I shoved him. “What would you know about satisfied women?”
He waggled his eyebrows. “You’d be surprised.”
Penn appeared from between the trees, and I prayed to Spirit Earth he hadn’t just heard our conversation.
Hammer shot to his feet, scratching his head, ruddy skin redder than normal.
“This doesn’t look like training to me.” Penn frowned down at us.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s called taking a break.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “It’s called gossiping.”
Oh, good green earth. So he had heard.
Penn strode toward us, stopping in front of me and crouching down. “If you want to talk about your unsatisfactory love life, do it somewhere else.”
My leg twitched, and I wanted to kick him right where I knew it would hurt most. “I don’t have an unsatisfactory love life.”
Penn looked me up and down. “Whatever you say, Lilypad.”
Suddenly I felt self-conscious about my hair, the branches and twigs sticking out of it, the sweat covering my face, the dirt on my clothes. I didn’t know why. I didn’t care what Penn thought of me, but I did care what he thought of Jasper.
“For your information, Jasper is ten times the man you’ll ever be.”
Penn scoffed, and heat flooded my core as he leaned forward, our noses inches apart, his eyes boring into me. He was so close I could kiss him just like I had the night he kidnapped me, and the thought made me dizzy. “Just so you know, there will be no doubt in your mind when you’ve been satisfied.” His voice was low, gravelly. “You’ll know it when your body is aching in all the right places.” He ran a finger along the side of my face, and I held back a shudder. “When your skin is damp with sweat. Your heart beating wildly. Lips swollen. You’ll feel completely satiated but somehow hungry for more.”
I could barely breathe, staring into his eyes, so full of a fire I didn’t recognize.
Hammer cleared his throat, and I shot to my feet. “Training,” I gasped out. “We need to train.”
“Actually,” Penn said, not ruffled in the slightest by our interaction, “we have a new mission, and you’re going to help us plan it.”
“Another one?” I took a step back. “That wasn’t our deal.”
“Well, I think this one will be of interest to you, Lilypad.”
“And why is that?” I crossed my arms, ready to defy him, until the next few words left his mouth.
“Your stepmother’s Huntsman is finally here, in Mosswood Forest, and you’re going to help us figure out how to get rid of him.”
Chapter Seventeen
The seven thieves, Penn, and I stood in his tent, all of us huddled around a table with a map spread out across it. I didn’t see the mirror anywhere, but of course he wouldn’t have such a powerful object just laying around. His bed sat in the corner, the same bed I’d slept in when I first arrived here.
My gaze traveled to a chest in the corner, and I wondered if perhaps the mirror was hidden in there. Though that might be too obvious for the king of thieves. Surely he had a hiding place for all his treasures. And I’d have to figure it out before I could escape this place. A few clothes hung out of a burlap sack in another corner—black pants, a gray tunic—and I imagined Penn in here at night, alone, laying in his bed?—
“Princess,” Hammer said, and my gaze snapped to him.
Everyone stared at me.
“Sorry?” I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “What was that?”
Arrow smirked like she’d known exactly what I was doing, what I was imagining. Oh, that’s right. Penn probably wasn’t alone at night. She’d be with him.
“Sorry if we’re boring you, Lilypad,” Penn drawled, “but if you’d like to keep your freedom, I suggest you pay attention.”
I raised my chin. “Keeping my freedom would imply it’s something I already possess.”
