“I don't want her in the city.” Cheriour turned to her. “And you need to get Cynerik’s soldiers settled.”
Belanna shrugged. “But if she stays with me, I can get her trained for ye.”
Cheriour almost cracked a smile.Almost.“You threw your last trainee off a cliff.”
“Aye. Well, Elliot had a fear of heights. He doesn’ anymore....”
“Jesus.You killed someone?” I gaped at her.
“No, he’s alive,” Belanna chirped. “Only broke two bones.”
Only.That was a ringing endorsement.Come train with me. You’ll only break a bone or two.
Also...
“Wait, training? Like sword-and-shield-fighttraining?” It had taken a minute to sink in. But now that it had... “Oh no.Hellno. Absolutely not. I’m not a sword-wielding kinda person. I’m…uh…cleaning! A cleaning person.” I sure as shit was not. My idea ofcleaningwas putting the dirty dishesinthe dishwasher instead of leaving them in the sink. But a little white lie never hurt anyone. “I can clean this castle for you...like a scullery maid? Is that the term?”
“You should know how to defend yourself,” Cheriour said.
“Am I to understand,” Quinn closed his eyes, “that shetrulydoesn’t know how to fight?”
“Can you stop talking about me like I’m not standing right here?”
“She doesn’t,” Cheriour said.
“I told ye she was afraid of the knife. She’s powerless too,” Belanna added.
Quinn opened his eyes and leveled me with a long, condemnatory stare.
My skin itched. Like an,I’m having an allergic reaction to somethingkind ofburning. Beneath me, Sacrifice shifted and shook her head, likely sensing my agitation. I kicked my feet out of the stirrups, desperate to get out of the saddle. Cheriour’s hand dropped to my wrist, his work-roughened hand shackling me.
“Then she’s a liability,” Quinn said after a long beat.
“Agreed.” Cheriour tapped his thumb against my wrist. “But she should be given a chance.”
Given a chance?A chance to do what? Prove to these lunatics I was worthy ofliving?
Quinn pursed his lips. “Fine. But we won’t waste our time on a lost cause. One month. If she doesn’t progress by the end of the month, youwillescort her from the city. Or kill her, if that’s what you prefer.”
“That seems fair,” Cheriour said.
The fuck was he smoking? No, itdidn’tseem fair.
“Bull—” I hissed when Cheriour’s hold tightened. It didn’t hurt. But if he held me any tighter, there would be pain.
“She can stay in that room.” Quinn’s nose wrinkled, as though disgusted by the very idea. “Witha guard. You may be foolish enough to trust her, but I am not.”
“Didn’t you just call me a lost cause? What do you think I’d do—”
“Hush,” Cheriour muttered to me before he nodded at Quinn. “Understood.”
“Fine.” Quinn’s eyes, when he turned them toward me, were brimming with hate. And terror. And anger.
The itchy sensation kept creepy-crawling across my skin. “What is—ouch!”
Cheriour squeezed my wrist, sending a quick shot of pain up my arm.
Quinn’s lips thinned. For a second, I thought he would march over and gut me with his sword. But he turned away with a grunt. “Cheriour, take her to her room. I'll find someone to guard it once I finish tending the injured. Belanna, you can help me. Where is Marcel?”
