Chapter 53 (In hand-to-hand combat)

Valya spends weeks absorbing Swordmaster techniques on Ginaz while integrating them with her Sisterhood training and past experiences. Master Placido takes special interest in her progress and, at dusk, presses her into a live-blade duel, dispensing with masks and vests as a deliberate compliment and test.

Placido’s opening flurry penetrates Valya’s defenses, nicking her and proving his superior swordcraft. Valya refuses to overextend; she studies his patterns, controls her body and emotions like a Reverend Mother, and searches for an unexpected counter that does not rely on steel.

As Placido launches a running attack, Valya focuses a newly honed, commanding Voice and orders him to halt. He freezes with his blade a hand’s-breadth from her chest. Maintaining control, Valya circles him, then deliberately draws a thin cut across his brow—asserting dominance without killing him—while stunned students witness the reversal.

When Placido finally breaks the compulsion, he demands to know how she did it. Valya offers only a secretive smile, recognizing her Voice as a potent new weapon. She departs, leaving behind a chastened instructor and a changed reputation among the students.

At dawn, a courier delivers a coded message from Wallach IX. Raquella herself orders Valya to return immediately, declaring she can wait no longer and must announce her successor, pulling Valya from Ginaz and propelling her into looming Sisterhood politics.