Rebel: The Blades of the Rose by Zoe Archer

Before long, it sizzled as it cooked on a spit, and the dusk filled with the sounds of roasting meat and nocturnal insects striking up their song.
    â€œSee that?” she said, nodding toward the sky. Lesperance followed her gaze to some low-hanging clouds in the east. “That faint glow at the bottom of the clouds. It’s light from the Heirs’ campfire.”
    He scowled. “A taunt.”
    â€œExactly. They want us to know they’re coming for you, and there’s nothing we can do to stop them.”
    He looked murderous, but it was one small drop of the Heirs’ arrogance. “We know where they are. We can stop them—use magic against them.”
    â€œI’ve none to use,” she answered. “The code of the Blades demands that Blades may only use magic that is theirs by birth or gift.”
    â€œDamned inconvenient,” he muttered.
    â€œIt can be.”
    â€œYou’re not a Blade anymore,” he pointed out.
    Hell. The prohibition of magic use was deeply ingrained into all Blades. She’d forgotten that their code no longer applied to her. Astrid knew it was inscribed in her very blood, no matter how much she wished otherwise.
    â€œJust be cautious,” she said instead. He gave a clipped nod. Even though the Heirs were nipping at their heels, she needed to think of something else. “Take care with rabbit,” she advised him. “They are too lean to live on. You can gorge yourself on them and still starve to death. Be sure to eat enough fat. Even pure suet, if you must.”
    He looked at her without hiding his interest. “You know a hell of a lot about living out in the wilderness.”
    â€œIf I did not, I would be dead.”
    â€œAnd did you know as much, before you came to the Territory?”
    She gave a noncommittal shrug. “I knew some things.”
    â€œWhat brought you out here?”
    Astrid glowered. “This is the edge of nowhere, and you’re cross-examining me.”
    He refused to look abashed. In truth, he appeared downright arrogant. “I studied law for three years and took up at the firm right after that. Nobody argued a case better than me. Even ones that others thought unwinnable. I helped a Chinese laborer with settlement against a white banker who cheated the laborer of his savings. Everyone was sure the banker would win. The Chinese have hardly any rights in Victoria. But the banker lost, because I got the truth out of him. I always do.”
    She believed all of that. She felt her own truths laid bare before him. And as for arguing, she and Lesperance did that very well.
    It would be better if she kept quiet, if she knew as little about him as possible, yet she could not stop herself. “Will you go back to Victoria, go back to the law, after all this?”
    Arrogance fell away as he considered his options. “I’d be the only wolf in the courtroom.”
    â€œI’ve heard that lawyers are jackals.”
    A corner of his mouth turned up, wry. “Then it could be my advantage. Wolf beats jackal.” He shook his head at the fancy. “Maybe I can’t return. Maybe I won’t be able to find other Earth Spirits. All I know for certain is that I want to rip out the Heirs’ throats.” He gave a small self-mocking snort. “Finding out I can turn into a wolf, and that there’s a gang of murderous Englishmen after me, threw off all my pretty plans.”
    What those plans were, he didn’t say, but she was surprised at the loss coloring his deep voice. He didn’t show his vulnerability if he could help it. A twinge of shame pierced her, having, up to that point, mostly considered her own unhappiness at being drawn into this mission. It wasn’t a mission to Lesperance. It was his life.
    â€œI’m sorry,” she said, for that was all she could offer. She knew what it was to have dreams for the future, and those dreams to blow away like