Heena smoothly twisted her wrist, parrying the stiletto with a brutal deflection that threw the Empress off balance. But the Empress was no helpless noblewoman. She used the momentum to spin, the heavy yellow silk of her robes masking her footwork, and slashed backward, aiming a lethal, horizontal cut directly at Heena's ribs.
Heena leaned back, the poisoned edge missing her flesh by a millimeter, slicing cleanly through the black fabric of her top.
Without missing a beat, Heena retaliated. She stepped into the Empress's guard, driving her knee viciously into the older woman's stomach. The Empress gasped, stumbling backward against the Emperor's desk. Before she could recover, Heena slashed her short sword in a blinding upward arc.
The blade tore through the thick imperial yellow silk, leaving a deep, bleeding gash across the Empress's right shoulder.
