Hammer and Breeze

ROWAN’S POV

The training room still wears the crack I put in the floor yesterday.

Vera sees it the moment we walk in, and her gaze snags on it, and something moves across her face, hunger, interest, gone before I can name it.

She rolls her narrow shoulders and steps onto the mat like a woman lowering herself into a warm bath.

“Rules?” I ask.

“No rules.” She lifts her hands. She’s small. Elegant. N