King

“And you two.” Duke Aldarius turned to her brothers. “You are supposed to be watching her.”

Onyx snorted. They all knew she watched over them.

The silence stretched. Finally, the duke turned from his three children. “There’s only one punishment suitable to make you understand the gravity of the situation. You will attend the junior ball in the capital.”

“Oh, by the Paragons, not that. Anything but that!” Onyx said before she could stop herself.

Her father only smiled.

Onyx stood defiantly between her two brothers as she met her father’s icy glare.

While she was a full head shorter than either of her brothers, she met her father’s anger with impassive silence.

“You could have hurt yourself or someone else,” he snarled. “You know better than to use magic.”

Onyx flinched inwardly, but she refused to let so much as a drop of emotion show. She had to practice if she was going to get better, and her instincts warned her she had to get better.

The courtyard was swept free of debris as Onyx set up her targets.

A circle had already gathered to watch her train. She had to train, even in this. Especially in this.

She ignored the onlookers.

Sword in one hand and shield in the other, she began her lethal ballet, the song of magic on her lips.

She struck the first target, and shoved the magic through her blade. The target exploded.

And so did the stone wall behind it.

Her feet betrayed her.

The wafting music of her mother’s piano playing distracted her as nothing else could.

Onyx’s brothers grinned at her. “Now we know your weakness.”

She thrust, catching him off guard and scoring a point. “I can still beat you.”

They were kids playing at being adults.

Maybe they would be adults one day.

Or maybe another war would take them before then.

Onyx prayed again that William would become king soon, and that he would lead them with wisdom the regent lacked.