Page 13 of Hunted
I released his hands to sign.“I know you, Josh.That wasn’t you.You’re safe.”
But he just shook his head sadly as he looked around the room and arched a brow at our current location on the floor, where he had thrown me like I weighed nothing.“Clearly not true,”he signed back with a grim expression on his face.
I shook my head and stood, pulling him to his feet as well.“I’mfine,”I signed, stressing the last word for emphasis.“Naga are hardy people.Warriors.”
He just gave me a look that I recognized all too well.It was one that said there would be no coming back from this, but he was going to pretend everything was fine, all the same.
I rubbed the bump on the back of my head, at a loss for how to convince him that this wasn’t his fault.
“You should go,”he signed, waving me toward the door.“You’ve got to help overthrow the emperor.And I’ve got reading to do.”
I glanced at the books piled on his bedside table and the small breakfast table on this side of the room.Spell books.Books about vampire history.Journals.Piles of useless paper that Richard the dhampir dragged in here whenever he came to visit.
I was pretty sure they weren’t going to find the answers to this problem in a book.But maybe it gave him comfort to feel like he was doing something.
“I’ll come back.Later.Or sooner.Whatever you need,”I signed awkwardly.Things had always come so naturally between me and Josh—our friendship, our working relationship, our falling in love.I had never struggled so much with how to handle things between us.I hated it.
He gave the smallest nod.I turned and slowly made my way to the door.The silence between us wasn’t comfortable, and I hated that too.
Growling, I spun on a heel and strode over to where Josh stood staring morosely at the pile of books that had been knocked off the table when he threw me into it.His eyes rounded in surprise, but he didn’t stop me when I gripped his chin and made him look up at me.“I love you,” I said out loud.Then I kissed him.Hard.
Josh might be on the brink of giving up on himself.But I never would.Pulling back, I nodded at him once, curt and final, then I left.
Chapter 5
Sadavir
The training room wasunderground, sealed by extra layers of warding and built into a bed of ancient stone.I’d seen the place withstand a raging dragon.It was the only place I trusted myself to let out the full force of my frustration.
The lights were dim.Just the way I liked them.For once, no one else was here.I stripped to the waist, bound my hands, and stepped barefoot into the small circle off to one side of the spacious room.
Pausing, I squatted down and traced the lines of the sigil that was carved into the floor, letting a bit of my innate magic trickle into it, the way Sanka had shown me.It activated additional short-term training wards that did a bunch of safety stuff I hadn’t really paid much attention to at the time.The circle flared as it activated, then dimmed to a low background hum I could feel through the soles of my feet.My aura pulsed in time with the perimeter enchantments—low, simmering.
I needed a target, and I honed in on the pillar in the center of the sparring circle.Harder than a punching bag.Padded, enchanted, built for impact absorption.I doubted it was load-bearing, since it was inside the sparring ring.From the myriad of chips and dents in the thing, at the times I’d observed the others at their training, it was mostly used to incorporate an obstacle into a fight.
Pausing for only a moment, I veered over to a low table in the corner and wrapped my hands, more out of habit than any desire to protect myself.Then I returned to the circle.
