Free Fire Heart (The Titans: Book One) by Dan Avera

don't think Will even likes girls.”
    “What?!” Will cried, coughing as his mouthful of pie burned his tongue.
    Katryna looked at him evenly. “When was the last time you did anything other than dance with a girl, Will?”
    “I...well, I...” Will stammered, “I don't...remember. Look, I've just never found one that felt right.”
    Castor looked at him askance. “What, like...?” He reached over and squeezed Katryna's breast. She gasped and slapped him, but tried unsuccessfully to hide a smile.
    “No,” said Will, “I mean I've just never found the right one. They just...don't feel right.” He shrugged. “Listen, is this all you're going to talk about? Because I'm finding this more than a little strange.”
    “Have you ever even been with a girl, Will?” Katryna asked. “You need to loosen up. Truly. All you ever do is kill people. You know...” she stretched luxuriantly, “the next time Castor's gone, I could help you with your problem.” She winked, and Castor stared open-mouthed at her.
    “How much longer do we have to stay in this place?” Will asked in an attempt to change the subject. “The heat is driving me mad after just two days. I feel like I'm in an oven.”
    “We'll be able to leave soon, once the city can scrounge up some new protection,” said Castor, apparently just as eager to switch topics. “We'll need to help train the new soldiers, I think. On a happier note, we got paid. Our employers came by earlier this morning to pick up the taen. Some strange desert woman, and two men who looked like the one that gave us the job.” Will choked on his pie once more, and Castor waited for the fit to subside before continuing. “She had a message for you—if you ever need to find her, open your heart. Or something like that.” He shook his head. “Nutter.”
    Seek me out should you wish to hear how the story ends.
    “Yes...” Will agreed slowly, but the word lacked conviction. He stared dazedly down at his food as the night's events came rushing back to him. The strange woman had been trying to tell him something important, he was sure of it. But why would she tell him a story about the Titans? They were a myth. Had she perhaps, like the girl Priscilla, seen him kill people? If she was trying to impart some moral value on Will in an attempt to temper his penchant for brutal violence, she was too late; Priscilla had done that already, though without meaning to. Besides, this Serah woman had payed them to kill people.
    Thinking about the little girl suddenly brought forth an intense longing to go see her—to explain why exactly it was that killing was wrong. Hypocrite, said a child's voice in his head, but he brushed the word aside. You will not haunt me today, he thought. Not today.
    But deep down, he knew the word rang true. Killing was all he knew—it was what he was good at. How could he tell someone to follow his example when it was not, in fact, his example at all? But no—just because he had lost himself to violence long ago did not mean he had to let the girl fall into the same trap.
    “Will?” Katryna asked, startling him from his reverie. She and Castor were looking at him curiously. “Are you alright?”
    “Oh—yes, fine,” he said quickly. He took a hasty bite of food. “Sorry, I was daydreaming. Listen, since we're going to be here for awhile, would you mind if I went around the city today? There's something I'd like to do.”
    Castor made a shooing gesture. “I dare say you've earned a day off. Go find a brothel or something while you're out there.” He laughed at Will's stricken expression.
     
    ~
     
    Summer in the Southlands, he thought glumly as he stepped outside and into what felt like a solid wall of heat—muggy, miserable heat that hung like a rotting cloud over the earth. The Pradians had learned to deal with this heat; Will had not. He had grown up on the outskirts of Montriggia, a temperate city where the summer's fury was lessened by the constant