I groaned. Now I understood Smitter’s trials, trying to protect me all the time. Would it kill her to make my life easier? I shouted, “Since you are new to the whole partner idea, I’ll break it down for you. As partners, we have each other’s backs. We talk strategy, come to a mutual agreement. We do not go off and try to get ourselves slaughtered.”

“Like you are so forthcoming,” Lou grumbled.

“And what do you think I’m hiding?” I spat, a white-knuckled grip on my rapier’s hilt so I wouldn’t accidentally pierce my captive’s throat in a fit of misplaced rage.

Lou flung her arms open. “Everything.”

“Is this a lover’s spat?” the man with the cut arm asked.

“No,” Lou and I barked in unison.

“Then we fight,” he bellowed, already running at Lou with his weapon held high.

I rolled my eyes. “Then we fight,” I mumbled. Not wanting to kill anyone, I flicked my rapier away from Leon’s neck, then walloped him in the temple as he tried to rise. He sagged against the alley wall like a sleeping drunkard. Hopefully, he’d stay down until we restrained his friends.

“I’ve got the lass. You boys take the emperor,” the leader of the bedraggled crew directed as his sword clanged against Lou’s.

Lovely. I’d have to thank Lou later for this adventurous evening.

Jebba attacked first with an attempt to behead me. I parried the wide swing, sending him spinning from the momentum, then rammed my shoulder into his side.

He grunted as he lost his footing and careened to the stone path, giving his head a good crack, but as I charted his fall, the boy lunged, and I only had time to leap back. His blade caught my knuckles and would have taken a finger had I not relinquished my blade and whipped my hand back. Rapier clattering over the ground, I needed to recover fast for a punch. I called upon my magic and sent liquid heat through my veins and into my fingers. I clenched and unclenched until the skin and sinew knitted themselves. I used an elbow to hamper the pudgy kid’s next swing, then sent him reeling with a fist to the ear.

He staggered, shaking his head like a kicked dog, but held his weapon aloft. Braced for a counter, his eyes volleyed between me and his father who’d barely evaded Lou’s last blow. He decided on finishing the job he’d started, but his hesitation provided me with enough time to regain my weapon. As he slashed the air, I twisted out of the way. He righted himself and took a second opportunity to slice at my chest. The tip of his serrated blade tore my leather vest down the middle.

I peered down at the shreds and growled, “This was my favorite vest.”