Page 78 of Shadows of Winter

“Screw you, asshole,” Kaylina snarled, wincing as she waded for the edge again.

With her back to him, she sensed rather than saw Vlerion moving. He trotted off the log and sprang to the ground to land near her.

She tensed, expecting retribution for her disrespect, for not making it, Screw you, my lord.

But he didn’t look mad or even annoyed. He reached for a towel on the rack and handed it to her. “We will move on to another exercise.”

“Good,” she said, though she didn’t know if it was. With the sun barely up, there had to be countless more training torture sessions in store for her.

As she wiped her face with the towel, she glimpsed someone in the passageway again, a man like the others, peeking out from around the corner.

Vlerion stepped closer to her and glared at the young ranger. He jerked back out of sight.

At least while Kaylina was training with him, she shouldn’t have to worry about the untoward advances she’d been thinking of.

He rested a hand on her shoulder. “Family is important. I understand. We all do.”

The gentleness of his touch and his soft tone sanded her irritation down, and she caught herself leaning toward him.

He froze, so maybe that wasn’t the right move. When she glanced up, he was looking toward her chest. Between the cold water and the chilly air, her nipples were popping through the wet shirt. No wonder she had gawkers.

She didn’t want the attention of the others, and she shouldn’t have wanted Vlerion’s attention, but a weird flush went through her, and she was tempted to turn toward him so he could see… whatever he wished.

Vlerion shifted his gaze away as he took the towel from her to drape it around her shoulders and cover her chest. Well, wasn’t that noble?

She told herself not to be disappointed. What did she think would happen between them, anyway?

“I lost my brother when I was younger,” Vlerion said quietly, and she forgot thoughts of wet shirts and being ogled. “It’s good that you want to look out for yours. I wasn’t there for mine when he passed, and I wish I could have been. That I could have stopped it.”

“I’m sorry.” Kaylina didn’t know why he was opening up to her, but it warmed her that he felt he could, and she regretted cursing him. “Was he younger?”

“Older. Before I had the notion, he defied our parents’ wishes and became a ranger.”

“That’s how he was killed? In the line of duty?”

“It was an accident, but it wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t been here.” His vague wave could have indicated the ranger headquarters or the city as a whole. His face grew closed, and she had a feeling he wouldn’t go into more details if she pressed.

“I’m sorry,” she said again and rested her hand on his bare chest. “It must have been hard for you to lose him.”

“Yes.” Vlerion looked down at her hand but didn’t remove it or suggest she should. His gaze shifted to her face, his eyes heated.

The temptation to let her fingers trace the hard lines of his pectorals swept over her. Would he let her? Did he want her to?

Movement in the passageway pulled their gazes from each other. It wasn’t the horny young men this time but a woman of about thirty walking beside Captain Targon.

Vlerion stepped away from Kaylina, and her hand dropped. Targon smirked as he eyed Kaylina, and she pulled the towel tighter around herself.

The woman had lush brown hair, voluptuous lips, and wore a silk dress and golden necklace under a fur-lined jacket. A noble? Surely not a ranger.

The pair walked toward them, and Kaylina, dripping water onto the pavers, felt scruffy with her hair plastered to her neck. The woman looked at Vlerion and ignored Kaylina except to give her a once over and purse disapproving lips.

“I need to speak with you, Vlerion.” She didn’t comment on Kaylina or her damp attire.

“I assumed,” he said. “Trouble at home?”

“Most of the family’s troubles are centered around you.”

“That sounds like a no. I’ll stand relieved.”

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