Fist of the Furor by Frankie Rose, R. K. Ryals, Melissa Ringsted

admiration that blunted the sharpness.
    “I’m sure I don’t follow,” I whispered.
    Mothelamew sighed. “I’m sure you don’t, Aean Brirg. I’ve heard what the prince calls you. He is right. You are a little bird. Often you appear small and weak, but when you rise up, you will be mighty. Listen well. You are the daughter of more than one god, your blood the blood of more than one nation.” He nodded at the prince where he stood between Catriona and Gabriella, his steely blue gaze on Mothelamew and me. “For some it takes marriage to bind nations.” His wrinkled hand suddenly found my shoulder, and I flinched. “For others, it takes simply being born.”
    With that, he vanished into the crowd, his words ringing through my head. You are the daughter of more than one god, your blood the blood of more than one nation .
    “The mage must have had foul words for you,” Daegan’s voice spoke abruptly, and I jumped, my gaze flying to his blue cloaked frame. The bowmen grinned from beneath his hood. “There isn’t much that shakes you these days, Phoenix. Most of us take notice when you tremble.”
    I fingered a dagger I kept hidden in a sheath beneath my cloak. It was my preferred weapon when it was inappropriate for me to wear a bow to a function. It wasn’t as useful as my bow, but I was much better with a dagger than I was with a sword.
    “I am ready to return to the forest,” I told Daegan.
    He snorted. “Aye. As am I. I feel useless here, as if we are making no headway. My body yearns for a fight. I have dreams about Raemon’s men, about being branded. I worry.”
    I glanced at him. “We all do.”
    “I know how to fight in a forest,” Daegan added. “Here, I feel like a target.”
    “Aye,” Maeve’s voice echoed from behind me. “Like an uneducated, obvious target.”
    I kept my gaze on the prince. His blue eyes locked with mine, even though I knew he couldn’t see my face, shrouded as it was by the hood. “Never uneducated, Maeve. Sometimes it doesn’t take books to make a scholar.”
    “Ha!” She laughed. “Words uttered by a scribe.”
    Gabriella’s gaze followed Cadeyrn’s, and her eyes narrowed. My gaze slid away.
    I turned toward Maeve. “Books are often a great start, but words need experience. They need trial and error. Never fear words. Use them.”
    Maeve nodded, her lips tight. She was so much brighter than she gave herself credit for. I’d been teaching her to read while we were in Sadeemia, and she was a fast learner. She was strong, witty, and capable.
    “The forest never judges,” Maeve breathed. “I’m ready to return to it.”
    A squeak startled me, and I glanced down to find Thomas the mouse hiding beneath my cloak. Maeve’s gaze followed mine, and though she inhaled sharply, she didn’t shriek.
    “By the gods,” Daegan swore. “Is that what I think it is?”
    Maeve harrumphed. “At least it isn’t snakes.”
    Daegan’s eyes widened. “I miss all of the good stuff.”
    The image of Cadeyrn in his chamber came to mind, and I couldn’t help but agree.
    “There is danger,”Thomas called up to me.
    I nodded at Maeve and Daegan, and we moved slowly along the walls of the reception hall. The mouse climbed on top of my boot, squeezing his body between the top of my shoe and my leg. I shuddered at his unusual warmth, my jaw clenching.
    Pausing just outside the ballroom, I glanced down at my foot. “What do you mean danger?” I asked.
    The mouse’s head popped out of my boot. “I’m not sure, my Queen. There is unrest among some of the palace guests. There is talk of betrayal. I am sure they are foreign, but they are not part of the Henderonian or Greemallian delegation.”
    Stooping, I urged the mouse to climb into my palm before setting him gently on the floor. “You’ve done well, Thomas. Find out what they are up to and come back to me.”
    The mouse scurried away, and I glanced up at Maeve and Daegan. “There are men in the palace that do not belong