No wonder Hauk considered the Andarion prince his brother. They appeared to have been good friends for a very long time.

It was so strange to see these glimpses into Hauk’s past. Like seeing his underwear – which he apparently didn’t have – or being able to read his thoughts. Each photo betrayed the heart of a fierce beast she knew would kill her without flinching if he ever learned why she was really here.

For all the humanity in these pictures, she’d seen the warrior who had brazenly stormed a League prison to back his friends, and fought against overwhelming odds to emerge victorious.

He was terrifying as a soldier. Like her, a brutal killer.

And that hadn’t been the only time he’d participated in such an assault. The Sentella was forever making those kinds of raids against The League. Never had they retreated. Never had they been defeated.

By anyone.

Frowning, she hesitated at an image of Hauk pretending to choke the Caronese emperor, who was barely more than a scrawny teenager at the time it was taken. It was obvious the two of them were clowning for the photographer. And while she knew the Caronese emperor wasn’t a small man, he appeared tiny next to Hauk. But more than that, the next series of pictures with the two of them over the years showed that Hauk viewed the emperor more as a pesky little brother than an untouchable, elite aristo.

And that the two of them were extremely close. There was even one where they were both wounded from battle. Dressed in unmarked black battlesuits, Darling lay with his head uncovered on Hauk’s stomach while they were either passed out or asleep. His helmet clenched in his left hand, Hauk had his right arm slung across the emperor’s chest as if, even half dead, he’d fight to protect him. As a goof, someone named Syn had handwritten the word “blackmail” across the photo before he’d e-mailed it to Hauk.

Completely charmed and amused, she laughed at the warped humor, and wondered if Hauk had beaten the sender for it. But then he must have taken it in stride, or he would have deleted the photo long ago and not kept a copy.

And there were many more of him and the emperor and Nykyrian, as well as several other men, climbing in various terrains and climates. But the ones that fascinated her most were where he and his friends were free solo climbing. There were numerous pictures of them hanging from boulders and rocks by nothing more than their fingertips.

Ye gods, that was a dangerous combination of brave and stupid.