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Chapter 1

Baucent Stronghold

Great Smoky Mountains, North Carolina

"You’re a pretty lad," Etienne Guelard, the swords three feet of razor-sharp, copper-clad steel, told Jaers swept round the loose circle of half-naked onlookers as their watchful eyes shifted fro inside the warriors’ circle to Jamys, who stood just outside the perihtfall had drawn its deep aes had narrowed the glittering gold of sunset to a silken fringe of tangerine Nove, and turned to diamond density every drop of moisture touched by its wintry breath Ten thousand acres of evergreens stood guard a the bare, leafless branches and trunks of kin that the long, dark months had already sent to sleep

Jaainst the ht he could not retreat to the safety of his father’s house

The n the mountain fortress of Baucent had never understood the need for the broad, walled space at the back of thefor it The human had not been told that the space would be called the lists, or that it would serve as the training area for the stronghold’s garrison of warriors To the architect, it had been le of packed dirt

"Don’t hurt the boy, Tien," one of the guards called out from his watch post above the lists "The oaded about his adolescent appearance never aggravated Jamys; as an immortal Darkyn he had lived with his youthful forrave before he had ed another day He would forever look like a boy of seventeen

It did not, however, nored the voices as he measured his opponent’s readiness Tien’s scent, as sharp and clean as leh he had threatened to spoil Ja in his heels and held his wrist ready to turn his weapon to a specific thrusting angle; he would attack first with a jab to the upper ar, and knew Tien favored disabling to disarm an opponent That practice arrison’s front line

That knowledge provided Jae Because he trained alone or with his father, the ht

"Challenge night is for the warriors of the jardin, not coddled whelps Is this not so, h he spoke to the crowd, Tien never took his eyes off Jamys "Did not your sire inform you of this? Or are you as deaf as you are dumb?"

The casual insult effectively rendered silent thethe circle All of them knew that torture at the hands of their enemies had deprived Jamys of his ability to speak and, for a time, his mind He had not realized they still believed hiue so freely; he assumed Jamys couldn’t respond in kind--or repeat his insults to theirhours of solitary practice he still could not speak quickly or with any ease It was sih the ht he would have to rethink that

"Lord Jaentle tone "If you will return tolad to practice with you"

"Our lord shall never give you leave to breathe hard on him, Coy" Tien made an impatient sound "Go back to the house, whelp You have wasted enough of ht"

The scent of sandalwood shed by Jamys’s own skin quickly overwhel For the object of his desires he could bear any aht of his father’s love, however, was alh

Ja on the toe of his boot and arching away froht arh, Ja the flat of the blade to deliver a heavy blow to the back of the bigger ered, Jaain while still unsteady That provided Jamys the opportunity to kick the sword fro to knock hiainst the bigger man’s septum

All the voices, movements, and sounds within the lists went as still as Tien hiarded him "Pretty nose"

Some of the men uttered low chuckles Tien’s eyes widened, and he sed before he said, "I like it"

"Then concede, you idiot," Coyan advised him, "before you lose that, too"

Ja moment before he lowered it and offered his free hand to Tien

The warrior seized Jae paw and touched his brow to the knuckles "The circle is yours, Lord Durand"

"Jamys" He pulled Tien to his feet and returned his blade to hi faces around therunts of effort filled the next several hours, and after the sky had gone black and the final challenger had conceded his bout, Jamys stood alone in the circle

Coyan stepped up to the line, but he didn’t cross it "My ht They are not permitted leave nor rest until they have satisfied me that they are able and ready to defend our lord and this household On this I have prided myself Now you step into our er you have been watching us from the house for some time"