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I swallow, torn between running and lashing out with words. I do not know this man. I do not trust him. And I don’t want to be alone with him.

Yet, lashing out wins.

“You’ve been with us barely a week. It’s hardly enough to start making assumptions about me.”

“No? Haven’t you already made some about me? All bad ones, I’d wager.”

I despise one-on-one conversations with people I don’t know. I always fidget, worrying I’ll say the wrong thing, embarrass myself tremendously. I barely have time to think over my words before spitting them out.

“You have done nothing to impress me so far.”

“We haven’t run into danger yet,” Kellyn says. Does he realize that the way he’s carrying that stack of wood puts his biceps on perfect display?

Of course he knows. He must know.

“So your fighting skills are the only impressive thing about you,” I say.

His gaze narrows on me, and he drops the stack of wood. Kellyn rises to his full six and a half feet, brushing off bits of bark and dirt from his shirt. He takes a few steps forward.

“Take a look at me and tell me it’s the only impressive thing about me,” he says. His grin is gone, and the look he gives me is a challenge.

My anxiety peaks at his proximity, but underneath it, I think I sense something else, too. I don’t have a name for it, and all I want is for the mercenary to leave me alone.

“I am not impressed by superficial surface looks that are completely out of your control.”

As if sensing how tense I am, Kellyn retrieves the wood and takes a few steps back. “What does impress you, then?”

I’m pushed off-balance by the question. Because the answer is that nothing impresses me. I have never been impressed by someone. Not enough to overpower the fear of being around them in the first place.

“Don’t tell me,” he says with a wink. “I’ll figure it out on my own.”

My jaw drops in outrage, but he’s gone before I can say anything else.

To make matters worse, Temra sneaks out between two trees, nearly giving me a heart attack.

“Temra! Are you trying to kill me? How long were you standing there?”

“Not nearly long enough, it would seem.”

I huff and lower my head into my crossed arms. “This is my alone time. Why is everyone trying to disturb it?”

Temra has only one long, thin branch in her hands. She drops it to the ground before sitting beside me. “We have very important things to discuss.”

She’s probably right. There are so many unknowns. The warlord. Our relatives. The two boys who could turn on us at any moment if they learn the truth.

“That boy is flirting with you,” she says.

“Sorry?”

“You heard me.”

“Yes, but you said we hadimportantthings to discuss!”

“This is important.”

“Temra.” I turn her name into a groan.

“It’s him, isn’t it? He’s the one you saw when you magicked the broadsword?”