A Court of Ash and Necromancy

2. Dance of the Night

Estelle gripped her sword, Aesira, in one hand and reversed her jagged dagger, Znaniya, in the other. She, along with her friend Sienna, were facing off against two other Peregryns, Celeste and Calden. Calden dipped his blonde head in a curt nod and they began.

Estelle crossed blades with Celeste, while Sienna caught Calden's attack. Celeste's silver eyes twinkled with delight. "What?" Estelle laughed. "You look like you're hiding something."

"I'm not." Celeste pushed her away and twirled behind her, flaring her large white wings out to balance herself. "I'm just glad I'm finally not on your side."

"Why?" Estelle raised an eyebrow. "My side always wins."

"Yeah, because you cheat," Calden taunted.

"She does not!" Sienna drove him back a few paces.

"Winning is fun and all," Celeste continued, "but sometimes kicking your ass is all the fun I need." Her honey brown skin glistened with sweat.

Estelle rolled her eyes. "You've never kicked my ass." She sheathed Znaniya and rolled beneath Celeste's next attack. Estelle leaped to her feet, then stumbled forward as Celeste landed a solid kick to her ass.

"Now I have," Celeste laughed.

"Who taught you that move?" Estelle shook her wings out and readjusted her hands on her sword hilt. "Lysander or Corbin?"

Celeste grimaced, swiping a few hazelnut blonde curls out of her face. "Corbin. You know Lys and I don't spend very much time together anymore."

"Right," Calden huffed, matching Sienna's blows. "Why? What happened between you two?"

Celeste shrugged and her blade locked with Aesira again. "It's like what happened with Mikael. Our feelings never grew beyond flirtations and a few hookups. We've decided to just be friends, but things are a little awkward right now."

Estelle gritted her teeth as possessive instincts flared within her chest. She attempted to shove them aside. She knew her mate and Celeste had once shared an on and off affair, but that was over a century ago, before she'd known either of them. Of course, that didn't mean she appreciated hearing about it or being reminded of it.

"Sorry," Celeste mumbled, having picked up on Estelle's shift in mood.

Estelle shook her head, refocusing herself on sparring. "It's fine. But maybe the next time you think you care for someone, you should make sure you actually do care for them before taking things to the next level. Lys really liked you."

Celeste averted her gaze, and Calden and Sienna wisely remained silent. Estelle had been the first to know when things fell apart between Celeste and her little brother. Lysander had written to her after it happened, asking her to come to the Night Court so they could talk.

Estelle obliged and she'd spent the entire night sitting up with him while he ranted about how stupid and used he felt. It had taken all of her self control not to throttle Celeste the next time she saw her. It wasn't that Celeste had purposefully hurt Lysander. Estelle knew that, but it didn't change the fact that she had hurt him, and Lysander was left feeling like he'd been used.

She didn't know if Lysander had ever told Celeste that he felt that way or not. If he had, she guessed Celeste would've apologized profusely, but Lysander wasn't usually one to admit when he'd been deeply hurt. Estelle knew he hadn't even told Nyx and Corbin the true extent of how badly he was hurting. That fact alone told her that Lysander might've actually considered himself to be in love with Celeste, and that just made everything even worse.