Page 72 of To Bleed A Kingdom

“If you wish to keep your eyes, I suggest you stop ogling his ass before I rip them from your skull,” I snap at Amara. Even though I know I’m being ridiculous, I can’t seem to help myself when I peer past her and add to Zander, “That goes for both of you.”

Amara’s eyes sparkle in glee. “Ooooh, I guess Darius isn’t the only one who’s jealous.”

“I'm not jealous,” I retort, tearing off another bite of venison. “I'm irritated.”

“Looks like jealousy to me.”

“I don't get jealous,” I reply around a mouthful of food, watching Trip’s arms tremble as he lifts that ridiculously large broadsword. “Gods, look at him! What is Darius thinking?”

“He really shouldn't be working with a broadsword yet,” Zander says.

“He'd hurt himself in a real attack,” Amara adds.

“Hurt himself?” Tristan scoffs. “He'd be dead before he drew it.”

Swallowing, I watch as Trip fumbles around the practice ring and shake my head. He's all wobbly arms and legs. It looks like he’s trying to wield a tree trunk.

Hmmm…maybe I'll just -

“Oh, no, you don’t.” Tristan snaps his fingers in front of my face, disrupting my line of sight. “Don't even think about it.”

I smack his hand away. “What?”

“That look.” He points at me. “I know that look.”

“I don't have a look.” I definitely have a look.

“Oh, yes you do.” He arches a brow. “It’s the look you get whenever you're about to do something reckless, something that no matter how hard I try to knock sense into that stubborn head of yours, you're going to do it anyway.”

“But he's training him all wrong!” I whine, motioning to Darius with a jerk of my hand.

“I don’t care.”

“But-”

“No,” he cuts me off with a swipe of his hand. “That's not why you’re here. You're here because we need to see the claw marks on the wall, and to do that, we need permission from Darius to return to the city after we step outside the gates. That’s all. He won’t be willing to do anything for you if you criticize him.”

“He's right, Lena,” Zander says, flicking his hand in a shooing gesture. “Now go use those seductive feminine wiles of yours.”

Amara snorts. “Besides her looks, Lena doesn’t have any feminine wiles.”

I gasp. “I have feminine wiles! I can wile with the best of them. Just the same as the highest paid courtesans, if not better!”

“It's adorable that you actually believe that,” Amara replies, patting my head. I grit my teeth at the patronizing motion, barely restraining myself from punching her in the face as she continues. “I told you all before, it's not going to work. No matter how attracted Darius is to her, he's not going to defy a direct order from his mother. We're going to end up sneaking over the wall anyway, so you might as well let her teach him a thing or two.”

“You're just bored and looking to stir up trouble,” Tristan accuses.

Amara shrugs, not even trying to deny his claim as she climbs over the fence and seats herself on the top rung. “Maybe I wouldn't be looking to stir up trouble if you hadn't locked me in a room for weeks.” She glares at him over her shoulder. “Weeks, Tristan. Weeks.”

Sputtering, he tosses his arms up, seeming at a loss on what to do. “Maybe if you two weren't so prone to attracting attention, I wouldn't have had to.” We give him a dry look and he looks to Zander for help. “And I'm not the only one who thought it best for you to stay out of sight. Zander did, too.”

“Hey! Don't bring me into this.” Zander gives us a rueful bow of his head. “You ladies do as you wish. I've learned my lesson.”

Amara gives him a solemn nod of her head. “Thank you, Zander.”

“You're welcome.”

“Coward,” Tristan mumbles.

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