EA Chapter 26 - No Love Lost

“You’re a bastard,” Luna noted.

Kane sucked a breath in through his teeth. “Not... my preferred term, but yes.”

With this information in mind, she could tell that Kane was being sincere. His skin was darker in tone than Aryn, and his nose was pointier, but the similarities in their jawlines and eye shape were too distinct to overlook.

“No claim to the throne?” Luna asked, deciding whether or not he needed to be put on a kill list for later.

He shrugged. “Illegitimate offspring can’t claim. Even if the whole royal family were to be wiped out. Even so, my status does grant some privileges. Like getting a spot at the Citadel, as opposed to some remote academy in the boonies.”

Well, that was already more than what bastards tended to get in Luna’s home dimension.

“I... my father is the current king of Elthreme. I’m one of a handful of illegitimate offspring, born about... half a year before Aryn was. So we grew up together. We were... friends of a sort,” he said, a bitter chuckle rising in his throat.

“Playmates, then?”

Kane hesitated. “I suppose that was the idea. People like me are a cut above commoners, so there’s no issue with a prince being friends with the likes of me. Of course as soon as Aryn was smart enough to understand our difference in station, he didn’t much care for my presence.” He took a few paces from the wall, tucking his hands into his trouser pockets. “I’ll tell you this because... because I think somebody has to.”

“Oh?” Luna gave him a bored look. “Colour me fascinated.” And yet she listened, all the same. Just in case he said anything of value.

“I was also one of Aryn’s training partners, you see. We both practised under the same masters at the palace, another benefit of my heritage. I got to see how strong he is firsthand... and how vicious he can be when he’s angry. And not only is his qi really damn potent for his age, but he was a fast learner when it came to learning the Way of Metal.”

She had seen that power in action during training exercises. The power to convert his qi into metal, using it to reinforce his body, alter the landscape, and create weaponry from thin air. It would be a potent power, even in the hands of an idiot. Perplexingly, for she had tried to subtly influence his metal constructs during training, she understood that qi infused metal could not be controlled as easily as standard metal. Bending his creations with her mind alone was not an option.

Well, that simply meant she would need to take a harder approach to overcoming him.

“There was a time where we were roughly equal in terms of skill and ability. Neck and neck, I suppose. And yet with every training session where he couldn’t surpass me, he seemed to grow more frustrated. Angrier, harsher, more violent in our bouts.”

He grimaced from some phantom pain, reaching down and stroking the outside of his left leg. “Until, one day, he got a lucky hit. Broke my leg. And, not content with that, he beat the snot out of me while I was on the ground. I... aha... I might well have died that day, if Master Aruk hadn’t pulled him off of me.”

“I take it, then, that the friendship had well and truly soured by then?”

“Ha. You’re cold, Luna. But you’re not wrong,” he admitted. “That’s... the kind of guy Aryn is. When he gets worked up in a fight, when he’s well and truly angry, he’d make your beastkin friend look like a big cuddly puppy. And given his status, it’d probably be smart to surrender so he doesn’t have a Citadel-sanctioned excuse to maul you.”

“What? You mean the faculty would sit back and let him kill another student, just because he’s a prince?” Luna asked, slowly lifting an eyebrow.

“Not kill you. Probably wouldn’t go that far. But the referee would likely be hesitant to step in until things get really bad.”

“I see.” Her expression became neutral. But inwardly her mind was abuzz, contemplating her next course of action in the battle to come. “My thanks, Kane, for telling me all this.”

“Then... you’ll forfeit the match in advance?” he asked, seeming surprised.

Turning, she offered the taller boy a malicious grin. “Fuck no.”