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67 - Madhouse
Sparring was agonizing thanks to her hobbling leg and the occasional ripping spasms that made her grit her teeth against the crippling pain that flooded her from thigh to foot, but she wasn’t going to show weakness. Pierro’s growing smirk as the minutes slipped past was already making her want to murder him, and he was probably one stumble away from taunting her again, his favorite pastime.
She had to stop caring so much, she told herself as she and Doufan circled each other in the dirt. Two of the standing torches had gone out by the training ground they had chosen, but it was still bright enough to see the man’s narrowed eyes and the angular, serpent-like face they peered out of. Doufan, the most mysterious of them all. Pierro was loud and brash; there could be no comparison. Aimee was quieter, but only in the haughtiest and most transparent of ways, and Anzi—Anzi had never been mysterious at all. Standoffish, yes, she could admit it now, but never my
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