Chapter 1

1

Others see that which we think we hide.

~ Dionadra, Essays on the Motivations of Men

"Some instructors will tell you to watch your opponent's eyes, but I say be aware of their chest. The eyes can lie, but you can't commit to a strike without moving the core of your body."

"Is that why so many rangers check out my boobs?" Kaylina Korbian wiped sweat from her forehead and started to lower her sword to take a breather, but she jerked it defensively up again. Her new instructor tended to whack her if she dropped her guard before they stepped out of the practice ring.

"No, that's because they're rude, horny, and assume all women want their attention because they're royal rangers, which obviously makes them sexy and irresistible." Sergeant Zhaniyan, one of only a handful of female rangers, winked. Since she was in her early twenties with lush raven hair, striking green eyes, and an athletic but feminine figure, she had to understand Kaylina's experiences with the rangers.

"Obviously."

"I hear you have mystical druid powers that attract other beings too." Zhani, who'd only recently been pressed into this training duty, didn't know Kaylina well, so it was as much a question as a statement. She raised her eyebrows as she looked across the practice arena toward the passageway that led to the main courtyard and stables.

Six blue-furred taybarri congregated there, their long powerful bodies pressed side by side as they watched Kaylina—or possibly her pockets. That morning, she'd doled out samples from her latest batch of honey drops to Levitke, Crenoch, and all their furry friends. Since the first strawberries had come into season, despite the ever-present threat of frost creeping down from the snowy mountains behind the city, she'd added a touch of the fresh fruit. The taybarri had approved. Of course, they approved of almost everything except the dehydrated protein pellets the rangers fed them for nutrition rather than pleasure.

"Supposedly, I'm an anrokk ," Kaylina said, "which means I attract animals. It's not supposed to do anything to attract men."

Unless she counted Lord Vlerion, her previous trainer, who was cursed to turn into a beast if his emotions—including lust—were aroused.

After an incident during which they'd found each other's heaving and sweaty bodies irresistible, and their sword practice had turned into a lips-led embrace, Vlerion had decided that someone else should teach blade work to Kaylina. He remained at ranger headquarters though, and she kept catching his eye from across the arena, where he was sparring with a number of his men. If anyone presumed to whistle, leer, or comment on her physique, he swept over to loom while issuing a stare frostier than the snow in the mountains.

"Some men fall into that category," Zhani said.

"The category of animals?"

"Yup." Zhani's smirk was without rancor. She didn't seem to mind stray comments from the male rangers. Probably because she had blade skills that twenty-year masters would envy and could flick her wrist to slice the balls off any aggressor.

Kaylina lifted her sword, determined to learn as much as she could. Of late, everyone from irate fur sharks to armed men to horned Kar'ruk had tried to kill her, and her grandpa's sling hadn't proven a powerful enough weapon to fend them off.

"For the next combination, I'll feint high, stab midsection, then swing my blade in from the side, in what I call the oak, briar, fern combination." Zhani demonstrated a high, middle, and sweeping attack with her blade.

Kaylina tried to envision the flora referenced but didn't find the description that helpful. Zhani had an extensive knowledge of altered and unaltered plants, and she often mentioned them, as if they were the perfect mnemonic devices, but it seemed like something that worked better for her than Kaylina.

"Later, I won't warn you what I'm going to throw at you," Zhani added, "but, for now, I want you to practice parrying quickly and correctly against common combinations. The rangers and Kingdom Guard both train with this attack, so you'll see it almost as often as the jab-punch in boxing."

Kaylina, who'd only been training to become a ranger for a few weeks, and was opening a meadery and eating house with her brother on the side, nodded, but she had even less boxing than sword-fighting experience.

As they practiced, the male rangers did too, and Kaylina often found her gaze drifting toward Vlerion. It was hard not to look since he, currently shirtless and battling three foes, was mesmerizing. Sweat gleamed on his torso, drawing the eye to his powerful muscles. They relaxed and flexed in the most intriguing manner as he moved effortlessly about, striking with amazing speed and power that kept all three opponents at bay.

