Lily moved first.
Because of course she did.
She lunged forward with her staff, swinging it in a wide arc meant to keep me at a distance.
Too bad for her — I'd already closed the gap.
With a half-step inward and a lazy pivot of my body, I caught the shaft of her staff with one hand and shattered it with the other.
Effortlessly.
Just to be clear, I didn't snap it. I didn't break it.
I shattered it.
With a single chop, I shattered her staff into splintered fragments that scattered through the air like shrapnel.
She gasped.
I stepped in, slammed a shoulder into hers, and knocked her back — almost sending her off balance.
Her eyes widened.
Because now she remembered.
There was a difference between knowledge and power.
She knew how to fight. I was a fighter.
She was trained. I was forged.
And she may have been good. But I was better.
…However, Lily Elderwing wasn't done yet.
