Danyl’s recommendation, same as me. He owes Danyl four years’ service for that favor. I suppose I got off lucky with only two.
“My brother taught me to box,” Kade said.
“Adrik is famous at Kingmakers,” I said.
“I know,” Kade sighed.
I supposed it was a lot to live up to. But that’s the nature of our world—you must surpass the achievements of your father, your grandfather, and your great-grandfather. That is empire building.
After class, Snow clapped me on the shoulder.
“You did well today,” he told me.
“You mean I was a better babysitter,” I snorted.
“If you can’t teach something, then you don’t know it very well yourself,” Snow said.
I nodded, struggling against my residual resentment over how easily he’d beaten me.
As he was about to tidy up the gym, I burst out, “What was it like fighting Rueben Hagler?”
Snow turned back, cocking one graying eyebrow.
“It was one of the hardest fights of my life,” he said, his gravelly voice heavy with exhaustion just from the memory of it. “Hagler was known as an intelligent and adaptable boxer. No matter how you tried to change your strategy in the fight, he would match it. I was past my peak at that point. Defending my belt against the up-and-comer—”
“I know!” I interrupted, unable to help myself. “I watched the fight live on TV. My father let me stay up—we were in Moscow, so it was late, almost two o’clock in the morning before it even began.”
Snow shook his head. “You must have been a baby . . .”
“I was four. I did fall asleep, but my father woke me up when you walked out to the ring. Hagler had played his fight song, like boxers always do, but when you entered, the lights went down until there was only this pale white beam on the ring, and no music, only a soft, whispering noise like snowflakes falling down . . .”
Snow chuckled. “He hated that sound. All the boxers did. They were trying to amp themselves up before the fight. The quiet took the heart right out of them.”
“It was mesmerizing,” I said, fully immersed in the memory of sitting on my father’s lap, heavy with sleep, but glued to the television screen where the powerful boxer stepped into the ring, pale and blond just like me, with eyes of glittering ice. I’d never seen anyone more terrifying.
“The fight started out rough. I tried to keep my distance. I had a good reach, and Hagler was known for using lateral movements, working the body. But it was no good. He kept the pressure on me, finding the perfect moment to throw his power blows right to my fuckin’ liver. I had never taken hits like that. They bent me over.”
Snow winced, as if he could still feel the phantom blows.
“God, he was quick, too. He frustrated me. He would hit me with a punch, I’d try to return one, and I couldn’t fucking find him, it was like he’d turned to smoke. He was damaging me. I couldn’t feel all the hits, but I felt myself getting slow and stiff.”
I remembered all this. How the older champion had been attacked again and again by the vicious young phenom, who had double the odds at the bookies. Everyone said Hagler would be the man to take Snow down.
“Did you think he would win?” I asked Snow, watching his face closely to see the truth, whatever he might reply.
“No,” Snow said, firm and decisive.
“Not even for a minute?”
“No.” Snow shook his head.
“But . . . how? How did you know you’d come back and win?”
Snow smiled to himself.
“I knew I would win because I promised Sasha I would,” he said. “And I’ve never failed her yet.”
I looked at him narrowly, thinking he was joking.
It was a ridiculous answer. No boxer could win a fight just to please his wife.
Snow could see my incredulity.
“A fight isn’t won by belief. But once you’ve done all you can in the gym . . .” He tapped my chest once more, reminding me of our previous conversation. “The last bit is in here. You’ll know that it’s true. Once you’ve found it yourself.”
I found it infuriating that Snow kept talking about boxing as if it had anything to do with emotion. Yet I kept thinking over what he said as I ran to my next class.
I’d already missed Cat, who must have gone on without me when I failed to appear. I also missed International Banking, Professor Graves having already shut