ARC: Assassin Queen (34 page)

34

Golden Lions

The crowd
’
s roar floated up in waves, booming against the stone walls of the palace at her back. Kara distanced herself from it as she looked over the plaza below. Five hundred soldiers stood in perfect rows, so still that the only movement she could detect was the golden gleam of their lion-shaped shoulder plates and the shifting of their crimson cloaks in the light breeze.

Aljahara, Aljahara, Aljahara…

She shifted her gaze to Prince Jamal standing in front of her. He wore the same uniform as his soldiers, but the golden lion over his left shoulder also bore a crown. His face was set into a still mask, his narrowed eyes watching her with apprehension.

My twin brother.

In another life, they could have been close. They could have learned to walk and talk together, grown up playing games. It made sense that he, her flesh and blood, shared her physical prowess, prompting his nation to hold him as a great warrior and put him in charge of their elite troops. Like everyone else here, he was now hers to command. But would he ever become her ally?

“Prince Jamal,”
she said.
“
I hear you have been doing an admirable job as a commander of the royal Golden Lion battalion.
”

He briefly inclined his head.
“Thank you, my Queen.”

The resentment in his voice sent her heart racing. Was he prepared to accept her, or was he an enemy in disguise? Would his attitude force her to do something terrible to her very closest kin? She knew Mai wouldn
’
t hesitate in making the call in this kind of a situation. She longed for his advice, but with the way he was standing, three steps behind, she couldn
’
t even see his face. Worse, even if everyone here told her Jamal was trouble and needed to be removed, she knew, deep in her heart, that she would not consider it until she had exhausted every other option. She wasn
’
t about to lose her brother just after she found him.

“
We march in three days,
”
she said.
“
The Golden Lions will use this time to train with the Majat warriors.
”

Jamal bowed his head again, the resentment in his face so poorly hidden that even the soldiers on the plaza must be catching it by now, even though they were standing too far to hear any words. His jaw tightened as he spoke.
“
The Golden Lions don
’
t need this training, Your Majesty.
”

She raised her eyebrows.
“
What makes you say so?
”

“
No foreign warriors have anything they could possibly teach my men.
”

My men.
She lifted her chin.
“
They are my men too.
”

“
Yes, Your Majesty.
”
His gaze became wooden.

She shifted from foot to foot, regarding him thoughtfully. Even without extensive command experience she could see that Jamal was going to be a problem. If Mai was in charge he would have probably removed him on the spot, replacing him with a more compliant battalion leader. Yet, a stubborn side she didn
’
t know she had was driving her on. Could she overcome this challenge in a different way?

“
Since we haven
’
t had an opportunity to get to know each other, Prince Jamal,
”
she said,
“I
’
d like to give you permission, for now, to speak freely, so that we can resolve our differences
–
if indeed we have any.
”

Jamal
’
s jaw knotted again, but she did catch surprise in his eyes before he forced his gaze into blankness.
“
To what end, Your Majesty? If you want to relieve me of command, you hardly need my words to give you the excuse.
”

She smiled.
“
You are correct. I need no excuse to relieve you of command, or throw you in a dungeon if I please. I am also aware of how you seem to be driving our conversation toward this kind of an outcome. I
’
d like to avoid it, if we possibly can.
”

“
Why?
”

“
I see you as a talented commander who inspires trust and devotion in his men. Can
’
t we build on this to achieve a workable relationship?
”

Jamal squared his shoulders.
“
If you leave me in charge, you will be forcing me to lead my men into a war we were not planning to fight.
”

“
Your planning has nothing to do with it, Prince. The enemy we are after is fighting to restore the Old Empire. If the Majat can
’
t stop them, their next step would be to obliterate everyone standing in their way, starting with the closest lands. Shayil Yara. Do you really want to see this happen when we can preempt such an outcome?
”

His eyes narrowed.
“
And I suppose we have only your word to prove it, Your Majesty.
”

“Yes.”

“
Not good enough.
”

She sighed.
“I
’
m curious, Jamal. If I take your bait just now and throw you in a dungeon, what could you possibly gain from it? Your men will march into this battle anyway.
”

“
Reluctantly.
”

She glanced at the troops, at the people lining the far end of the plaza chanting her name. She had a good feeling they would follow her willingly if it came to that, even if Jamal
’
s imprisonment would certainly shake things up.

“
Are you trying to become a martyr to your men?
”
she asked.
“
To prove a point to them by forcing a punishment upon yourself?
”

He kept his silence, but his uncertain look told her that her words had hit the mark.

