Anger’s home glinted off the broadside of his sword as he pointed it at the woman standing half naked across the room, never letting the tip of the blade dip down.
Ara Caron flicked her gaze to the door, wondering how quickly she could escape the man she’d kissed only hours ago, the one who’d been her mission.
One more step would bring about her end. The words were an endless loop through her mind. Because she knew Eirik would kill her without a second thought.
“Why are you in Cana?” As Eirik’s growled words wound through her head, she realized he’d been repeating the same question.
Why had she come to a kingdom full of warlords and assassins when she could be safe with her people in Bela?
Only moments before, she’d rolled over in bed, thinking Eirik was sound asleep, and whispered words she hadn’t wanted him to hear.
“Meet me behind the tavern.”
The person receiving her words hadn’t been in the room, and that was how Eirik knew. He’d awakened to hear her using her magic to throw her words into the world, knowing they’d reach across town.
“Rik.” Ara stepped forward, her hands lifted. “I don’t know what you mean. I belong here.”
His lips pulled back to reveal his teeth, lips she’d loved pressing hers against, tasting him.
Yes, loved.
Because Ara Caron was a spy, and she’d fallen in love with the man her queen sent her to watch.
Taking another tentative step toward him, she stopped at the tip of his blade. “Are you going to kill me, Rik?” She pushed wild silver hair over her bare shoulders and lifted her eyes to stare into his sparkling emerald depths that now swirled with anger. “You can’t.” She smiled, taunting him into doing something, anything to show this hurt him as much as her.
As she stood facing certain death, she realized it might not be so certain after all.
The tip of his blade dug into her chest, sending a bead of blood arching over her breasts. And still, she didn’t move.
His eyes studied her as the muscles of his chest rose and fell with harsh breaths. “You’re a spy.” He said it with such certainty, as if it was the only explanation. Two types of foreigners came to Cana: assassins looking for training and spies from the other five kingdoms who were just now putting themselves back together after centuries of war.
Cana was the one kingdom that hadn’t fallen apart, but then, they’d never been together in the first place.
Ara tilted her chin, knowing the pain her answer would cause them both. “I am.”
As if her words took the air from his lungs, his entire body deflated, and he lowered the sword. “Tell your queen she’ll have to work harder to make sure Cana leaves her shores alone.” He turned, his long ashy hair falling across his shoulders. He kept his back to her as he set his sword against the wall and spoke again. “You are no longer welcome in Cana. Leave this place and return to your home. If you do not, my men will hunt you down.”
The coldness of the words sent a chill racing through Ara, and an apology rolled to the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t let it free.
Spies didn’t apologize for doing their job.
The days when those with magic bowed to those without were over.
Ara wiped the blood from her chest and scrambled for the clothing she’d discarded in their passion the night before. Pulling on leather-kneed trousers and a worn woolen tunic, she yanked on her boots and reached for her ever-present sword.
“Stop.”
Eirik’s command halted her movements.
A hope she wished she didn’t feel rose in her. Falling into bed with a Canan warlord was not allowed. Falling into love with one… she’d let her entire people down.
Yet, all she wanted was Eirik’s forgiveness, for him to tell her he understood the duty she had to Bela.
“You cannot take your weapon.” His words echoed through her heart, widening the chasm inside. “I won’t have armed spies in my town. I am sparing your life, Ara. Do not make me regret it.”
Laying her palm against the crack in the wooden door of Eirik’s one-room house, she paused, letting her breathing even. “I have not been the only one keeping secrets, Eirik.”
She pushed through the door, releasing a ragged breath as it closed behind her, cutting her off from the one man who’d made her feel safe in a foreign kingdom where people killed for sport.