Thia flashed a sad smile at her. “Really. There’s no one I hate bad enough to sacrifice them to my father’s ungodly temper. I’m honestly terrified of ever bringing a male home that I’ve slept with. My dad’s so good at reading people, I think he’d know immediately and then gut the poor man before he could cross the foyer.”

Sumi couldn’t imagine a protective father like that. But at least Thia had a fairly positive attitude about something that had to drive the poor girl crazy. “What about marriage?”

Thia shook her head. “I don’t want to chance it.”

“Meaning?”

“I don’t want to be tied down like my mother was and forced to live with that kind of misery.” The sadness in her gaze burned Sumi with its intensity. “I’m not a fool nor am I naive. I come with the blood of three royal houses, and am attached to almost a dozen more. I would never trust a man to love me and not see me for the political ties I can give him.” She sighed. “Maybe one day I’ll change my mind, but I doubt it. And luckily, my father would sooner gut someone than use me for a political marriage. That is the one thing I never fault him for.”

“Your father sounds like a wonderful male.”

Thia laughed. “He can be, so long as you don’t annoy him. Or make any sudden, unexpected moves.”

Darice came running back toward them. “Do you hear that?”

They fell silent to listen.

“Hear what?” Thia whispered.

“The fight’s over.”

He was right. There was no sound whatsoever.

Darice swallowed hard. “You think Dancer’s all right?”

Sumi exchanged an apprehensive look with Thia. They both knew he’d been wounded and poisoned before the fight had even begun. While he was extremely strong, and skilled, those were bad odds for anyone.

Even an Andarion Tactical Assault Monkey.

CHAPTER 15

Hauk stood slowly as he surveyed the bodies for any sign of life. Pain suffused every inch of him. He hadn’t felt this battered since his days as a League cadet. Back then, Kyr had taken it as a personal challenge to beat the shit out of every recruit assigned to him. The psycho bastard had viewed it as his divine right and duty to “toughen” them up for battle.

“If you can’t take a beating, the only part of a League uniform you deserve to wear is the flag we’ll wrap around your coffin when we bury your corpse.”

The only thing that kept him from hating Kyr for that was that the bastard had been right. Though harsh, the things Hauk had learned in training, and from his older brothers, had kept him alive and sharp, no matter who or what came for him.