“When we go on missions each assassin has a designated partner. It’s so you always have someone to watch your back, and no one gets left behind. But if one partner dies on a mission and the other is bitten, another assassin will step in. Usually the mission Lead.” He gestured across the training grounds. “Ghost was my partner for missions last year.”
I failed to not make an annoyed face when looking at her. He noticed too and frowned.
“Are you assigned a partner like an apprentice?”
“Usually. They prefer to have a higher-level assassin with a lower level for balance. Although sometimes partners choose each other if they work well together.”
I glanced at Dred and Morrow. I was thankful to know I couldn’t be assigned to Morrow since we were the same level. “Can you refuse a partner if you don’t get along?”
“Yes, but they’re typically aware of who you get along with.”
“Just can’t say no to apprentices,” I said, smirking and nudging his side. It still bothered me he didn’t initially want me as his apprentice, but there was no point in staying angry about it. He was trying now at least.
He glanced down at where my elbow had bumped his side, seemingly caught off guard, but smiled. I didn’t think he was used to anyone touching him so casually. Maybe I shouldn’t, but we’d spent the better part of the day wrestling, a little nudge didn’t seem out of the ordinary to me. “Commander Locke doesn’t like to hear ‘no’ from his assassins in general. Neither does Commander Ace.”
“I know you’d rather have Morrow?—”
“No, I wouldn’t,” he said quickly, firmly. “In some ways the apprentices from Lothleton are easier to train. You don’t have the arrogance and carelessness that being safe inside the walls brings. You have first-hand knowledge of vampires that those from Nighthaven don’t. They read about them in books, but most of the apprentices here have never seen a vampire, let alone faced one.”
I smiled. “I never thought about it that way.”
“You can be a great assassin, Aesira. You just have to want to be. You have to forget about the old you that is afraid of vampiresand spent her life running, and mold yourself into the woman that terrifies them.”
“I want that.” But it was difficult to imagine.
He half smiled. “My uncle gave me that speech once. ‘Forget about books and your old life, Vander. You can’t kill a vampire with a book. Become so terrifying that even your name makes the vampires run in the other direction.’”
“I think I’d like your uncle.”
“You’ve met.”
“Commander Locke?” I guessed.
He nodded. “My father’s brother. My mother was as mad as a hornet when I became an assassin.” He shook his head, lost in a thought I wasn’t privy to. “She and my father blame me and Commander Locke for...” He cleared his throat. “It doesn’t matter. The game. I need to tell you about the game. There are two every year for apprentices, and the Commanders will judge how you perform. One game at the end of summer and one at the end of winter.”
His further explanation of the game was brief, but he made it clear that I couldn’t embarrass him, and he expected me to do well during the tasks even if I was new to all this. We’d have the next couple weeks to prepare for it. Just as he finished telling me how the teams would be chosen, someone snickered behind us. I found Morrow and his trainer side by side. Morrow had a stupid grin on his face as he leaned over to Dred and whispered something. They both laughed, keeping their eyes on us.
“What are you laughing at?” I blurted out, then slammed my teeth together.
Vander’s jaw muscles feathered, and he gave me the slightest shake of his head as if to sayNot now.
Dred stopped and twisted on his heel to face us. “We were just commenting on how interesting it was watching you twotrain. Viper, you spent a lot of timemountingher. Do you two share a bed as well as a room?”
Morrow’s dark eyes darted to mine. “You won’t rank faster by sucking his cock, loth.”
Dred let out a low laugh. “That was harsh, Beast.”
I gasped at the vulgarity he spewed, and my cheeks flamed. No one had ever spoken to me or about me that way. I wasn’t a complete prude, I’d heard the men in the longhouse say worse over a pint of ale, but never to or about me. I opened my mouth but couldn’t even find words to retort.
“Don’t speak to her like that. And you know better than to make those accusations, Dred,” Vander snapped. “Only one of us has ever crossed that line with their apprentice, and it wasn’t me.”
“That may be true,” Dred lifted a shoulder, “but have you told your girl here what happened to your last two apprentices?”
Vander went very still, even stopped breathing.
“I’d call it bad luck, but I think it’s incompetence on your part.” Dred sneered.
A palpable rage rolled off Vander. His hands trembled at his sides, and a shadow seemed to pass over his face, like the grim reaper himself had possessed him. I inched back, afraid of what he might do... But I also didn’t want him to do something he’d regret over a petty exchange with Dred and Morrow.
