By breakfast, I had lost the examination in three different ways. According to the students beside the stairs, I had allowed Aiden a victory because injuring a promising commoner would have looked petty.
According to the next table, my hand had been too damaged for me to hold the sword properly. According to someone who hadn't lowered his voice when I passed, I had never been as strong as the Valdrake name suggested.
That last explanation was inconveniently close to the present facts. I sat at the household table and let a server place breakfast beside my left hand. Ren had asked the kitchen to do that after watching me lift the pitcher with the wrong arm.
My shoulder hurt less at rest. It had not improved my ability to pour water. Below, a student repeated the story about letting Aiden win. His friend asked why I had needed a healer afterward.
"To make it convincing."
