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She’d hobbled across a road and through an alcove of icy, glistening pine needles before the novelty of her little charade wore off.
“You’re going to rip your stitches,” he said brusquely.
A few long strides was all it took for him to catch up. He blocked her path, arms crossed over his chest. He’d left his armor and blades in the bathing room. Somehow, it felt like having a limb chopped off.
Tenah glared up at him. “I’m just taking a walk. Clearing my head.”
She sidestepped him, and he moved again. “No,” he said. “You’re trying to shake me.”
“No.” She mimicked his crossed arms and winced as the motion tugged at her shoulder. “I couldn’t sleep.”
He raised a brow. Often, silence coaxed out the truth. However, holding her gaze allowed him far too much time to study her features.
Tenah broke as expected, groaning and turning her head away. “Nightmares, okay?”
“So…what? You plan to outrun them all the way home on a bad leg in the freezing cold?”
“I plan to kill my father before he kills anyone else!” she snapped, tossing him a cross look. “If you want to stay here and build snowmen with the innkeeper, so be it.”
Excitement sparked in his chest. He appreciated a good challenge, and she presented just that. Something about her rich, sun-warmed skin kissed by freckles and her dark locks settled right with him too. His eyes dipped to her full lips, and he forced away indecent thoughts as blood rushed where it shouldn’t.
“No.” He drew out the word. “You plan to die face down in the snow before you even make it off this isle. Then again, can you really die, Tenah?”
Her eyes glinted bright red. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Renton stepped closer, testing his self-control as his mind ran wild, imagining pressing his mouth against hers. She’d probably deliver a fist to his stomach. Oh, but the taste would be worth it.
“Tell me, was it dark magic then?” he prodded.Convince me otherwise. Convince me I shouldn’t turn you in.
“Why, because you’d have to hunt me then? Do you enjoy it? Slaughtering shadows like animals?”
He invaded her space, causing her to stumble back. “Is that what you believe I do?”
Tenah shrugged, but much of her rage had dissolved as a lovely, rosy tint spread across her cheeks. His nostrils flared. It would be nothing to toss her over a shoulder and carry her back inside the inn.
However, he had respect for boundaries. He’d done enough to maim her today.
What he truly wanted was for Tenah to unleash her rage. His week-long journey home from the desert after the brutal death of his father had been filled with violent outbursts in which he’d expended every bit of his energy more times than he could count.
She’d had one small tantrum. And now,nothing. Her vacant expression gnawed at him.
When she tried to step around him again, he almost let her pass. Guilt speared through him as he cuffed her arm. He lowered his head. “I can’t let you go.”
Furious eyes blazed up at him. Her skin heated slightly under his grip, evidence of strong magic beneath the effect of the creeping smoke. “You came into my home with more than one contract, didn’t you?”
He dropped his hand and tucked his fingers loosely into his pockets. There was no point in denying it. He wouldn’t insult her with lies. Her hatred would make it easier to finish this contract anyway.
“I should have known,” she uttered.
She hobbled back to the inn and slammed the door shut behind her. He lifted his head to the dark sky, releasing a heavy sigh.
Two Chaos casters in exchange for his brother. It was the only way.
Chapter10
Tenah
The rising sun only served to heighten Tenah’s frustration as Renton directed her back on the road headed south. She’d been hobbling behind him for endless hours, debating ways to knock him unconscious, when he finally declared they were stopping to rest.
