The Tiger at Midnight (The Tiger at Midnight Trilogy #1)(93)

Esha clucked her tongue at him and his hard expression softened. Arpiya motioned at the other boys, drawing them away with a challenge for closest shot, winner buying wine for all.

It left him alone with Esha.

She moved to the side of the row of targets, indicating that he follow her with a hand gesture. Kunal felt awkward, unsteady, in this training ground that felt so familiar but also not his own. She clearly had a solid presence here, and it drove a small pin into his chest.

He had thought after seeing her performance that he understood her life, but seeing her here, in her element? It only reminded him of how little he really knew her.

Esha balanced a short blade in her hands before handing it, hilt forward, to him.

“What, I’m allowed a weapon?” Kunal said, before he could help himself. “I’m really getting the royal treatment compared to Rakesh.”

Esha snorted. “Yes, don’t make me regret it. If you’d like to join your fellow soldier . . .” She shrugged, as if saying that could be arranged. “If you’re going to be here, might as well train. Would be a shame to let a perfectly good warrior go to waste.”

He accepted the sword, hefting its weight in his hands. A good make, but a different feel than Jansan metal. Made for precision rather than simple brutality.

“Is he all right?”

“Pig boy? He’s fine. Despite what Jansa leads you to believe, we do have honor when keeping prisoners of war. He’s in a cell with daily meals. Since the cease-fire is on, Harun hasn’t decided what to do with him yet, but who knows, he could prove useful later.”

“Thank you,” he said. “For saving me. I know I wouldn’t be alive without your help. I remember that much, at least.”

“You remember?”

“Bits and pieces. Enough.”

Esha looked like she was about to ask more when someone jostled Kunal, tumbling out of the chalked lines of an ongoing spar. She shook her head quickly and settled a smile back onto her face.

“How do you feel about a spar, Kunal? Let’s see what you can do.”

He wasn’t sure if she was serious, but he couldn’t deny he was itching to get on the sparring floor. Anything to stop thinking.

“Weapon?”





Chapter 59


They settled on using long knives, curved and fiercely sharp. Esha had almost looked gleeful when she had picked them up. He understood why—they were fine knives.

Before, he would’ve thought twice before fighting a girl, but if he’d learned anything over the past weeks, it was to not underestimate any girl. Esha was dangerous and skilled.

He let a small smirk escape and Esha latched on to it as she set up their perimeter.

“Feeling cocky?”

Kunal laughed. “Oh, I don’t think I would ever feel cocky around you.”

He heard a sound of approval from behind him. “At least he knows that much,” Bhandu said, raising his eyebrows.

They hadn’t yet attracted the attention of the other trainees, but Esha’s team had settled themselves down to watch.

Kunal forced their chatter out of his mind, zeroing in on Esha. The perimeter was set and she was crouching, her knife low near her belly. He met her in the middle, taking up his own stance. He kept his knife low as well, hoping to deflect and dodge more than use the knife.

Neither of them moved, sizing up the other. Esha lunged first, so fast that her knife caught the edge of his dhoti, tearing into it. He ducked, hitting her knee as he moved to slow her down.

“I need to ask you something. And I wanted to talk,” she said softly. They danced around each other. Esha landed a hilt-down blow of her knife to his jaw and he stepped back, rubbing it.

“So, you challenged me to a spar? Couldn’t you have just pulled me to the side?” he asked, his mouth twitching. He pushed his knife a bit farther forward.

“There are eyes and ears everywhere. And we haven’t told everyone about this,” she whispered back, her eyes insistent. She was being serious. He swept her leg and she tumbled to the ground, rolling away before he could land another blow. “Harun wants us to keep this quiet.”

“Harun?”

Esha popped up to her feet in front of him.

“The prince.”

Within seconds, she hit him in the side, knocking the wind out of him and sending him straight to the ground before he even saw it coming.

She straightened from her crouch, holding a hand out to him. He grabbed it, dusting himself off. “You should adjust your stance when wielding this type of knife. Have a wider stance, especially for an opponent who might not be clad in armor. Your center of gravity was too high, letting me knock you down.”

“I don’t see myself fighting anyone who wouldn’t be in armor,” Kunal said, bristling. The look Esha gave him was pointed, and he understood what it said. Life hadn’t really turned out the way he had thought.

She shrugged. “I’m used to teaching here, and if I see something during spars that can be adjusted, I fix it immediately. Now, do you want my help?”

Kunal hesitated for a moment but then nodded, and she moved toward his feet. He was unfamiliar with this make of knife. Behind him, Bhandu was expressing his displeasure that Esha was letting their fight be a teaching spar, instead of one to the death.

“I was going to ask before. Did you see anyone else the night of the general’s death? Or anything else unusual?” she whispered.