Winter's Ball by Giselle Ava

Author:Giselle Ava
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ghizlan Ekadioin
Published: 2021-03-01T16:00:00+00:00

3: Indigo

A throwing knife bit into the center of an archery board with a quiet thunk, sending out a blast of icicles and wood flakes. Engraved on the handle of the knife were two letters written in cursive, one slightly bigger than the other, both slightly uneven: T. V.

Tasha Vasil.

She sheared another knife against the grindstone, sending off a hiss of sparks, and then piffed it into the archery board, landing it slightly beside the first, off-center.

“Shit.” She grabbed another engraved knife from the tin can, weighed it in her hand. A light snowfall settled over the sparring courtyard of Castle Lavus, glazing all of the weapons in a thin sheet of ice. She ran her glove across the knife’s blade, cleaning it, then repositioned herself roughly thirty feet from the target. The knife flew.

It hit one of the other knives and they both clattered to the frosted dirt. Tasha walked over to them and collected the knives. The sound of steel on steel chimed around her, heavy boots on rugged ground, armor plates sliding. Tonight was the winter’s ball, and then there’d be an extended week of festivities. The night brought up feelings of anger. She dreamed of it often. Seven years ago, she’d been a scrawny little eleven-year-old girl with blonde pigtails. She had been injured by an explosion, and her memory of the event was fuzzy. All she knew was that her parents both died, likely unheroically, which forced her into the custody of her father’s brother, who she killed on her eleventh birthday—a present to herself, because nobody else got her anything.

She picked up the final knife and walked back to the table with all her gear on it. The castle loomed before her, high and proud. The windows were lit with amber light, and the light melted snow which dribbled past. She began stretching.

The order had come through that Sarina, despite her paranoia, had decided not to utilise additional guards for the first time since it happened. That meant more work for Tasha, who had received the order to be on guard, mainly because she had the best eye in the city but also because she was good at killing, if it came to that.

Tasha had never quite gotten along with Sarina, but nevertheless the two orbited each other. They had both survived the Killing Night, and though their paths had diverged, they always ended up in the same rooms. And though she did think of Sarina as a paranoid freak at times, she respected her duty and therefore would make sure the night went as planned.

She was down low stretching her hamstrings when Alyos approached wearing indigo leggings and a very smart-looking vest over a white shirt. He had a peculiar walk, so even if she wasn’t looking at him, she’d know he was coming just by the sound of his footsteps. Not to mention the sound of jangling clocks, which he wore as necklaces, as adornments across his clothing, and even smaller ones as bracelets, all of varying sizes and designs.

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