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?”
“Not really. But I don’t understand why you would do this when my death would be a much easier solution.”
Hauk wasn’t sure either. His emotions were all over the place. Yet the one thing he kept coming back to was the futures of Thia and Darice.
Keris had been cut down before he had a chance to live. To see his own son born. Hauk didn’t want to deprive them of that. They had a lot more to live for than he did.
Honestly, the only future he had was hellacious and cold. Even a tortured death at Kyr’s hands would be better than what awaited him at home. He’d already had more than his fair share of Dariana’s “compassion.” He really didn’t want any more of it.
Sooner or later, we all die. And he’d rather go out for a good reason than a bad one.
Clearing his throat, he lowered his tone so that neither child could overhear him. “Two reasons. One, but for whatever accident befell you, I’d be dead already. You had the drop on me and we both know it. And two, if you found me here, someone else might. In the event I go down, I want to know that they’ll make it home alive and unharmed.”
Sumi wasn’t sure what to think of him. The one thing she’d never expected from him, especially given the way he fought in battle, was this degree of humanity and love.
Not from an Andarion male who had plenty of reasons to want her dead, and more than an easy opportunity to do it. It defied everything her sister had told her about their species.
But there was no missing the dark torment in his eyes. The relegation to die in order to save his family that stung her with its remorse. He was so unexpected.
And yet…
“There’s only one problem with your noble offer.”
He quirked a brow at her.
“I’m no longer a League assassin.”
His other brow shot north.
Sumi fell into the role Kyr had demanded she play so that she could gather intel on him. “I escaped them. It’s why I’m here. I’m in hiding. I didn’t find you. You found me.”
Oh yeah, that was a scary look. But beneath his fierce scowl was doubt as he tried to ascertain whether or not she was lying to him.
And she was a terrible liar. The only thing that might save her was the fact that he didn’t know her well enough to guess the truth.
“You expect me to believe that?” he asked.
“Why else would I be here?”
“To kill me.”
Now it was her turn to arch a brow at his simple, unemotional statement. Granted, there was truth to it, but still… “My goodness, that’s some ego you have there. Does everything in the universe revolve around you?”
“When it involves death and treachery, it tends to.” He glanced at the opening of the tent. “And this isn’t just about me. It’s about them.” He jerked his chin toward the arguing voices.
“You really do love them.”
He nodded without hesitation. “Thia has already had her mother brutally murdered by her stepfather. Her father and stepmother would be devastated if something happened to her. Darice lost his father before he was born. His mother is an honorable female who doesn’t deserve to lose her son, too. He’s all she has in this world that’s keeping her sane and in it. She barely survived the death of my brother. She’d never survive the death of their son. If you have any decency at all, I…” He clenched his teeth before he finished with a word she was sure choked his pride. “Beg you, for all their sakes, not to add any more tragedy to their lives. They love their children as much as you love your daughter. This trip is supposed to be a happy memory for them. Please, don’t taint it.”
Tears choked her over his sacrifice. He didn’t ask to spare his own life.
Just theirs.
She wanted to hate him for what his brother had done to her sister. Needed to hate him so that she could complete this mission that would end with his capture and eventual death.
But having had her own innocence slaughtered when she’d been too young to deal with it, she had no desire to pay that forward to anyone. She would have given anything to have had a protector like this, guarding her.
No matter what, she wouldn’t see someone else’s children hurt. For any reason. “I swear to you, as a mother, that I will not harm them.”
“Or cause them to be harmed,” he added.
“Or cause them to be harmed.”
He inclined his head to her.
“Uh, Darice! I can’t believe you did that! Really? You suck so much! Your mother ought to rent you out for birth control. Five minutes with you and any fertile female would beg for sterilization!”
As Hauk stood, a pained expression crossed his face. Sighing heavily, he stuck his head outside the tent to check on his family. “What’d he do now?”
“He farted, belched, then spilled all the food onto the fire.”
“I didn’t mean to. It was accident.”
“Accident, my blessed buttocks! You burped with me telling you not to!”
“For the love of all gods, don’t kill him!” Hauk snapped at Thia. “His mom would really miss him. And I might, too. Maybe. Just… grab some water and bring it in for our guest. I’ll help clean up the mess in a second.” He growled low in his throat before he returned to his plate and held it out to Sumi.