Page 85 of Iron Beneath the Snow

“I shouldn’t have let you near the inner wall,” he said.

She glanced up at that, the irritation immediate.

“You didn’t let me,” she replied. “I moved.”

“That is precisely the issue.”

The correction, calm as it was, landed harder than if he had raised his voice.

She straightened slightly, her gaze sharpening.

“I am not going to stand behind doors while your wolves bleed.”

“And you are not going to stand in the path of a thrown blade,” he returned, his tone still controlled, still measured in a way that only made it more difficult to push against.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

He stepped closer, not crowding her, but close enough that she could feel the residual warmth of him again, as if whatever had ignited between them had not fully withdrawn.

“Let me see it,” he said.

She hesitated, just briefly, before extending her arm.

His hand hovered first, not touching, assessing the bandage as though contact itself required consideration.

The mark responded anyway.

She felt it tighten before his fingers even reached her skin.

He noticed.

She saw it in the slight shift of his focus, the way his attention narrowed, not on the wound, but on something less visible.

“You moved before the blade left his hand,” she said.

The words came out more directly than she intended, but she didn’t pull them back.

His gaze lifted to hers.

“I saw the angle.”

“No,” she said, more sharply now, the irritation rising before she could temper it. “You didn’t just see it. You were already moving.”

His expression did not change.

“That is not unusual in close quarters.”

“It was not close quarters,” she replied, leaning forward slightly despite herself. “You were across the courtyard.”

He didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he adjusted the edge of the bandage, loosening it just enough to inspect the wound beneath. The movement was precise, almost deliberately slow.

Avoiding the point.

Her jaw tightened.

“You moved before it was thrown,” she repeated, quieter now, but more insistent. “You didn’t calculate it. You reacted.”