village, and it was slowing warriors down. Plus, there probably wouldn’t be a healer in the village willing to treat Trevan, but that didn’t bother Emerian for the moment.
He’d finally beaten Trevan in a sparring match.
“Yes!” he said victoriously as Trevan lifted his free hand in defeat. “I won!”
“You did,” Trevan agreed as Emerian lowered his weapon. “You’re good enough now, I bet human soldiers wouldn’t stand a chance, and you could take most of the lower-ranking Elvasi. Good work.”
“It’s all thanks to you,” Emerian said, his smile refusing to fade. “I mean, you’ve put the time in with me every day since we met. I didn’t get very good in the pits, but I think it helped, too.”
“It’s not all thanks to me. You were already strong from your time in the fields. You honed that strength in the pits, training with me every day. Now, you have a weapon that feels comfortable, and you’re beginning to excel with it. Plus, the lessons from Matesh and Luykas have been amazing. I’m a better swordsman now than I ever could have dreamed. So, don’t give me all the credit.” Trevan patted his shoulder as they walked off the field. “How does it feel? This is the first time you’ve beaten me.”
“It feels good,” Emerian admitted, smiling. “I wonder if they’ll let me go on any of these campaigns coming up. I think I’m ready.”
“Don’t get hasty,” Trevan chuckled, shaking his head. “There’s no reason to rush into battle until you know what battle you want to fight.”
“I…” Emerian took a deep breath, still a little pumped from the victory against Trevan. “I feel an urge.” It was growing. Every time he sparred, the more he learned, the more Andinna he was around, the more the urge grew. “I want to fight.”
“You’re Andinna. You are warriors in your souls,” Trevan said, picking up a skin of water. He took a swallow, then held it out for Emerian. “And there’s nothing wrong with that if you don’t fall to its weaknesses. In the same way, the Elvasi can be vain, Andinna can be headstrong and cocky. I can’t tell you how many times I saw gladiators bite off more than they could chew because they were in the mood to fight. Even if the fight was a loss, they wanted it. You have to be careful and learn to pick the battles you want.”
“Sometimes, it’s like you know more about Andinna than I do,” Emerian said, sighing as he turned back to the field.
“I spent several hundred years watching them, learning about them in the pits. It probably wasn’t the best place to really know who they are, but it taught me things. You spent your entire life avoiding this half of your nature, even when you were forced to quarter with them. You didn’t want to see or to learn. I’ll remind you that when we met, you believed Andinna were mindless, aggressive killing machines. So, you saw it. You just couldn’t relate to it yet.”
“Yeah…” Emerian said softly. “I’m learning more now.” He had a lot of people to thank. He saw what a good Andinna male was in the warriors around him, Matesh, Luykas, and the rest of Mave’s family. The king, who always stopped to ask him if he was having a good day, had a soft spot for mutts. His brother and consort were mutts. Emerian had no intention of becoming a consort of the king, but it was nice their ruler took the time to check on him. He also monitored Emerian’s education, sometimes asking questions.
He also had her to thank—Mave.
Emerian tried to beat down the growing tidal wave of lust, but it was hard. When she had talked to him about females, he’d nearly gotten an erection at her grey-blue eyes. Some called those eyes cold steel, and some days, he wanted to agree, but most days, they were just her eyes, and they stood out.
Emerian didn’t think she was classically beautiful, not like Elvasi wanted women to look like. She was too hard, all power. There wasn’t a piece of her that wasn’t made for war. But then she turned those eyes on him, with all that dominant energy, and he wanted to fall to his knees and beg for her attention, just a kind word, a simple touch.
“If there’s one you’re particularly interested in, let her know.”
That had been Mave’s unasked for advice. He hadn’t known why she brought it up. He’d seen