make twice.” Crow glared at him, and that irrational anger bloomed in his chest. “I did not wish to come here with you.”
Tancho’s gaze was fire and venom. “Nor did I wish you to. I did not ask for this,” he said, flashing the birthmark on his wrist. “To be joined with yours. Whatever that means.”
“And you think I did?” Crow shot back. “You think I wanted this? To be heading further away from my home, from my people? And the only reason we are here with you now is because of the chance an enemy chose your land to hit first. If it were my home—”
“If it were your home, you’d what? Cut your arm off to be rid of me? Isn’t that what you asked for?”
“Yes. There is nothing I would not do for my people.”
“You think I am not the same?”
“That is why I am here,” Crow said, probably too loudly. “Because I know what a king would do. I would expect no less. You give your blood and your life for your kingdom and for your people. That is why I am here with you. So perhaps you could show a little gratitude at the sacrifice Soko and I have made—”
“I apologise if my kingdom being invaded is an inconvenience for you and your lover—”
“My what?”
“Your lover. I’ve seen how you are with him. How he touches you,” Tancho hissed through his anger.
“He is no such thing. He is like a brother; he has been by my side since we were born. And it is of no matter anyway, he favours women.” Then it occurred to Crow what this was. “Is that jealousy, little fish? Because I’ve seen the way you and Karasu are, how her eyes follow you.”
Tancho shot to his feet and he drew his katana. Crow leapt to his, drawing his sword in the same sweeping movement. “Do not call me little fish, blackbird,” Tancho breathed.
“I’ve touched a nerve,” Crow said with a sneer. His blood was racing, his adrenaline spiked.
Karasu came trudging up from the river, dropped a pouch of berries, and took a sword in each hand, a look of impatient fury on her delicate face. “I will not spend the next seven days settling squabbles,” she said. She gave Tancho a pointed glare. “My king, he might be an uncultured Northlander, but he is with us as an ally when we may have too few.” Then she pointed her blades at Crow. “And if you disrespect my king one more time, I will part you from your tongue.” She took a deep breath and was calmer on the other side of it. “Tancho, this temper is not your own but the result of whatever curse was put upon you. You are better than this.”
Crow shook his head, disbelievingly. “Uncultured Northlander?”
“By the very definition,” she replied curtly. “Loud, unrefined—”
“Yet still a king!” he boomed, the grip on the hilt of his sword tightened. “Speak to me in such a manner again, and I’ll see your blades hung above the gates to my castle with your blood still on them.”
She turned to face him and squared her feet as if ready to strike. “You hold no rank here,” she said. She raised her two daggers. “And if you think you’re good enough to take my swords . . .”
Tancho slipped between them, his katana now aimed at Karasu. “Do not threaten him. I beg of you, Karasu, I cannot control this. The need to protect him burns in my blood. As much as I wish otherwise. Do not aim your blades at him, for I cannot trust what I will do.”
She raised her hands, daggers downcast. “Apologies, my king.” Taking a step back, she sheathed her blades and nodded to Crow. “May I suggest you caution him to watch his manners.”
Tancho turned to Crow and held his katana to Crow’s broadsword. “I might be driven to protect you and to defend you, but so the abyss, help me, that does not mean I will not kill you.”
Crow grinned at him, daring, amused. Aroused.
What was this madness?
Maghdlm groaned from beside the fire, a welcome distraction. Karasu and Tancho went to her while Crow sat his arse down and tried to get his head in order.
Fighting with Tancho had aroused him?
And from the fire and conflict he’d seen in Tancho’s eyes, Crow was almost certain he felt it too. Because as if this whole thing wasn’t weird enough . . .
Yes, Crow’s attraction had