I want to drag him back down here and make him finish whatever he started.
I want to scream.
Idoscream. A short, sharp sound of pure frustration that sends birds scattering from the branches.
I want to kill whoever interrupted us.
Oh gods.Someone interrupted us.
“I’ll just lay the food out over here.” That same voice speaks again, and I turn my head sideways.
The female is half-turned away from me, holding a basket inone hand and a blanket folded over the other.
I drag my pants up, fix the laces, then tug down my tunic. The female turns, as though she knows I’m more presentable, and the knowing look on her face makes my cheeks burn hotter than they already are.
I recognize her, I think. She’s one of the three who came at Cairn’s call.
“I know how brutal Cairn can be during training.” Her voice is cheerful.Toocheerful. “I thought you might need a break … and food.” She looks in the direction he disappeared. “And then I can give you a … different kind of lesson.”
I don’t move. My body doesn’t feel like mine anymore.
“He just left.” That’s it. That’s all I can say.
“Yes.” She comes closer. “He does that.”
What doesthatmean? I should ask but I don’t. I just lie here, staring at the sky, and wait for my hands to stop shaking, and my heartbeat to slow down. It doesn’t want to. Every time I breathe, I catch his scent lingering on my skin, and the ache flares fresh.
I can’t lie here forever. I have to move. It takes a couple of attempts but eventually, I sit up properly. The female spreads out the blanket, and unpacks the basket without comment, laying out bread, cheese, fruit, and a skin of water.
When I sit beside her, she hands me the bread, and I take it, tearing off a piece to chew. The motion is automatic. I’m not thinking about the food, I’m thinking about his mouth on my throat, his hand sliding up my ribs, and the way he groaned against my lips.
What was that?
I eat everything she puts in front of me. My body is slowly coming back under my control, the frantic pounding of my pulse settling into something closer to normal.
But the ache between my thighs doesn’t fade.
The female doesn’t speak until all the food is gone, and I’m gulping down the water. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced properly. I’m Vessara.” She stands, and holds out a hand to pull me to my feet. “Are you ready?”
“For what?”
She grins. “Cairn might be able to teach you how to fight, butIcan teach you how to disappear.”
Vessara’s training is nothing like Cairn’s.
She doesn’t throw me to the ground or bark commands. She also doesn’t crowd into my space, or put her hands on me. Instead, she gathers up the basket and blanket, and leads me through the village, pointing out things as we walk.
“Most people look at faces,” she explains as we pass a small group near the smithy. “They remember eyes, hair, anything distinctive. So the idea is to make yourself forgettable. Head down, hair forward, walk like you belong, but not like you’re important … Watch.”
Something shifts in her bearing. It’s nothing obvious, and I can’t pinpoint what it is that she does, but suddenly she seems smaller. Less noticeable. My eyes want to slide right past her.
“How did you do that?”
“Practice.” She straightens, and the effect vanishes. “Years of it. You won’t master it today, but we can start with the basics.”
We walk through the village while she corrects my posture, my gait, the way I hold my head. I feel ridiculous, shuffling along like a servant trying not to be noticed. But she’s patient in a way Cairn isn’t, adjusting small things, and making me do it again and again.
“Much better,” she says eventually. “Now … the other half of this is that if you want to go unnoticed, you need to understand what people actuallyseewhen they look at each other. What draws attention and what doesn’t.”