After a failed attempt to gang up on him, they regrouped, discussed strategy, then attacked again. It still wasn't enough, not against someone with the swift grace of a panther.

Kaylina suspected the curse lent him that, some of its magic affecting him even in his human form, giving him an edge over all mundane foes. Watching him was captivating—and arousing.

Countless nights, she'd woken from erotic dreams of Vlerion, disappointed to find herself alone in bed. More than once, she'd lashed out at her brother for no good reason except frustration over not having an outlet for release.

A blade smacking the back of her hand made her jump, jerking her gaze back to Zhani.

"If we end up riding into battle together," the sergeant said, "I'll hope there won't be any naked men on the battlefield to distract you."

"Sorry." Kaylina blushed. She'd thought her glances were covert and that her instructor wouldn't notice. "If it makes you feel better about our future battles, not all naked men would distract me."

"Oh, I know who you're looking at. A lot of women ogle him, even though he's not that gorgeous."

Kaylina opened her mouth to protest, but she'd noted herself that Vlerion wasn't the most handsome ranger, not with the claw scars on the side of his face and a severely short haircut that made it possible to see more scars on his scalp. Vlerion's mother had pointed out that women were drawn to the cursed men of the Havartaft line, sensing on some level the danger and power of the beast and finding it appealing.

"He's… nice," Kaylina settled on.

"In that cold, aloof, you-are-nothing-to-me kind of way?" Zhani arched her eyebrows.

Again, Kaylina couldn't protest, not when she'd thought exactly that of Vlerion when they'd met. She'd called him pirate out loud and asshole in her mind, too busy bristling at his haughty dismissal of her to properly respect his aristocratic rank.

Then she'd learned his secret and that he carefully distanced himself from situations that could bestir his emotions. Now, she understood perfectly well why he came across as cool and aloof.

"Okay, he's kind of an ass," Kaylina said, since she couldn't share Vlerion's secret with anyone to explain him, and he didn't seem to care what others thought anyway, "but he's hot."

Zhani lowered her sword and gazed toward the passageway where the taybarri still congregated. "Like I said, you're not the only one to think so."

Kaylina followed her gaze, then stiffened, her sword far more inclined to raise than lower. A human visitor had arrived.

Though she had only seen him once in daylight, she recognized Spymaster Sabor, a man who manipulated the king—who manipulated the entire kingdom —and who was interested in using Kaylina because of her anrokk power.

As Zhani had pointed out, Sabor wasn't looking at her, not today. The plain-faced man with short graying hair gazed into the practice arena toward the male rangers—toward Vlerion .

Kaylina had witnessed that even men were drawn to Vlerion, quick to obey his orders, whether they were of lower rank or not. She wasn't sure if that was because they also sensed the beast on some level, and it made them wary of him, or if it was that his family had once ruled the kingdom and still had political power, even if his ancestor had abdicated the throne because of the curse.

Sabor's gaze had a speculative element as he looked Vlerion up and down, watching with a slight curve to his thin lips. Before Kaylina could decide what it meant, he turned toward her.

One thin eyebrow twitched in wry acknowledgment that he'd been caught staring. He didn't seem to care. And he also gave her a long and speculative look. Wondering if she'd learned how to control the beast yet? He'd once asked Captain Targon if she could do that.

Hardly.

"You don't want to garner the attention of that one." Zhani shifted to block Kaylina from the spymaster's view while bending her knees and lifting her sword, as if all she meant to do was restart their training.

"Too late." Kaylina parried a straightforward blow less complicated than the combinations they'd been working on earlier. "He's interested in me because of the anrokk thing. I guess it's rare."

She'd certainly never heard the term before coming north.

"It is. We have a couple in the sandsteader towns, and there are rumored to be more among the nomadic wild tribes, but not many people have that power."

"Is that where you're from? The desert?" Kaylina had wondered. The sergeant's skin wasn't as dark as hers, but it and her hair color were different from the pale-skinned, light-haired people common in this northern part of the kingdom.

"Yes, but I haven't been back in six years." A warning in Zhani's tone suggested she didn't want to talk about her home or why she'd left.

