Poles Apart (2)
In the instant every sound died away, Aurora's right hand flicked out and pointed at Hervena.
"Of one thousand one hundred and twenty-two votes, Hervena received nine hundred and ninety-eight! Hervena is far in the lead!"
In a word, nine to one. The result was so shocking that the students' murmuring swelled.
"Whoa. Even so, that's harsh."
"I thought it'd be something like three to seven, but nine to one..."
"The semifinals were pretty shocking, I'll give them that."
"Well, they did say that Rebecca is still in the recovery room."
"The publicity office is something else. Their own director just stands up there and reads out a result where she's getting buried."
Every eye turned, worried, toward Yulia on the dueling floor.
Yulia, head of that same office, had already known the tally. Far from flinching, she offered the stands an easy smile and even lifted a hand to wave.
Impressive. If it were me, I'd have wanted to crawl into a hole.
Hervena clicked her tongue, still watching her — and then Aurora's bright voice rang through the arena.
"Now that the survey results are out, let's hear a brief word of resolve! First, the higher seed — Hervena!"
At that, Mnevoir's amplification spell bloomed into place before her. Hervena cleared her throat and spoke, clear and steady.
"I will make this a match by which everyone remembers my name."
The tone was nothing but ease, as if she were simply going to take what was already hers. Rachel looked down at her and, with a meaning all her own, lifted one corner of her mouth.
Everyone knowing your name is not nearly the blessing you think it is, Hervena Westriver.
A moment later, the gaze Hervena had been sweeping across the stands came to rest on Rachel. Under eyes that looked ready to swallow her whole, Rachel leaned toward the young man at her side and whispered.
"Your retainer's set her mind good and hard, Blow Deblique."
"She's wound a little tight today, yes."
"If she's wound tight, that's not a bad thing for Yulia."
"Because she'll slip?"
"Yeah. Not one in a hundred. One in a thousand, maybe."
The murmur had barely left Rachel when Aurora's hand swung toward Yulia.
"And next, Student Yulia — your resolve, if you please!"
Yulia let out a breath and opened her mouth, her voice soft.
"My sincere thanks to everyone who came to see the finals. So that none of you will leave disappointed, I, Yulia Edfolk, will meet this match with the bearing of a challenger — with all my strength, and with all my care."
The bearing of a challenger, from Yulia's own mouth. From the fifth- and sixth-years who had shared the school with her for so long, quiet laments slipped out.
"Excellent! The match will begin on the hour, in about three minutes, so please take your positions. And Student Yulia — the matter you notified us of in advance. You may set it up now!"
Yulia inclined her head to Aurora in thanks. Then she tipped a glance down past the edge of the floor, and a rack meant for propping weapons rose onto the arena. On one side stood a longsword, thin and light to the eye; beside it, the battle-axe Blow had seen the day before.
The stands did exactly what Blow and Skadi had done yesterday. Mouths fell open. Heads tipped. Eyes traveled from the weapons to Yulia and back again.
"An axe...?"
"Isn't that haft way too long?"
"What is she planning? What with those trousers today, Senior Yulia just keeps coming out of nowhere..."
"She must've decided she needs a variable if she's going to face Hervena."
"But is she even allowed to use those?"
While the murmurs leaked through the seats, Aurora announced to the crowd that there was no issue with it at all. Hervena swallowed a hollow laugh and cut a sidelong glare toward Yulia.
God, what a fucking production... No. She's the young master's business partner. Fine. So she's putting on a show.
While Hervena strained to keep her face in order, Yulia Edfolk looked down at her own hands and drew a long breath. Days of gripping weapons far too hard had raised blisters across her palms and along every knuckle. She had left them there on purpose, a reminder of her own effort before the match; now, at last, she healed them — and lifted her eyes straight into Hervena's glare.
"You've prepared something amusing, Senior."
"But of course. Do you know whom I'm facing? I prepared very diligently."
"Naturally. I hear you even went so far as to train with Lady Rachel."
"......"
"Of course, were it me, I wouldn't have wasted effort of that sort."
Hervena smiled, thin and ominous, and let the provocation hang. Yulia only watched her, the corner of her mouth rising, and answered at her leisure.
"You're welcome to look forward to it, Hervena."
