The Claimed: A Clash of Copper and Gold

Chapter 16: A Promise

"Get up, Claimed."

I groaned and blinked through the darkness at the shadow by the door. "What is... why are you... it's the middle of the night, Niako."

"It's not the middle of the night. The sun is about to rise. And you owe me a swordfight."

I pushed myself up to sit against the headboard and rubbed my eyes. "I don't know how you got up so early after staying out so late."

He was silent for a moment. Then he said, "I didn't stay out late."

"What about the Coupling?"

"I decided not to go. Now come on."

Ruck joined us in the room and dug a copper key out of his pocket. I stood still as he unlocked the chain and cuffed my hands behind my back. Then Niako ducked out the door, and Ruck pushed me through after him.

I watched Niako ahead of us as we made our way through the gray, unadorned hallway. His swaggering saunter revealed nothing of the man who had only the night before brushed hair from my forehead with a kind of cautious reverence. As we passed through the doorway and onto the dimly-lit empty gravel road, I stared at the back of Niako's curly-haired head, wondering not for the first time: Who are you, Niako?

But in the end, it didn't matter who he was. If I saw a chance to escape, I would take it. Even if I had to kill him in the process.

After ten minutes of walking, Niako cut off the road to pass between two buildings on the right. Abruptly, the city slums gave way to an open field. The sun warmed my back, and fuzzy rays of light streaked over the land before me. A breeze swept toward us, rustling the clover-strewn grass. I smelled the musky brine of the Paksha Sea, and when I listened closely, I could even hear the crashing waves.

"Where are we?"

When Niako turned back toward me, he was smiling, and the new sunlight spilled over him, refining every color and line with brilliant brush strokes. For a moment, my breath froze in my lungs.

He is beautiful.

"This is the training grounds. Come fight me, Toom."

Twenty paces further, the ground sloped down toward a round dirt pit. Ridges of packed soil climbed up the sides, reminiscent of the stands in the colosseum. Just beyond the pit, three wooden watchtowers stood empty.

Niako strode toward a silver rack equipped with a wide variety of wooden swords.

"Let me guess." His hand floated along the rack, fingers fluttering. Then he stopped on one sword and drew it from the rack. He turned back toward me, tracing a finger along the wooden blade. "This one. This is the sword you want."

My eyes locked on the sword. The heft of the blade, the balance, the shape of the handle... it was exactly what I would choose.

"It will work."

His smile spread, white teeth glimmering in the trickle of sunlight. I pressed my hands against my thighs and swallowed.

Then a breathless voice interrupted from behind. "Your Highness! Thank Goddess I found you."

I turned to see a small man in a shiny silver frock. He doubled over with his hands on his knees, panting.

Niako took one step toward the man. "What is it?"

When the man straightened, refracted sunlight from his frock blinded me. "His Majesty the King requests an audience with your guard — Ruck — immediately."

Niako's eyes flitted to Ruck, who stood beside me. Ruck threw up his shoulders in a shrug. Niako looked back to the man.

"Why?"