His thoughts and sensations still fuzzy and dull, he rubbed at his forehead as he vaguely recalled it. Since she hadn’t posed a threat, he’d accepted the blanket and thanked her for it.

Sumi smiled as she watched the boyish way he rubbed at his face. He had to be exhausted still. He was much more sluggish now than he’d been the days before, and even last night.

He stifled a yawn. “Where are the kids?”

“Exploring the caves. I’m rather surprised you didn’t take us there last night to camp.”

“Bad defensive position.” Rubbing at his side, he grimaced again. “Too easy to trap us with no way out.”

A mistake she would have made on her own. “You know this place well.”

“It left an impression on me.” He crouched down to where she’d placed some of the meal they’d prepared for breakfast and a bottle of water. It was the first time she’d actually seen him eat anything other than snacks. His slow, studied movements were strangely savage and yet oddly beautiful.

He paused as he caught her staring at him. “Do I offend you?”

“Hardly.”

“Then why are you eyeballing me?”

She wrinkled her nose. “I can’t seem to help myself. You are an incredibly sexy beast, Dancer Hauk. Full of strange incongruities.”

He snorted at her as he swallowed his food. “You sound like Mari.”

She laughed. “He come on to you a lot?”

A slow, charming grin spread across his face. “He teases, but I think he’d have run for cover had I ever accepted.”

She inclined her head to him. “Another surprise.”

“What?”

“That you’d tolerate sexual harassment from a man.”

His answering deep, throaty laugh did the strangest things to her stomach. “He’s a Phrixian male, not a man, and I take a lot of shite in stride from all my brothers.”

She paused to consider that shocking revelation. “Phrixian and he’s gay? How did he ever manage to live to adulthood?”

“He’s one of the fiercest warriors I’ve ever had at my back.”

He’d have to be. Phrixians were the only race she’d run up against the Andarions for cold-blooded brutality and adherence to some rather savage laws.

Sumi fell silent as she remembered seeing a burgundy Phrixian uniform in the group that had attacked the prison. If that was Mari, Hauk was right. That male could fight. And he could take a beating without flinching.

Yeah, Mari was fierce indeed.

Hauk scowled as he noted the hot salad she’d made for him. “What is this?”

“Botanist, remember? Plants are good for you. You should try making friends with them sometime. Vary that heavy carnivorous diet of yours.”