The wind was a lot wilder up this high. I wonder if that was normal. I could see the entire town, and the mountains and forests off in the distance as well. It was breathtaking. “The world really is huge, isn’t it?”

  “It is. This view isn’t even the top five of the ones I have seen. I should say the royal capital had the best view, but it was only third place for me. Second is actually there,” Lady Evelyn pointed at the mountain.

  “What?” I asked.

  “There, Mount Kulun,” she said.

  “You… like the top?” I asked. How? It looked so big!

  “No, the bottom! Though, to be completely honest. After you get past the halfway point, it all looks amazing. But yes, the top silly,” she said.

  “How did you do that?” I asked. It looked insane. “Why would you do that? Does a noble live there?”

  “No. No noble. No one lives there. I was young, angry, and dumb. I just wanted to see the world from the top of Mount Kulun. Failure wasn’t something I was used to. So, I decided to try. You’d be amazed at how much you can accomplish if you try. As for why? I wanted to scream. As loud as I could. From the top of the world. Or as close to it as I could ever reach.”

  I could relate to the idea of wanting to scream as loud as I could. But… Lady Evelyn always seemed so perfect. “Why did you want to scream?”

  “Lady Julia, there are some questions that you really shouldn’t ask,” she said.

  “Oh, then, if Mount Kulun was the second best, then-”

  “I can’t answer that either. Or, rather. It wouldn’t make any sense if I did. Forget I said it. Better to think of Mount Kulun as the best spot. Okay?”

  She smiled, and if I were to judge it in terms of how her eyes moved or how her lips curled, then it would be perfect. Had it been a smile she showed me two months ago, I would have been fooled, but part of my lessons had been trying to see through such perfect smiles. She was crying inside. I might have noticed it. But what did it matter? I didn’t know what to do about it.

  “So, if Joseph is a castellan, shouldn’t he have better tea?” I asked.

  She giggled a bit as she covered her mouth with her hand. “His tea was fine. It wasn’t even that low grade. Middle-ranked, I’d say. Baronness Malatise loves tea, so she keeps the best of the best.”

  “But you said it was low grade?” I asked. I remember that detail.

  “Because if I didn’t, then you would have looked bad! I had to either make him or you look bad.”

  “Then, why me?” I asked. “And don’t flick me! I need to know!”

  She held up the bag of coins.

  Arg! “Okay, fine, flick me if you must.”

  “Julia,” she said softly. “You should understand this by now. You are the… well, you know I can’t say it right now. But that means you will be the one who forges alliances in this world. A failed alliance could mean you die. And your death could mean the death of more people than you could ever be able to count. Every flaw others see will reduce your chances of alliances. I would murder Joseph with my bare hands if it meant preventing you from looking bad. It is not even a moral question.”

  “But how-”

  She flicked me right between the eyes. Ouch!

  “I am explaining. Listen. If you fall. The most likely situation is that Anlage is with you. Anlage would fall with you. That means Hatula dies. Stechen dies. And Joseph dies. It isn’t about whether one life is worth another. It is that he would die either way. How old do you think I am, Julia?”

  “I’d say fifty-five.”

  She smiled. “I’ll take that as a compliment. I’m sixty-three. I bet you haven’t thought about it. But I told you I have traveled, right? Well, can you guess how many people I have taught? How many friends have I made? More than double the number in Anlage. A lot more. So yes. I would kill for them.”

  For once, I think I didn’t see a shift. I felt like, maybe I understood, if even only for a second. I thought back to the moment I grabbed a fork to stab her. I wasn’t proud of that, but… what she was saying felt a lot like that. And if she had people she loved as much as I loved my parents. Was it so strange? She probably had children. I didn’t see anything that was clearly a marriage gift.

  “Do you have-”

  The doors behind us opened, and four rows of people came in. They were covered in metal from head to toe. They spread out into a long row, and I realized there were twenty of them. Seven women and thirteen men.

  I leaned in to Lady Evelyn. “Before I lose my chance. If they are protection for us, wouldn’t two boys be better?”

  “Julia, please accept that there is a reason we need a girl knight. I will explain later, but don’t say anything like that in front of them,” she whispered back.

  I nodded. Right. I can handle that.

  My stomach was beginning to tighten again. Gods, give me strength. I don’t want to mess this up! One big mistake per day is enough, thank you very much.

  I had never seen people wearing so much metal before. I suppose it would be handy in a fight, but it looked heavy and difficult to move around. As I approached them, they all knelt and placed their right hands over the center of their chests.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Tell them to rise,” Lady Evelyn whispered.

  “Rise,” I tried to say with confidence.

  Lady Evelyn walked up and down, looking at them. “So, what do you think?”

  What was I supposed to think? They all look the same! More or less! I could see minor differences in hair, eye, or skin tone. But they wore metal on their face too; it bent downward to cover their nose. However, one girl caught my eye. She had something under it.

  “What’s that?” I asked, looking at her.

  “What is what, my Lady?” she asked.

  I pointed at her face. “That?”

  “What is your name, knight?” Lady Evelyn asked.

  “Alyssa of Trent, my Lady,” she said.

  “Alyssa, remove your helmet,” Lady Evelyn said.

