Raeshal glanced at me and grinned. “Yes, my lord. This is my aide, Corporal Ravyn Ravellar.”
I gave the Hawk Lord my most perfect bow. I'm sure it was lacking.
“Ravyn,” the Hawk Lord made my name into something special just by speaking it. “What a coincidence. We are in need of a crafty bird.”
“My lord?” I asked and finally broke our stare to glance at Raeshal.
My lover only shrugged. None of the Sidhe were ugly, but standing beside Dalsharan Arandel made Raeshal look drab. Even with his crimson hair and perfect features. Even with his wry smile and shining blue eyes. I could only glance at Rae before my stare was dragged back to the Hawk Lord. Ugh! I wasn't supposed to look at him and now, I couldn't stop.
Dalsharan's lips twitched as if he'd heard me.
Oh, fuck, I thought. Can the Fae read minds?
“Corporal?” The Hawk Lord lifted a brow at me.
Raeshal smacked me.
“What?!” I barked at Raeshal. Then I blanched. “My apologies, Hawk Lord. Were you...” I cleared my throat. “Uh, did you just say something to me?”
The men around us shook their heads, especially my General. There are always two generals in a beast army—a fae and a human.
The Hawk Lord chuckled. “I tune people out too. Especially when they all talk at once.” He rolled his eyes around at the other men pointedly. “I was saying that I'm looking for a special type of soldier.”
I gulped and tried to think of open sores, broken bones, moist female parts—anything to keep me from getting an erection. “Oh?” I tried to sound casual but it came out as a whimper.
“A human,” the Hawk Lord went on. “One with the skill to scale walls and slip into a castle unnoticed. Raeshal has spoken highly of you.”
“He has?” my voice broke a tiny bit.
The Hawk Lord grinned again and this time, his eyes twinkled mischievously. “He has—all good, don't worry.”
“Oh.” I cleared my throat again and glanced at Raeshal, who looked on the verge of exploding with laughter. “Great. Um... may I ask why you need a human who can scale walls?”
The Hawk Lord went serious. “I've had some unsettling news. The Farungal have stolen two amulets from fellow warlords. Amulets that, when added to a third, would give them enough power to breach the wards of Varalorre.”
Varalorre—that's what the Fae call their home. I glanced around the room. As I said, the general in charge of the human soldiers in the Hawk Army was there, but other than him, I was the only human in the room. I started to sweat, all possibility of an erectile display fading.
“We know where they're keeping the amulets, but no faerie can get into a Farungal stronghold undetected, not with their magic-sensing wards,” the Hawk Lord went on. “We could travel to Alantri and lay siege to the fortress, but that would require a huge force, and even if we succeeded, the Farungal could destroy the amulets before they surrendered. The best option is subterfuge. I need a human to slip in and retrieve those amulets for us.”
“From a Farungal stronghold?” I asked as if someone might slap me on the back and start laughing while everyone else pointed at me and declared how funny it was that I'd fallen for the joke.
No one laughed.
The Hawk Lord said, “Yes. Two, actually.”
“He's only twenty-six, Dalsharan,” Raeshal's voice had lost its amused tone. “That's a lot to ask of a young man.”
“Only a young man will have the dexterity we need,” the Hawk Lord argued. “I believe you said that he can climb trees like a monkey born in one and scamper up mountains like a goat.”
Raeshal grimaced—first at the Hawk Lord and then at me. “He can and he can scale any wall, but that isn't a skill limited to Ravyn. Find someone else, Hawk Lord. Please.”
“But that's not his only skill, Raeshal. There's one more thing that's special about our Ravyn,” the way the Hawk Lord said my name made my throat constrict. That possessive “our” before it didn't help either. “When he walked in, I tested him, and he passed.” He paused to grin at me. “With flying colors.”
“What do you mean, you tested him?” Raeshal snapped.
“No one with magic can enter a Farungal fortress undetected,” the Hawk Lord said. “So, the obvious choice is a human. But to find the amulet after getting inside the fortress, that human must be sensitive to magic, as sensitive as the Farungal wards themselves. Corporal Ravellar has just proven that he can sense magic.”
“I have?” I gaped at him.
“I touched you when you first walked in,” the Hawk Lord said.
Why the fuck did he keep saying things like that to me?
“You what?” it came out a bit breathless.
“With magic,” he clarified. “I touched you, and you felt it, didn't you?”
That jolt—the fingertip along my spine. It had been real, I hadn't imagined it. It had been him!
“Yeah,” I whispered. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Yes, I felt your... magic.”
The Hawk Lord grinned at the rest of the people in the room as if I'd just performed a great trick. “See? He's perfect.”
Perfect. The Hawk Lord had just called me perfect. Hold on. What was I perfect for? Right. This wasn't good.
“You can't do this,” Raeshal growled at the Hawk Lord. “If they catch him, they'll torture him to death.”
“They won't catch him.” The Hawk Lord set his stare back on me.
My heart was beating in my ears. I'd fought the Farungal hundreds of times on battlefields, but to leave the continent and sail to theirs? To sneak into one of their strongholds and steal magical amulets? Fuck me, no man was beautiful enough to convince me to do that.
But then something shivered through my chest, and I heard myself saying, “I'll do it.”
Raeshal gaped at me, then lifted a hand. “Hold on a second. He ambushed us, Ravyn. I didn't know he was going to ask this of you. You can think about it.”
“Raeshal,” the Hawk Lord growled.
“No, he's a damn kid,” Raeshal growled back. “And he doesn't deserve to be sent to his death.”
“Old enough to fuck,” one of the other men muttered.
“He's a grown man by human standards, and he's our best option,” the Hawk Lord said gently. “I'm sorry if you feel blindsided, Rae. But it's Corporal Ravellar's decision.” Those incredible eyes shifted to me again. “Take a day to think about it, Ravyn. I'll postpone the mission for you.”