“The mechanics?” She held her hands out to the fire’s warmth. “I have no idea. I just can.”
“It’s how she survived the pit.” Pierce’s face shuttered, as if the thought of her alone and suffering bothered him. “She called for food and water.”
“You can call for food?” Flynn perked up, waving the hardtack at her. “Can you get us something better than this?”
“You want me to conjure you something to eat?”
He nodded eagerly.
A pot of lumpy oatmeal appeared in front of him—the exactpot from the shields’ dining room. He stared at the unappetizing mush in horror. “What’s this?”
“What the guards feed their shields.”
He nudged the offending pot with the toe of his boot. “You can’t blame me for that. I don’t run the kitchen.”
“Try it,” she insisted.
He pulled a spoon from his mess kit and did as she asked. His lips drew away from his teeth in disgust. “It’s so bland. No one could eat this.”
Haven’s expression hardened. “Yet they served it every day. You could demand better treatment for the women.” Her voice was as cold as the wind howling outside.
He gaped at her. “We protect women by protecting the kingdom.”
Her lush lips curled into a sneer. “Like you protected me?”
Furrows cut into the space between his brows, and he gazed at her as if she was a particularly vexing puzzle. “What’s made you so bitter?” Was he trying to rile her? He was certainly riling me.
Sometimes, Flynn needed a gag—a fucking ball gag.
Haven turned toward him, giving him her whole attention. “Do you really have to ask that? I’m entitled to my bitterness.”
Flynn looked crestfallen. “You blame us?”
He was a bigger idiot than Grayson. Of course she blamed us. It was our fault.
“You’re surprised?” She sounded incredulous. “You watched while your friend whipped me.”
“He’s not our friend. Drake is a fuckwad.”
“You still watched,” Haven said quietly.
“So he wouldn’t go too far.”
“Enough!” The ugly red flush on Grayson’s face was a warning.
A warning Haven chose to ignore. Her little hands tightenedinto fists as she glared. “You think you’re the heroes. You’re not.”
Her words cut deep. I wanted to protect her, to claim her, to bring a flush to her cheeks not caused by anger. But if that was how she truly saw us …
“Enough!” Grayson roared.
She raised her brows and stared at him as if he’d just proved her point.
“If you think we’re so awful, why do you keep saving us?” The ill-considered words slipped out before I could stop them.
She pursed her lips and stared into the fire as if the answer to my question could be found in the flames.
I knew the answer, but I pushed away the uncomfortable truth. Haven wasn’t just a shield. She guarded people. All people. She did our job better than we did.
