There was no time for speculation as I found my balance. Given my lack of recent practice, it would take all my ability to complete the dance safely while also paying attention to the movements of the room.
Adara watched with wide eyes, likely remembering the times we had practiced this traditional two-person dance in her sitting room. I wanted to smile at her, but the music began, and I lunged into the first movement.
Our elegant lines and swishing skirts transformed the lunges and turns of a typical knife training routine into a graceful performance. And as the music built, our synchronized moves changed. Instead of an individual training routine, we now mimicked the movements of a bout, lunging for each other in a choreographed whirl of moving arms and legs.
Yasmine was rusty, too, or I would have been in trouble. Every one of her motions was crisp and smooth, but her speed suffered from her age and lack of practice. It made us better matched. The double knife dance required both dancers not to miss a step, or they ran the risk of dancing into the others’ blade.
As the music built, the room fell silent, our watchers captivated by the gleaming dance of the blades as they whisked near our hands and throats, always close but never making contact.
“You really were trained at the palace,” Yasmine whispered as the dance brought us within an inch of each other. “What secrets are you hiding, Zaria?”
I whirled away, lunging at her and then ducking down in a flying circle of material.
“What secrets are you hiding, Yasmine?” I breathed back as we danced close again.
Something almost like fear flashed in her eyes. Had she finally realized there was more going on here tonight than she understood?
The music changed again, and we darted around the table, improvising somewhat to adjust to the layout of the room. But a truly enthralling knife dance required proximity with the audience, so they could experience some of the thrill of the blade for themselves. We didn’t have an aisle to dance down, but we made our way around separate ends of the table.
Passing one of the doors, I saw we had acquired a larger audience. A crowd of servants had gathered just inside the doorways at both ends of the room, watching the unexpected spectacle with appreciation.
As I turned down the end of the table, passing Ali at the head and reaching the far side, the third, hidden door in the opposite wall moved, its creak lost to the music. This door opened into a small room for the use of guards, complete with concealed spyholes. It allowed guards of both the host and the guests to watch their charges without casting a pall over the tone of the meal.
The room had been unused by the current owners of the house for as long as I’d been here—usually put to use by the maids for extra storage—but I had instructed the household guards to wait there along with the reinforcements from the palace. If there was trouble, they needed to be on hand.
Apparently the flash of blades in the room was enough to prompt further investigation because the guards all appeared, clustered in the doorway with Captain Jerome at the front. His eyes met mine across the room before traveling on to Yasmine, but he didn’t move, perhaps unsure if we represented a threat or not.
Responding to a swell of music, my knife swung toward the closest guest, who happened to be Isav. It dipped close enough for the air of its passing to touch him without actually putting him in danger, a move mirrored by Yasmine toward Navid on the other side of the table.
But while her knife held steady, veering neither too close nor too far from his skin, her eyes had latched on to me. I could see her clearly, directly across from me, Captain Jerome and his guards behind her. And as the simple but evocative music filled the room, I caught the tiny tells of emotion that gave me the final confirmation I needed. The time had come to act.
Abandoning the orchestrated moves of the dance, I leaped closer to Isav’s seated back, whipping my arm around him and pressing my sharp blade to his throat.
The music screeched to a halt. Several people shouted, and everyone who was seated leaped to their feet except for Isav, who stayed frozen in place.
“Let me guess,” he said lightly, although I could see the strain in the way his hands gripped the arms of his chair. “If I looked in your wardrobe, I would find a dress as gold as the sun.”
“Of course.” I kept my voice equally light as I replied to him, my words for him but my eyes locked with Yasmine’s across the table. “I didn’t manage to apprehend your son on that occasion, but I think I’ll manage to get you all tonight.”
Nothing in Yasmine’s stance gave warning of her movement before she suddenly launched into motion, her arm swinging back and sending her blade flying straight for me.
CHAPTER26
Yasmine threw knives as well as she danced with them. The tip shot toward me without wavering, and it would have made contact if not for Rek.
He must have sensed something because he was moving before she was, his sword springing from his scabbard and leaping up to shield me.
It intercepted the knife just in time, knocking it off its trajectory. Rek didn’t pause, springing onto the table and across it in one leap to face Yasmine. She shrank back before his blade, now weaponless, but she didn’t stand alone. Jerome lunged forward, his sword aimed at Rek as he leaped to her defense.
Rek didn’t falter at his captain’s betrayal. Lightning fast, he brought his sword around to block Jerome’s thrust, the two blades clanging together in a loud clash of steel on steel.
Distracted, my knife point had wavered, and Isav seized the opportunity. Driving his elbow back into my gut, he sent me staggering away from his chair.
I gasped, my body panicking as I fought for air, and the knife fell from my grip. Seizing it, Isav spun to face me as I stumbled backward, still doubled over.
His knife stabbed toward me, its tip only just missing the material of my dress. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Rek still fighting Jerome, with Samuel and Benjamin rushing to his aid.
But somehow he was still keeping an eye on me. With a shouted command, he sent Samuel away from his own fight, the guard running around the table toward Isav.