Page 390 of Warlords, Witches & Wolves

She edged away from her father, hoping to put the stone between them before he advanced.

A shrill scream rose from the trees behind her.

"What in heaven's name – " she began.

Before she could finish, she found herself flat on her back, without the breath to say another word.

The screaming had stopped.

"This is what happens when you kill an innocent, and leave them to suffer," her father said, holding up one of her arrows, which impaled both a painted acorn and a squirrel who had tried to steal it. The limp squirrel would never scream again.

Rossa shuddered and sat up. She dragged in a breath, then said, "But it was a thief, stealing my acorn!"

"Thieves are beneath an assassin's notice. So is anyone except the target who deserves to die. Unless you are hired to kill a thief, or the thief threatens your life, he is nothing to you. Justice will find him, without your help." Father slid the squirrel's body off the arrow, and tossed it into the trees. "And you never hurt innocents."

"Thieving squirrels aren't innocent. The monks up at the castle swear about them all the time," Rossa protested.

Father just frowned. "Collect your things, then we'll return home. A good assassin…"

"Never leaves a trace," Rossa finished for him, sighing. Her father might have finished arguing with her, but she knew she hadn't won. No one could beat her father, in a fight or an argument. Least of all her.

Father inclined his head. "You have learned so much, Rossa. If I'd only known half what you do now when I was your age…" Now it was his turn not to finish his sentence. Instead, he sighed.

There was darkness in his past, from long before he met Mother, Rossa knew, but he never talked about it. She'd asked Mother, who'd told her that everyone had regrets, and her father's were for the people he could not save, which is why he had chosen his line of work in the first place.

He trained her so hard so that when her time came to exact justice, she would have no such regrets – she'd save those who needed it.

But after today's debacle, her time wouldn't be for a while yet.

Rossa sighed and tramped back along the game trail to retrieve her arrows.

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