That was fine. Given how many people knew about where Kaylina had come from and her goals here in the north, she would have preferred more anonymity herself.

"What are all you taybarri doing over here?" came Captain Targon's voice from the passageway. He attempted to nudge one of the big creatures aside, but it didn't budge. The herd continued to observe Kaylina, even though she couldn't imagine the sword practice was that interesting. "Don't you have a stable full of protein pellets?"

Kaylina snorted. "Like those are going to lure them away."

"Blu seems to like his," Zhani said.

"That's the name of your taybarri?"

"Yes. Bludashar. He's a unique soul."

"They all are. If he'd had honey, I promise you he'd be less interested in dehydrated hearts and lungs or whatever those things are made with."

While Kaylina parried more simple attacks, she kept an eye on Targon and Sabor. They stood shoulder to shoulder, looking back and forth from the men to the women. No, from Vlerion to Kaylina. Sergeant Zhani's attempts to keep powerful people from noticing Kaylina were not, alas, working.

Sabor pointed at Vlerion and at her and asked Targon something. Targon nodded, then waved back toward the main courtyard. Suggesting they could speak in his office? About Vlerion and Kaylina?

She frowned as the men walked away together, not wanting to be the subject of their conversation. At the same time, if she was the subject, she wanted to know what they were talking about. Plans for how she could help the kingdom? By controlling Vlerion?

"I need to pee," Kaylina blurted.

Zhani blinked and stepped back.

"Can we take a break?" Maybe that would have been a better way to start her request.

"Sure." Zhani pointed her sword toward a latrine near the pool in the practice arena.

"I like the one by the stables." Kaylina leaned her sword against a rack and strode in the same direction the men had gone.

"The better for the taybarri to observe you?"

"I don't mind company in the latrine," she called back more loudly than she should have.

Vlerion and several of the men looked over, some with curious expressions, one with a lewd smirk. That ranger looked like he wanted to reply to the comment, but he glanced at Vlerion and kept his mouth shut. Good.

Kaylina glanced back at Zhani as she squeezed past the taybarri to follow the captain and spymaster. Though the sergeant didn't stop her, her narrowed eyes promised she knew Kaylina was up to something. Hoping it would work, Kaylina raised a finger to her lips before hurrying out of Zhani's view.

When she entered the main courtyard, the herd of taybarri padding after her, Targon and Sabor were already out of sight. From there, they could have gone into the stables, infirmary, mess hall, barracks, or offices. Assuming Sabor hadn't come to feed taybarri, get a muffin or bandage, or take a nap, Kaylina strode toward the offices.

A couple of rangers in black leather armor had recently arrived and were brushing and feeding their taybarri. They looked at Kaylina as she walked toward the office building.

She kept her head up, her back straight, and attempted to look like she had been summoned, or at least had a good reason for entering. She was most certainly not a furtive trainee on the way to eavesdrop. Assuming she could figure out how to eavesdrop. Last time, Targon had stuffed her through a secret doorway in his office, but it exited in the sewers, and she didn't know if there were any other entrances one could use from inside ranger headquarters.

When she stepped through the two-story building's front door, she caught a voice from the top of the stairs. Targon. Good, she'd guessed right.

She eased up the steps, halting when one creaked under her feet. She couldn't hear Targon anymore. Because he'd heard the creak and stopped? Or because they'd stepped into his office?

A thump came from the level below. Someone else walking into the building?

She kept going up the stairs and groped for an explanation to give if she were caught. What reason for this errand might someone believe?

When she reached the top of the stairs, she heard nothing but silence. She peeked out, looking in the direction of Targon's office. The hallway lay empty, the door ajar. A shadow moved inside his office. If the men didn't close the door, she had a shot at eavesdropping. Perfect.

Stepping carefully along the wall to avoid creaky floorboards, Kaylina headed in that direction. Her instincts warned her of danger behind her, of someone slipping out of another doorway. She crouched to spring away and whirl to face the threat, but the person was too fast.

With viper-like speed, an arm snaked around her, yanking her back against a hard chest. Before she could do more than jab her attacker with her elbow, the blow hurting her more than him, a sharp, cold dagger pressed against her throat.