Chapter 16 Dangerous Games

• Prince Aldric found me in the castle's training yard that afternoon, where I was working through combat forms with a fury that had several of the regular guards giving me a wide berth. The revelation about the cult's true timing had left me with energy that needed an outlet, and steel-on-steel combat was the most productive way I could think of to burn through my frustration.
• "You fight like someone who's expecting to die soon," he observed, settling onto a bench to watch my practice.
• I completed the sequence I'd been running—a particularly vicious combination designed for fighting multiple opponents in close quarters—before turning to face him. "Most people fight like they expect to live forever. I prefer to be realistic about my chances."