  Huh, so that was called a helmet. Interesting. When her helmet came off, her hair fell in a flowing braided ponytail that she had tucked into the back. The brown color was pretty dark; I almost thought it was black for a moment. I noticed the thing on her face extended back to her ears.

  “That,” I said, poking it.

  “Well, Alyssa,” Lady Evelyn said. “What is that?”

  “My glasses?” she asked. She looked nervous. “My Lady!”

  Lady Evelyn snickered a bit. “Explain what they are and what they’re function is.”

  “Yes, my Lady! They are for seeing. Without them, my eyesight is reduced, but with them I can see just as well as anyone else.”

  Better eyesight? Interesting. “Can I see them?” I asked.

  “Of course, my Lady,” she said, handing them to me.

  I peeked into them and instantly felt dizzy. Oh gods. Why! That wasn’t better. How can she handle that! I handed them back. “That wasn’t better at all!”

  “I’m afraid you must all forgive her. Lady Julia is from a place where corrective lenses have never been needed. Ignorance is a heck of a thing. Plus, a knight with glasses is quite the strange sight.”

  Alyssa put her glasses back on. “I apologize for not explaining, my Lady. Glasses are uniquely crafted for the individual they are intended for. They hold no value to others.”

  Now she tells me. But it was interesting. “I see. So, can you tell me about yourself?”

  “Yes, my Lady. I was born in the small village of Trent. We had about two hundred people there. Trent is known for its handiwork, which was how we paid taxes instead of sending crops. So I had plenty of chances to practice swinging around scrap swords. I decided to begin a knight's apprenticeship and was accepted upon my coming of age.”

  I smiled. So she lived the village life too? Hers sounded quite different from mine, but it was interesting to hear.

  One boy put his right hand back near his chest. Lady Evelyn noticed and whispered into my ear as she walked by me. “He wants to ask a question. Tell him to speak.”

  I walked over to the boy. He had brown hair. “You may speak.”

  “I was told you are a Duchess, but I missed what house you are from. I’d like to know that information.”

  I glanced at Lady Evelyn and saw that she was already walking towards us. She was angry! I could tell that much. I took a step back as she stood in front of me.

  “You are dismissed. Report to Joseph about being dismissed,” she said.

  “Yes, my Lady,” he said before walking towards the door.

  She looked at the other knights. “Someone tell me why he was excused?”

  A blonde-haired boy was the first to tap his chest. “Because as a guard, her family or status does not matter. She could be a commoner, and our commitment should be the same, my Lady.”

  She smiled. “Half right. Does anyone else know the other half?”

  The knights looked around, but no one answered. Yet, I think I understood. I don’t believe Lady Evelyn was setting me up to answer. In that way, trying could be a big mistake, especially if I was wrong. Yet, I just felt this sense of confidence that I was right. It was overwhelming.

  “Because he was dumb,” I began to say.

  She smiled and looked at me. “Continue.”

  “Baron Malatise has the tremendous honor of offering me this service, and for a knight representing him to say something dumb to me. You should all know better. This is a situation far above what you have prepared for. So you are all on your best behavior, right?”

  The knights just stared for a moment. Lady Evelyn turned towards them. “My Lady has asked a question. Do any of you feel you have been properly prepared to work for a Duchess? Are any of you not on your best behavior?”

  “No, my Lady!” They all shouted in unison.

  “Everyone, spread out. I want to see some CRCs. Now!”

  “CRCs?” I whispered into her ear.

  “Combat readiness check,” she said. “Pay attention now.”

  They gave each other about six feet of space before they began running towards the end of the roof, where they bent down, touched the ground, stood up, and ran in the other direction. As I expected, the men were faster, but three girls were ahead of a handful of boys. The reflection from her glasses showed that Alyssa was in second place among the girls.

  After three back and forths, they pulled out what looked like knives, but nearly four feet long, and began swinging them so quickly. I imagined they would be heavy, especially after such a run. The difference in pace also meant that by the time the last girl began her first swing. Two boys were already doing the next thing. They dropped to the floor, pushed themselves up, then sprang to their feet, only to repeat the process.

  After which, they went to do another run. Except every five or six steps, they would leap forward, roll on the ground, then continue. This was the last thing before they lined back up where they had started. Of the first five boys to finish, one was panting. Lady Evelyn dismissed him as well as anyone else who was panting when they got back in line.

  When the last girl reached the line, we were down to six girls and seven boys.

  “Time to pick,” Lady Evelyn whispered.

  Great, I thought. This sucks. I guess the girls first. Alyssa was the second-fastest of the girls, and perhaps I was picking the wrong one because of that. But I just had a feeling about her, like she would be the right choice.

  As for the boys, the three fastest didn’t really impress me. They seemed stressed in a way that just didn’t feel like they should be fighting a wolf. No, that wasn’t quite right. Anyone who could complete that exercise without being out of breath could kill a wolf. It was more like, if a huge wolf came out, one that could kill a knight. Those three didn’t feel like they’d be the ones to win.

  The only one that gave me the impression he was up to fighting such a monstrous wolf was the blonde-haired one who answered Lady Evelyn’s question. There was a sense of confidence in his smile that made me want to believe.

  “Your name?” I asked him.

  “William, my Lady.”

  “William and Alyssa. Those are my choices,” I said, trying to sound confident.