“Are any of these fools worth your time?” he asked, and it almost sounded like he was suppressing a growl.
“When it comes to training, everyone with the courage to wield a blade is worth my time.”
It wasn’t what he meant, and based on his dismissive grunt, we both knew it.
“You could be kinder to them, you know?” I supplied, crossing my arms. “Attempt to show them they can trust you.”
“They are not kind to me.”
“So be the bigger man. Male,” I quickly corrected.
Lancaster surveyed the ring as the humans paired up for a new round. Finally, he said, “I have never gone out of my way to be kind to others.”
“You’ve been kind to Ophelia and my friends,” I corrected.
“I have owed them debts.”
That was true, I supposed. Outside of the bargains between Ophelia, Tolek, and Lancaster that none of them had touched since the theater, he’d also owed us all for assisting his sister after the catacombs. Though the wound still plagued her, we’d kept her alive this long.
Still, with how he’d betrayed his queen to keep Tolek alive while Ophelia went against Ritalia’s wishes to fulfill the Angelcurse…
“I think many of us would consider those debts paid,” I said.
Lancaster angled his body toward mine, the sharp lines of his face appearing to question me. As if he thought perhaps I was kidding. With the shift, his pinky brushed mine, and a pulse of fire went through my body. His jaw ground at precisely the same moment—stare latching on to me with a planetary force—the overwhelming scent of roses filtering through the air. No blood this time.
I blinked rapidly as my heart rate returned to normal, but the heat lingeredeverywhere. In places I especially did not want to feel it.
Clearing his throat, entirely unaffected and probably bemoaning my weird human reactions, Lancaster turned back to the ring. For a while, we observed the training in silence, my muscles utterly at ease after a morning of tense interactions attempting to crack the stubborn ice.
The humans kept a wide berth around the bales we sat on, and each time they passed by, my fingers clenched into a fist. Lancaster noticed, gaze silently dropping every instance.
Those were my people out there. My fragile, short-lived, humankind, and yet around them, I was shaken. But I was entirely comfortable sitting quietly on a stack of hay with a predator beside me.
I tried not to look too deeply into that.
“Do you sense anything in them?” I asked Lancaster after a while. Were any Bounties among us?
He shook his head, but he asked a question I didn’t expect. “You aren’t from Palerman originally, correct?”
His words were business-like, but his dark eyes were softer than I expected. Like he was remembering the small apartment with the threadbare rug and how I’d shut myself in the back bedroom without an explanation.
Shaking away the painful memories, I pushed off the hay and wiped my hands down my leathers, ready to force myself to make another attempt with the humans.
“No, I’m from a northern city. Why?” I took a step forward, nodding for Lancaster to accompany me. He didn’t, so I rolled my eyes and carried on, but my toe caught on something, and I stumbled.
Instantly, though I was far from hitting the ground, a broad hand wrapped around my waist, fingers splayed against my stomach.
Heat sizzled through my body again, roses surrounding me and my chest thrumming. My gaze snapped over my shoulder, meeting his.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” I whispered.
Lancaster’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second before setting in a steady frown. “No. I should not have.”
His pupils were dilated, and I had a feeling mine were, too. These Bounty and Hunter instincts were running rampant. Carefully, he removed a stalk of hay that had gotten tangled in my ponytail, flicking it away as if it was the most distasteful thing he’d ever seen.
I only blinked at him for a moment, inhaling the heavy scent of roses before I snapped myself out of the reverie. Pushing the male’s hand away—absolutely not mourning the heat of his palm—I stood upright.
“Why did you ask about Palerman?”
