Page 14 of Kingdom of Spirits
Beyond the keep’s foyer, the great hall bustled with activity. The water clock chimed the hour as they crossed the tiled floor and headed for the first of three corridors. Two guards opened double doors leading to the platform that worked on a pulley system to reach the commander’s chambers.
The guards nodded in respect to Marius and Tahlia. The taller of the two glanced at Remus and Fara. “Only the High Captain and Lady Tahlia have been invited.”
“I’ll see you at the stables?” Fara asked Tahlia.
“Sounds good,” Tahlia said.
Fara gave them each a curtsey, then left.
Remus gave Marius and Tahlia a bow and followed Fara.
As soon as the squires were gone, Tahlia asked the question burning her tongue. “Do you think the commander has information about the poisoner?”
Light from the passing floors blinked across the small space.
“That is my dearest wish, I assure you,” he said. “It would make sense considering he has invited you.”
“But it could be about…” Tahlia wiggled her eyebrows.
“Perhaps,” he said, looking straight ahead as the platform trembled slightly and lifted them higher and higher.
He had his serious face on again, back to being the High Captain.
She slid a hand over his thigh and watched the next floor pass by. He tensed, and in her periphery, he shot her a reprimanding look. It was only encouraging really. She dragged her palm higher on his leg. His large fingers closed over hers, sending sparks up her arm, then he moved her hand to her thigh. She fought a smile. Breaking through his orderly way of life was her second-favorite activity. Of course, dragon riding was number one.
A memory of the first time they’d met flashed through Tahlia’s mind. Marius had been standing with Ragewing in the arena, his Fae-white hair lifting slightly in the breeze, the muscles along his exposed arms rolling under his sun-touched skin. His gaze had been that of a hawk’s, focused and deadly serious. Immediately, the urge to ruffle his feathers, to break that concentration, had surged inside her. She’d wanted to see him undone a little and that was even before she knew that he was the great Shadow of the Shrouded Mountains, a figure that meant death for anyone who dared to cross the border without good cause and the male who had ripped apart scores of pirate crews and their ships with his exacting strategy and fierce courage. Once she’d realized he was the High Captain, that urge had only grown stronger.
The memory of the first time they’d shared a bed shot heat from her heart to her core. Closing her eyes briefly, she pulled in a shaky breath. Images of his hawk-like gaze near her inner thigh flickered behind her eyes.I promised punishment for your impertinence,he had whispered teasingly over her skin as a spark of mischief lit his stormy eyes.
A shiver of desire had crashed over her like a wave.And what did you have in mind, High Captain?she had said back. The warmth of his hand sliding up her stomach to cup her breast hadbeen divine, and the way he’d cradled the back of her head and spoken ever so softly into her ear…
The platform came to a stop. Two more guards stood at the door. They bowed their heads as Marius and Tahlia exited, leaving the platform and its echoing shaft. Tahlia glanced at Marius, who gave her a quick wink. She couldn’t fight the wide smile that tugged at her lips.
The guards, dressed in Gaius’s crescent moon and sword livery, opened the commander’s door and stood back for Marius and Tahlia to enter. Tahlia removed her gladius and sheath from her belt and stowed them by the front entrance near a decorative amphora mounted into a wooden frame. Sitting for any length of time with a sword attached to one’s waist was awkward. Marius kept his on. Of course, he was used to wearing it since he’d been in the order for years.
Commander Gaius sat in a low-backed, velvet-upholstered chair by the thick glass of his large window. The window looked out on the grounds—the courtyard beyond the foyer, the wall where Marius had first kissed Tahlia under the crystals’ influence, and the manicured lawn that led to the cliff edge that the knights sometimes used for takeoff.
Gaius stood as they approached, and they bowed and curtseyed. The commander’s normally flushed face was oddly pale, but his hair was still as full as ever, mostly covering his dramatically pointed ears. He nodded to them.
“I understand today is your free day,” he said, “so I won’t take up much of your time. To put it bluntly, I have a personal request.”
Personal? Tahlia glanced at Marius, but his focus was on the commander.
Gaius paced, the sunlight washing over the black tunic he wore when not on duty. “It’s Ophelia.”
Tahlia’s gut twisted. Ophelia, Gaius’s daughter, rode in Tahlia’s unit, but she’d been out of action ever since Marius reprimanded Ophelia for using spiked gloves on her Green-flanked Terror. And there was also the whole Tahlia-inadvertently-broke-up-their-engagement thing. Tahlia shifted on her feet, but Marius remained as still as stone.
“My daughter still hasn’t properly bonded with her dragon, but that moment is not far off.”
Marius’s eyes and mouth twitched like he wanted to argue, but he held his tongue.
Gaius halted his pacing and stared Marius down even though he was shorter than him. “She remains unhappy with the way your engagement ended, Marius. I can’t say that I blame her.”
“I apologize for the way I handled that,” Marius said to Gaius, his tone sincere.
Marius then glanced at Tahlia, but she wasn’t about to say anything close to sorry.
He must have been able to tell she wasn’t going to apologize because he squeezed his eyelids shut. The muscle in his jaw worked the way it did when he was frustrated, but his eyes opened to show the smallest twinkle of amusement.