No.” She releases an impatient sigh and pulls out a dagger of her own. “We’re running out of time. I gave the king my word that I was going to work on these skills, and I’m not going back on it. We only have a few weeks until the ceremony.”
“Fine,” I grumble. I wrap my fingers around the hilt, pointing the blade down at the ground. I am ready to move into my stance when I feel the slap of metal sting across the top of my hand.
I hiss and snatch my hand back to my body as the dagger I drop hits the hard dirt at my feet. “What the fuck was that for?” My scowl is met by a smirk as she re-sheathes her sword.
“To show you without telling you that you were holding it wrong, and how easily you can be harmed if you don’t hone your skills.”
I rub the back of my hand and bend to retrieve the dagger. “Fine. Show me.”
Brynne proceeds with her lesson, explaining the grip and positioning, and walking me through a few movements that are so vastly different from the loud and exaggerated ones I use with long swords.
“Dagger fights are more intimate than those with a sword.” She takes a step toward me and feigns swiping across my body. “You’ll be much closer to your attacker in order to strike them, and sometimes the dagger is all you have when they still have a sword. It makes it more difficultfor you to strike a blow, and you have to put yourself at risk to make the strike count.”
“Why wouldn’t I just carry a sword, then? Isn’t the whole point of this to protect me from anyone who wants to hurt me, not put me closer to getting hurt when I try to fight them?”
Brynne smirks. “Because when they take your sword,” she says as she reaches behind her and pulls a dagger from a hidden sheath in her waistband, “they won’t know you’re still armed. You’ll have the element of surprise. At least for a few seconds.” She proceeds to pull out two more daggers hidden in her armor that, despite training together for all these years, I never knew she carried.
“Alright, I get it. Let’s practice then.”
We weave through clusters of guards standing around and waiting for their turn in a ring. They are used to seeing their princess out amongst the ranks, and while some acknowledge me with a quick bow and a mumbled greeting, others don’t react. Our presence amongst them is too normal.
The clang of metal on metal rings through the air, followed by grunts and loud thuds as we make our way to a far ring where a bout is just ending.
“We’re next,” Brynne calls out as she swings her body under the wooden beams of the fence surrounding the pit.
The victor from the last round nods at her as he reaches down and pulls the other to his feet. They both mutter a quick greeting to us before exiting the ring and standing just outside it with the rest of the group.
While I am used to training with Brynne in the middle of large groups of guards, I don’t love it, especially on days I’m already worked up from talking to my father.
“Just ignore them,” Brynne directs as we step into the center, facing each other.