They’d invited him to the fighting rings, even to join the Honor Guard years before he should have been inducted, but Sean had refused it all, content to spar with this woman and their skilled Blademaster. He’d battle his way through the fighting rings soon enough.
For now, he just wantedthis.
His new family. His people. The ones who mattered.
The sun had crawled high into the azure sky when Sean rubbed his smarting jaw. “Who taught you that right hook?”
Anna grinned. “You.”
“Pain leads to power,” Cathaire said and Signed,Go again.
They did. Over and over again. Anna’s aggression spilled from her, her focus on the task undivided. The nippy air did nothing for his sweaty skin, and he stripped off his leather bracers.
She laughed. “Am I wearing you out?”
“Maybe.” He dodged her fist. “Three weeks poring over documents instead of training will do that.”
She swung and missed again. “Are you planning to go into Viterra soon?”
“In a few days,” Sean said. “First scouting mission.” He side-swiped her legs and watched her fall with a laugh, then Signed,Weak.
She took advantage of his distraction and hooked a foot behind his knee, pulling him to the ground beside her.Cocky.
They reset and went again.
“And how does Isobel feel about that?”
Sean’s jaw clenched at the mention of Bel. “She’d…prefer I not go.”
“But you’re going anyway?”
He nodded. “And she refuses to stay here without me.”
“Stuck between fire and brimstone, huh?”
Sean laughed. “Something like that.”
Her pounce caught him by surprise. Together they fell to the cold ground, and she scrambled to pin him. Her bony knee dug into his thigh. Thin, delicate, strong hands squeezed the linen of his training tunic around his wrists.
He could have pushed her off, but instead, he let her immobilize him as the bluest eyes he’d ever seen blinked at him, wide and proud and…pretty?
Wait. Pretty?
No, not just pretty. Mesmerizing.
Had he ever seen a color so beautiful? How had he never noticed?
Anna’s grip eased, and one finger barely grazed his hand where the leather bracer should have been. Her touch sparked a staticshock, a synchronized jolt to his nerves that carried all the zing of electricity without pain.
Her breath caught, and both of them snapped their gazes toward the contact. Pleasure tingles fizzled, like the blood beneath was laced with fireworks.
She jerked away, landing awkwardly beside him. Their eyes met and held, but neither of them spoke. Neither acknowledged it.
“Excellent!” Cathaire said.
“What?” Anna dragged her gaze to their trainer. “Oh. Right. Yes.”
Sean couldn’t look away from her.What the fuck was that?
