Her heartbeat picked up its pace. If Thia’s father was a better assassin than Hauk, she hoped to the gods that she never faced him as an enemy. “Captain, huh? How old were you when you earned that rank?”

“Eighteen.”

She let out a low, appreciative breath. Still, it was hard to believe him. “You killed over one hundred targets, half of them trained soldiers, by age eighteen?”

“I’m a War Hauk,” he said simply, as if that explained it all. He started for the blankets.

Sumi pulled him to a stop as she tried to digest what he was telling her. “That’s more than five kills a month, during training. How did you manage that?”

A tic started in his jaw as a dark anger engulfed him. “I was younger than most of my class. Because of that, I had a lot of challengers.”

She winced at what he was really saying. His classmates and instructors had chosen him for the ring more often than the others because he’d been so young and was scarred from the fire. “They thought they could kill you easily and advance.”

He gave her a brief nod.

“I’m sorry, Hauk.”

“For what?”

“You should have been at home with your mother being a kid, and not forced to fight for every breath you took.” Every meal he ate. Every minute he was allowed to sleep… Her heart aching, she pulled him into her arms and hugged him close.

He went absolutely rigid. “What are you doing?”

Suddenly, she became aware of just how ripped and hard his body was. Damn, he couldn’t have more than two percent body fat. If that. It was like leaning against a stone wall. “Hugging you.”

Her answer appeared to baffle him. “Why?”

She clapped him on the back before she reluctantly stepped away. “It’s what people do to comfort each other.”

He didn’t respond.

She looked up to see his attention focused behind her. Turning, she caught the angry glare Darice had pinned on them.

Hauk mumbled something under his breath that had to be Andarion.

With long, angry strides, Darice closed the distance between them. “Have you dishonored my mother?”

For a moment, she thought Hauk might actually strike the boy for his impudence. “No.” It was a low, guttural sound in the back of his throat.

“You better not.”

Thia pulled Darice away from Hauk. “Son, we need to talk about your inability to sense near-death experiences.”

“What are you talking about?”

Thia glanced back to Hauk, who still hadn’t moved. He hadn’t even blinked. “Can you not see how pissed off he is?”

“So?”

Rolling her eyes, Thia sighed. “You’re an idiot, Darice. I seriously hope you have no intention of entering any kind of military service.”

He lifted his chin defiantly. “Of course, I am. I’m Andarion. I’m going to be a fighter pilot like my parents.”