Callum clapped a hand on Duke’s bare shoulder, squeezing once. “Duke will take my place.” Duke folded his arms across his chest, grin stretching ear to ear. “And if he can’t,” he released his grip, brow arching with smug delight, “Rook will.”
My eyes rolled so hard it was a miracle they didn’t lodge in the back of my skull. Of course, he’d not only thought of it, but he also had contingencies stacked in neat mental piles.
“Besides—” Callum strode closer, the sun vanishing as his body cut the light, a kindness that lasted all of two seconds as he came beside me. Fingers pinched a strip of skin at my back and I squeaked. “What’s this?”
“Hey!” I slapped at him like the pest he was, rubbing off the sting of the offended patch. “Everyone hasonespot.”
Who cared about a roll or two? Certainly not me, and it hadn’t stopped me from handing these two their asses every time we sparred.
Well, except running. Running was hel.
Callum and Duke traded a look. Then, in perfect unison, began inspecting themselves, tugging, tensing beneath the fabric.
“Duke?” Callum asked, not even pretending not to flex.
I tried, barely, to keep my eyes from lingering, but Duke’s body was its own weapon. Rich, ebony skin, slick and sunlit, every muscle forged from his brutality magic.
Two, four, six…fates, how many abs did one man need?
My mind betrayed me, dragging me,uninvited, back to another body.
Ronan’s.
Rougher. Wilder. Hardened shadow clinging to every edge. The memory of straddling him throbbed like a fresh bruise, dagger pressed to his vein, pulse hammering beneath.
I could have ended him. I wanted to end him. Yet I hadn’t. Not out of mercy, but calculation. If I slit the heir before the kingdoms were bound, Elva would never be free.
Still, I remembered the taut stretch of him beneath me, the green fire in his eyes as our hate writhed between us.
Heat flared up my throat, and I waved a hand at my face as though it could cool me, pretending it was only vengeance that left me burning.
Pretending it wasn’t his eyes, his strain, the way he’d looked between my legs, the way he would look magnificent painted in blood.
How had he even known where I lived? No one had warned me.
He could have sifted, but you can’t sift to a place you don’t know. Which meant, if he had, he’d masked his scent, his power.
And he’d been in my home before.
If Ronan thought he was only flirting with danger, he had yet to learn who I really was.
Duke’s fingers skimmed down the ridges of his stomach, casual. “Nope. Nothing here.” His grin shot toward Callum. “You?”
Callum rolled a shoulder. “Nope.”
My patience snapped thin. At this rate, my eyes would roll so far back they’d get stuck somewhere in the cavern of my skull, right where my tolerance used to live.
I waved them off. “You two are insufferable.”
Duke dropped his shirt. “Come on. I’ll do them with you.”
“Please,” I scoffed. “Look at your godsdamned legs! You probably do a hundred for fun before dawn.”
His teeth flashed, white enough to blind. “Usually one-fifty, but…”
I spun to leave, my sore legs mocking the attempt. “Goodbye—”
He caught my arm, yanking me back between them, trapping me in the cage of their vanity. “You’re supposed to be our greatest weapon. How would our enemies react if they knew you wept over a few leg training workouts.” His voice was far too appealing for someone who wanted me to suffer.
