living off his energy wells.” Her gaze returned to the pond, eyes locked on the rippling water stirred by Kapro’s tongue. “We were happy for a while. Six years, actually. But one day, I found a dying…creature chained in a cage beneath his home. A creature no Charmer had ever successfully tamed. It destroyed me.”
Shifting closer to her, I placed my hand on the ground inches from hers. More ink disappeared, fading down her shoulder. “Something from the Kitska Forest?”
She shook her head. “No. Gods, why am I telling you this?”
“Leena, it’s okay. You can tell me.” My fingers grazed hers. A small, irrational part of me wanted to cup her hands in mine. I wanted to do about a thousand things that didn’t make any sense. She stared at the place where our hands met before letting out another breath.
“It was a human, Noc. A human man.” Her voice cracked. A human. Warning bells sounded in my mind. Isn’t that what the Charmer at the tavern accused Leena of doing? She cleared her throat. “I could never do that. Can you even imagine what that would be like? Controlling another person?”
My gut twisted, and the blood in my body ran cool. Yes, I could imagine. It wasn’t something I’d done, but something I’d witnessed. The horror of stripping someone of their free will… I could understand why it was illegal, especially for a race of people with the power to charm.
Bringing her knees to her chest, she rested her chin on her forearms. “When I confronted him about it, he used a beast to convince the Council I was the one harboring the human—not him. And because he was on the Council and Charmers value beasts above all else, my words meant nothing.”
Tears spilled over, heavy streams bisecting her cheeks. I’d worked as an assassin long enough to know the burn behind Leena’s story couldn’t be anything other than the truth.
“The Crown of the Council was away on a beast hunt, so the rest of them held a sentencing and determined my fate. They let me live, but they released my name to the world—Leena Edenfrell, exiled Charmer, unfit for society. Finding work after that was next to impossible, so I did the only thing I could. I sold my beasts to survive.”
I sat still, horrified by her words. To be betrayed by the people she loved, the man she devoted herself to? My mind raced back to Cruor, to the loyal comrades flanking my sides and living beneath the same roof. I would do anything to keep that sanctuary, to provide for them. It was all any of us had left. But Leena had been ripped away from the only community she’d ever known, exiled like a criminal so the man she loved could hide his own crimes.
And now he was paying me to murder her.
Slowly, I reached up and brushed Leena’s tears away with my thumb. “I’m so sorry, Leena.”
It had to be the same man. No wonder he’d been so adamant about the bounty. It was his transgression, his previous act that could come to light if Leena ever tried to speak up. But the woman who placed the hit? The real person behind Leena’s bounty? What did she have to do with any of this?
Leena’s eyes fluttered closed. “Don’t be. This was several years ago.” She moved away from my touch. Her bow-like lips formed a genuine smile, and then she loosed an arrow I couldn’t have prepared for. “I learned long ago not to trust people or promises—only beasts. So when you tell me you’re dangerous, it’s not a question of believing you. It’s simply a universal truth.”
I nodded my understanding. “Why come after you now, though? Why not leave you in exile?”
A bitter smile touched her lips. “I am selling beasts, even if it’s my only means of survival. First attempting to charm a human, and now this? There are no second chances when it comes to ensuring the safety of our beasts.”
My hand moved before I could think. All I wanted was to provide her with some comfort. Something to show her that I understood. We all did what was necessary to survive. More than that, I knew what it meant to sacrifice something I loved. But when my fingers were inches from her cheek, I stilled. I couldn’t keep doing this. If she caved beneath my touch… If she reciprocated my dangerously growing feelings…
I drew my hand back. Her eyes tracked