Page 86

She blinked and tried to school her expression, as he turned to face her fully.

Scratch big: Northmen weremassive.

“My lady,” he greeted, with a voice like a rockslide. (Gods, no wonder Oliver and Tessa had both been swept away by members of this family.)

She had to tilt her head back to meet his gaze. “Your grace,” she returned, but he shook his head before she could continue.

“Leif will suffice.”

Behind him, Ragnar grinned, and then smothered it in his palm.

Amelia didn’t flatter herself into thinking he was establishing some sort of intimacy. His refusal of his title – and Ragnar’s reaction to the fact – told a story of inner turmoil. As Oliver had written: a struggle between the prince and the pack leader; the self he’d thought to become, and what he’d been turned into instead.

“Leif, then,” she said with a nod. “I’ve come to check on your men and see if you require anything else in the way of bandages or medicine, but it would appear as if a miracle has taken place.” She gestured to Ragnar, who sent her another of his dangerous grins.

Leif didn’t turn, but snapped his fingers, and Ragnar subsided; then turned around and walked over to speak in low tones with the other two wolves in the tent. It was a small interaction – Leif and Ragnar hadn’t even made eye contact – but so inhuman that it left her chest feeling unaccountably tight.

“Not a miracle,” Leif said. “Wolves heal more quickly than – humans.” She noted the way he tripped over the word.

She offered what she hoped was a disarming smile and said, “I imagine wolves do most things more quickly than the rest of us.” She put a teasing note into her voice, hoping to draw him out.

But he remained stern, his brow furrowed, his jaw set in hard lines. Utterly charmless.

She stopped trying to smile. “Regardless, the offer stands: if there’s anything you need–”

“We’re fine.”

Charmlessandrude.

“Food, then. Connor’s men have been hunting, and–”

“We can hunt for ourselves.”

She frowned. “We have more than enough – and Iinsiston sharing,” she stressed, when he would have interrupted her again. “It’s the least I can offer after our less-than-friendly meeting.” A less-than-friendly meeting thatcould havejustified his current behavior…but she didn’t think that was the case. This was merelyhim, she thought. The wayward prince Oliver had warned of…potentially in thrall to his cousin, even if Ragnar was the one wearing a collar.

“I don’t know how it’s done up North,” she said, “but in the South, we pride ourselves on hospitality.”

That finally garnered a reaction. He lifted a single, burnished brow, and his nostrils flared slightly. He didn’t smile – was perhaps not capable, given the tautness of his cheeks and jaw – but something in his face shifted; some tiny spark of amusement lurked in his eyes, easy to miss had she not been so fixedly caught in his gaze. “Have Tessa and Oliver not written? Have they not told you ‘how it’s done up North’?”

“Oliver wrote to tell me of King Erik’s frigid welcome upon their arrival,” she said. “It would seem his nephew is equally cold-blooded.”

In the corner, Ragnar barked a laugh.

“Hm,” Leif hummed. “A man gutted and a man shot. I suppose Ishouldbe feeling welcome.”

“Those were accidents. Connor’s already apologized for it.”

“Connor,” he said, with a trace of mockery, “is undisciplined and unapologetic. He also behaves as though he speaks for the entirety of the Southern resistance forces.” That single brow popped again. “Is that true?”

Charmless, rude, andinfuriating. “Connor is one of my most trusted generals and advisors. His word carries…weight. Here.”

“The greatest weight?”

She fought not to make a face; her mother had cautioned her on just such a thing.Your father, and brother, and your men at arms here at home find it charming and funny, but battle-hardened soldiers will not. Northmen will not, Katherine had said, not with her usual lecturing tone, but with true fear shining in her eyes.

She said, “I am the commander of our company. Connor is, as I said, an important advisor and general. As is Lord Reginald, whom you’ve met, and Lord Edward and Lady Leda, whom you will meet back at the manor. That’s assuming you mean to travel with us back to the seat of the duchy and join our forces. Thatisthe reason you’ve come, isn’t it? Or were you traipsing through our woods on a personal quest?”

Chew onthat, wolf man.