He takes my arm in his hands and bends it. “When I take a swing, you move my arm away from you. Like this. Tensing will never help you when you’re fighting. But that said, feel free to flex your muscles if you take a hit to the abdomen. It can shield you from injury.”

We’re standing so close that my heart speeds up and I actually do look at his lips.

“I saw that, you know,” he says.

I smile. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Uh-huh. Well, let’s try this again. And be ready for the second punch, which you can also block, but it would be easier to lean out of the way.” He throws a right at me and I block. He throws a left and I lean, his fist soaring past my cheek.

He nods approvingly. “Now, be careful to keep your distance. If you get trapped in close-range fighting, you’ll be overpowered quickly. I’m showing you basic boxing, but a lot of us are skilled in multiple forms of martial arts, and can cause a great deal of pain with very little—”

I glance at his stomach but then lightly smack him on the cheek. He looks so shocked that I start laughing. “Gotcha.”

He looks at my lips.

“I saw that, you know,” I say.

“I know exactly what you’re talking about,” he says with a grin, and my stomach drops in a good way. For a second, I think he’s going to lean forward, but then he steps away.

I return to my fighting stance. “What’s with this no-dating rule, anyway?” I say, aiming for nonchalance. “Is it a boarding school thing? ’Cause they obviously can’t keep you guys from sneaking out of your rooms even with all these guards.”

He shakes his head. “Our Families have approval over marriages. Especially those of us whose immediate families are in higher positions of power. A marriage can signify a major alliance, so they’re arranged with care.”

I look at him sideways. “Hold on. You all have arranged marriages based on political alliances? What is this, the fifteen hundreds?” Although I don’t know why I bothered saying that, considering everything at this school is like the 1500s. “And marriage is one thing, dating is another.”

“Not really. Not when you consider the number of secrets we keep and the things we can glean from one another through nonverbal communication. Getting close to someone emotionally and having it end badly could mean a breach of all kinds of information.”

“You mean like all the information I’m leaking to you right now,” I say.

“Not exactly,” Ash replies. “You don’t know Bear secrets. You can’t even be sure who you are.”

“Fair point. So you guys don’t date until you’re ready to get married?” I’m having trouble swallowing this one.