It was her mother’s agility in battle that had earned her the nickname Kestrel to begin with, but Karina had never seen her fight firsthand. Even through the confusion and terror, Karina’s breath caught as she watched her mother twist in and out of the path of the assassin’s blows like a leaf in the wind. Now she understood that the Kestrel had never hated her, for this was what her mother’s hatred looked like, and it was bloodcurdling.
