“Is it your turn to threaten me now?”
He tilted his head. “Why would I threaten you when I just finished protecting you?”
“I’m still trying to figure out why you intervened at all. Alexei didn’t.”
The general stared at me, drilling right into my soul, unnerving and entrapping me all at once.
His shadows shot toward my face, and I jerked back. But they only tickled up my nose, making the pain disappear.
“I thought I told you to keep your shadows away from me,” I said half-heartedly.
He raised a brow. “You didn’t seem to mind them at the bar.”
“Yes, well, it was the least you could do after letting me drink a cocktail that steals your senses.”
“Maybe next time you’ll give me the truth up front and I won’t have to watch you make a fool of yourself.”
I bit my tongue to hold in the curses I wanted to spew. I even kept the glare off my face as I held his gaze. It was the same silent game—a battle of wills through eye contact. And he had the upper hand. Because holding his eyes made me feel like I’d only been breathing with one lung for the past twenty years.
But he held no respect for me. And he wasn’t Aspen.
Guilt pierced the magnetic pull, forcing me to look away—once again.
“Did you force me against this wall just to demean me?”
“Did you not want relief from your pain?” he countered.
“I’ve been in worse pain than this.”
“I know.” His voice softened, doing things I didn’t like to my nerves. The shadows dancing around him sank back into his skin. “You have a broken rib and nose, but no internal bleeding. Go to the healers’ wing and askfor Sam.”
He turned to leave, and I snatched his wrist, my fingers brushing that curious bit of raised skin.
“You care enough to rescue me but don’t want to train me? I don’t want to end up suffocating on water again.”
The general’s eyes dropped to my hand on his wrist, then dragged back up to meet my gaze. “The king told me to keep you alive. I wouldn’t call that caring. I’d call that a job. And Theon won’t be a problem anymore. I made sure of that.”
No wonder he wanted to be rid of me.
Whispers drew my attention. Most of the warriors were still practicing, but some were definitely staring, particularly at my hand on his wrist.
I released him. “What about my next opponent?”
“Don’t worry, Hellion. I’ll do my job.”
It took every ounce of my willpower not to smack the self-confident ass. I didn’t want his rescuing. I wanted his favor. But the only ways I knew to gain that were by ranking or building a relationship with him, and I highly doubted the latter would ever happen.
“I want to rank.”
“Hellion, unless there’s something I haven’t seen, you’ll never rank. Even with the accelerated muscle growth and recovery from your angelic blood, you’re still years behind your squad’s skill level.”
“That’s why I want you to train me.”
“You’ll never catch up in two months.”
“You have no idea what I’m capable of,” I snapped. He didn’t know me. I’d do anything to protect the ones I loved.
“No,” he said firmly, then left.
