The Heart Forger (The Bone Witch #2)(81)

“Because I can sense it.” Fox clutched at his chest. His face was strained, but I could not feel his pain.

“Fox?”

“My scars…hurt.”

Inessa drew in her breath. “Was this the daeva that…?”

“I want most of your soldiers surrounding the king and Princess Inessa at all times,” Kalen instructed Tansoong. “Do not approach the lake until we investigate. I want the rest to spread out and search. If you find it, do not engage the beast in battle. Do not attack and neither should you incite it to attack you. Avoid it at all costs and report to either Lady Tea or me immediately.” He was already on his horse, leaving me to glare at his retreating back as they rode away.

Fox, stay with Inessa.

Tea, where are you going?

I ignored him and clambered up Chief to ride after the Deathseeker. He was deliberately ignoring the other groups of men, making for the thicker parts of the woods surrounding the lake all on his own.

I caught up to him a few minutes later. Trees hid the lake from view, and within the heavy cluster of trees, it was like no one else was around.

“Are you seriously thinking of facing the daeva on your own?” I demanded, sliding off my horse. Kalen was already standing, sketching out runes in the air. I watched as Light flickered dimly, drifting higher up into the trees and bathing our surroundings in a soft, muted glow. Another rune was directed toward the ground, and I felt it spread, stretching out into the distance.

“I can look after myself.”

“What is that?”

“A Tremor rune. If there’s anything large and heavy coming our way for a good thirty miles around us, I’ll know.”

“What if it’s in the lake?”

“Same premise.” He stared at me. “Why are you here?”

“At the fight…” I paused. I’d seen pride for me shining as clear as day in his heartsglass, but there was another, much more profound emotion there too, though I couldn’t describe it.

He hesitated. “It’s natural to feel satisfaction, knowing my training had paid off.”

“Are you still angry at me?”

He didn’t answer.

“My offer still stands. You can do anything you want to me.”

Kalen’s jaw dropped half a heartbeat before I realized why.

“No! I meant that if I promise to do anything you want—no, that’s not right either! I forced you against your will, so now I’m giving you the right to order me to do anything, even if I don’t like it. No, wait!” I clutched at my head. “The words aren’t coming out the way I want them to!”

“I understand what you’re saying, however ineptly you phrase it.” He stalked toward me, and despite my earlier bravado, I found myself pressed up against the trunk of a large tree with Kalen looming over me. “Anything and everything I want?”

I couldn’t tell if he was kidding or if he was riling me up, as was his norm. There was both an earnestness and a reluctance to his face I’d never seen before, contradicting emotions warring for primacy, like he was about to tell me something he was going to regret but that had to be said. I couldn’t glance down to gauge his heartsglass; he was too close, giving me little room to move, little room to look anywhere but up at him.

He looked intimidating, almost menacing, despite his lack of anger. But I wasn’t afraid. If anything, I was…expectant. I could feel his heartsglass flare—with the Heartshare rune I had offered him back in Kion, I realized. I had not dispelled the magic; while diminished by the castle wards, out here in the open, it shone brightly.

“Do you really want to know what I want to do to you, Tea? Would you still be so willing if you did?”

He had never said my name that way before. I could feel his warm breath against my lips. He smelled nice, like pine and musk.

The sides of his mouth curved up. The rune flickered.

“I want you fighting five soldiers next time,” he said quietly.

“Wh-what?”

He was already drawing back, the smirk still on his face. “Two soldiers is child’s play. You’re going to improve by my standards and not by anyone else’s. I don’t know how long we’re going to stay here or what Inessa has up her sleeve to wheedle herself out of the emperor’s marriage contract, but if you can’t fight five soldiers by the time we leave, then you’re still incompetent. Your heartsglass is palpitating, by the way.”

With a growl, I pushed hard against his chest, but he barely budged. “You bumbass!” I shouted at him, clapping a hand over my heartsglass. I thought…I was so sure that he was going to—“I hate you!”

He chuckled. “Now we’re almost even.”

“Almost?! You—”

“Shh.”

“Don’t you dare shush me, you—”

“No, keep quiet.” Kalen dropped to the ground, pressing his hand against the soil. “Do you feel that?”

I shook my head.

“Something large is moving this way.”

“How can you be sure?”

He stared at me.

“Forget I said anything. Where is it?”

He stilled. “It’s in the lake.”

“That’s impossible! I would have sensed it when I was—”