She started to lie, but why bother? He obviously wasn’t stupid. And it was standard League procedure to seize custody of any child born to their soldiers. “Yes.”

Hauk sat back on his haunches as she bravely blinked away her tears, and stiffened her spine in spite of the pain she had to be in. He admired her courage, and there was no way for her to fake the agony he saw in those hazel green eyes. He’d been around assassins and soldiers the whole of his life. And he knew more than his share of ruthless liars and grifters.

She was none of those. While she was trying to be fierce and tough, she was failing miserably at it.

In the dark, with the element of surprise on her side, he was sure she was extremely accomplished at killing someone. But right now, she knew what he did. Up close, face-to-face, she couldn’t go a single round against him and win. She just wasn’t large or strong enough to take him in an open fight. Nor was she some psychopathic assassin who had gleefully chosen her occupation and relished it.

No, that role had been forced on her. And those hazel eyes and scared demeanor betrayed the deep vulnerability he’d just laid bare. This woman had a soul.

Unlike him.

“Is your daughter why you agreed to be an assassin?”

She drew a ragged breath. “Does it matter?”

Yes, it did. Greatly. “Answer me!”

She flinched at his growl, making him wish he’d chosen a softer tone. “Yes. They would have executed me during my pregnancy with no regard for the fact that she would have died with me.”

Yet she would never be allowed to see her child. That was the law of The League.

Hauk forced himself to bite back a scoff at her blind ignorance. She wasn’t doing her baby any favors by allowing The League to raise it and train it to kill. Nyk was living proof of that.

But Hauk didn’t want to spit on her sacrifice or maternal love. Not when she was doing what she thought was best for the child. She’d sold her soul to the devil to save her daughter’s life.

That gave him hope for her humanity.

He placed the covers over her again. “There are two children outside this tent. My niece and nephew. Neither of them can survive here on their own. If you kill me, you will be consigning them to death, too. And just like your daughter with your actions, they don’t deserve to die for my crimes. Let me get them to safety, then I will surrender myself to you. I swear it on my ancestral blood.”

Sumi scowled at his offer, which was essentially suicide and they both knew it. “Why don’t you just kill me?”

“Is that what you want?”