Sumi couldn’t move as she saw the raw fury burning in those eerie Andarion eyes. He’s going to kill me. She knew it. She could feel it with every part of her being.

It was just like facing Avin all over again.

But she refused to cower. It just wasn’t in her. Ever defiant, she stood strong and waited for the coming storm his stance promised to bring.

Hauk paused in front of her. His massive size dwarfed her and made her feel small in comparison. “You are here to end me, aren’t you?”

Sumi swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. “I’m not here to kill you. I was never sent here for that.”

“Then why are you here? Really? Bastien told me he saw the transport you were in. The one that dropped you off so that you could reach my camp. You’re not on the run. If you weren’t sent here to kill me, then what do you want?”

Biting her lip, she blinked back tears as she saw the unadulterated hatred in his eyes. It shouldn’t matter to her that he felt that way toward her.

But it did. Much more than it should have. It was like being kicked straight in the gut. She couldn’t breathe as everything slammed into her. And she deeply regretted hurting him in any way.

Her thoughts whirling, she tried to decide what to say or do. What it would take to win back the trust that she’d shattered. Strange how her own life didn’t matter to her anymore. Honestly, she couldn’t remember the last time it had. Since the night she’d killed Avin while he was trying to murder her, there had been nothing left of it anyway. Just one unending nightmare in hell.

Maybe that was the way it should be. Maybe it was what she deserved for being so blind and stupid.

“Answer me!”

She jumped at the ferocity of his demand. “I know you hate me, Hauk. You have every right to. And I know you’re going to protect what you love. It’s what I’ve learned to expect from you.” She pulled the knife from her sleeve sheath.

He stiffened, but didn’t move as she approached him with it.

She flipped it in her hand and held it toward him, hilt first. “Take it.”

He didn’t budge. “Why?”

“So that you know I’m telling you the truth. Kyr sent me here with orders to gain intel on you. To find something that would tie you to The Sentella and, more importantly, to the prison break on Brinear.”

His eyes snapping fire, he took the knife from her hand.