"Do. I hope you're better than Senior Rebecca."
"I think I ought to say something about that. You went rather too far with Lady Rebecca, Hervena."
"Too far how?"
"I mean the way you used Rebecca's magic exactly as it was. And the way you used mine."
"If I can use it, what reason would I have not to? It's not as though there's a rule that forbids it."
Pitching a goddamn fit over nothing.
Hervena threw it back with irritation thick in her voice. Yulia let out a short, scornful breath of a laugh and answered in a tone gone cold.
"Conduct of that sort — and speaking to me in that manner — is what people generally call a lack of manners. Hervena Westriver."
"What did you say?"
Hervena's control broke. Her face twisted into an ugly scowl as she stared at Yulia, who answered without a single crack in her composure.
"How much further do you intend to shame the young master?"
"What on earth are you—"
"Lady Rebecca is the Northern Grand Duke's daughter before she is a student. You were that rude to her. Are you assuming the young master will simply clean it up?"
"......"
"Young Master Blow is close with Skadi as well. Then again, if you had thought any more deeply, you wouldn't have acted that way in the first place."
It was a corner she had never thought to look in. Before she knew it, Hervena's fist had clenched tight.
"Or is it that you have some faith I myself will take care of it for you? I'm sorry to say so, but I am the young master's business partner. I am not here to mop up after you."
"The young master hasn't said a word, so I don't understand why you're speaking this way, Senior. I..."
"And what exactly would the young master say to you, with the match a day away? You wear your discomfort so thickly every time. Do you imagine he could even get a proper word out with you?"
"......"
"Compare the way he treats Jane — or Linne, and the new staff — with the way he treats you. Surely you know it better than anyone. Truly... look at the pair of you, and one can hardly tell who serves and who is served."
Hervena bit down until her teeth ached. Her hand began to shake.
Again. Again, that damned Jane...
I know. I know the young master is uncomfortable with me. That the face he shows Jane and the face he shows me are not the same. That he will never smile at me so easily, so naturally. That whenever there is anything to say, Jane's name is always somewhere in it.
So why do you get to be the one to point it out — you, who stand even farther from him than I do?
Fury climbed all the way to the crown of her head. Tears stung at her eyes.
"I have heard just about enough—"
"You're angry because there isn't a word of it that's wrong. And you started this, Hervena Westriver."
Yulia cut her off mid-sentence and withdrew even the gaze she had turned on her.
After the volley had passed, Hervena went on glaring as if she meant to kill her — and then decided this was a mercy instead. The match had not yet begun.
Yes. In exactly one minute, I can pound her into pulp.
Had she heard this with no duel waiting, she would have been able to do nothing at all. This way was better. Yulia had raked her so thoroughly just now that Hervena could grind her down inch by inch and not feel so much as a splinter of guilt. With the venom risen clean through her, she blew out a breath and clawed her hair into a wild tangle.
Blow and Skadi, who knew perfectly well that the ruined hair meant Hervena was furious, stole a look at each other.
"Hervena's angry already?"
"Terrifying, and it hasn't even started. What did Senior Yulia say?"
"What did she say? Yulia just chewed your retainer out within an inch of her life."
From a fair distance off, Rachel — who had not missed a word of their exchange — looked down at the pair as if she might die of laughter. Blow put the question to her.
"What were they talking about, for Hervena to get that angry?"
"Oh, nothing. Just the business of your retainer's match with Rebecca."
"She did go too far. That's true."
"Yulia's really letting her have it over it. But from what I heard, there wasn't much in it that was wrong."
"I ought to go see Rebecca on my own, now that the preliminaries are over, and have a word with her."
Rachel nodded to him, then shifted her gaze toward Jane, who was looking down at the floor with worry written all over her.
Interesting girl. The way those two fret over her... Jane Foresti, an ordinary life is already out of the question for you.
"My lady? Is there something on my face?"
Rachel had been staring so long that Jane ventured the question with care. Rachel let out a soft breath of a laugh and shook her head.
"No. I was only thinking what a pretty face that is."
"Pardon? Why would you suddenly..."
Compliments of that sort had been finding Jane often lately, and they were nothing but a burden. While she flustered under this one, Aurora at last brought her mouth to the amplification spell to declare the match begun.