Chapter 6 The Prince's Gambit

• The training yard rang with the clash of steel as I drove my blade toward Master Dorian's throat with lethal precision. He deflected at the last possible moment, his weathered face showing approval at my aggression even as he countered with a strike that would have opened my ribs if I hadn't twisted away.
• "Better," he said, stepping back to signal a pause. "Your anger is finally finding proper focus."
• Three hours of intensive combat training had done little to quiet the storm raging in my mind since discovering the letters at my mother's tomb. Every revelation seemed to spawn a dozen new questions, each more disturbing than the last. But the physical exertion helped channel my fury into something useful— a deadly skill that I'd need in the days ahead.