“
I will not play this game with you,
”
she said.
“
Not only because you are my closest family, even if you may not feel this way, but also because I know you are a good man, loyal to your country.
”

His lips twitched.
“
What could you possibly know about that?
”

“
Do you believe I
’
m wrong about you?
”

He receded a bit.
“
I don’
t judge my qualities the same way, Your Majesty. I
’
ve been a good commander to the Golden Lions, yes. But up until now, our Queen has never doubted my ability to train my men.
”

She smiled.
“
I am not doubting it either, Jamal. The Golden Lions have a unique opportunity to train with the Majat
’
s top warriors, whose skill is far superior to anything you
’
ve ever seen. Any good commander would beg for a chance like that
–
not try to push it away when it
’
s offered freely.
”

The smile playing on Jamal
’
s lips taunted her with a challenge.
“
Far superior?
”

“Yes.”

“
How do you know, sister?
”

Sister.
Against reason, the word filled her with warmth. She never had any kin, never thought it was even possible for her. And now, despite all the defiance Jamal was showing her, despite the fact that he had recently participated in her abduction, she couldn
’
t help feeling a bond with him. The feeling took her by surprise as she looked into his face, recognizing some of the features she had grown used to seeing during her very rare glances into a mirror
–
the line of the eyebrows, the high cheekbones, the pale golden hair lying against his neck in a smooth wave. His face looked manly where hers was feminine, but now that her lineage was uncovered, it seemed strange to her that no one had spotted the resemblance as soon as she entered the palace. Or maybe they did?

“
Tell you what,
”
she said.
“
If you can defeat me in a one-on-one fight, we
’
ll do things your way. If I win, you will submit to my command, no questions asked.
”

He frowned, measuring her with his gaze. She could see his hesitation. He knew she was good, from the way he had trouble overpowering her even with the sleeping powder. But he couldn
’
t possibly know exactly how good she was. Her Majat ranking was no longer an open topic of discussion, not with the way she had been cast out of the Guild and maintained her outsider status in order to be close to Mai.

“
Very well,
” Jamal said.

She met his eyes, her nerves alit with the same excitement she saw in his gaze. If they would have had an opportunity to play together as children, it could have been exactly like this.
A game.
In another life, it could have been the most natural thing
–
to have a wrestling match with her twin brother so that they could determine who was the best at it.

“
Bring us a pair of training swords,
”
she said over her shoulder, not addressing anyone in particular but knowing that there would be several guards there who would know what to do.

“
What type, Your Majesty?
”
a tall guard woman next to her asked.

She held Jamal
’
s gaze. “
Scimitars.
”

He raised his eyebrows, even as the sound of running feet told her that a messenger had been dispatched to fulfill her order.
“
Scimitars?
”

“Isn
’
t this your weapon of choice, brother?
”

He crossed his arms over his chest.
“
You think you can beat me with a scimitar?
’

She didn
’
t respond as she took off her royal cloak and handed it to another guard standing behind her. The swords arrived, finer-looking than any weapons she normally used in practice. She tested the balance, then the edge to make sure it was sufficiently blunted, watching him do the same.

“
I don’
t want to hurt you, my Queen,
”
he said.

“
If I were you, Prince, I would be worrying about other things right now.
”

Jamal
didn’t respond
. He looked confident, but Kara could also sense the caution behind it as he raised his sword and moved into position.

Her queen
’
s outfit wasn
’
t ideal for fighting, her bracelets of station weighting down her left arm, her sandals too thin to maintain proper footing. Yet, as he picked up speed, she forgot all about it, absorbed in the fun of matching his moves, leaving him openings for sneaky attacks she could counter with her own. The plaza around them became a blur, the only focus her opponent
’
s face, so familiar and close now that she was recognizing more and more of their common features.
My brother, my flesh and blood.
During this fight she felt she was learning to understand him like no other.

His blade was flying in perfect patterns Kara recognized from her early training, his reflexes far superior to those of a regular warrior. If he, like Kara, had been sold into the Majat Guild as a child, he would have been her fellow in rank by now. But without that proper training, he was no match for her at all. Even in her awkward outfit, weakened from her recent ordeal, she would have no trouble overpowering him at all.

The chant of the crowd rose to a deafening roar as the Golden Lions joined too, clanging their swords on their shoulder plates.
Aljahara, Aljahara, Aljahara…

Kara was sure by now that she had gotten the message across. It was time to end the show.

She held Jamal
’
s gaze as she snaked her blade forward around his, hitting it sideways and up, close to the hilt, so that it flew out of his hand in a perfect arc, clearly visible throughout the plaza. It landed straight down, sticking between the floorboards at his feet, wavering from the impact.

Jamal stepped back, looking at her in disbelief.
“You
’
re good. Far better than I thought.
”

She smiled.
“
So are you. But you and your men can become even better, if properly trained. All you need to do is follow orders, Prince.
”

“
If you say so.
”
He bowed his head.
“
As a man of my word, I am upholding my part of the bargain. I surrender to your command, my Queen.
”