Page 25 of Kingdom of Spirits
Tahlia rubbed her shoulder where the buckle of Fara’s side-swept half-cloak had hit her. “What do you mean?”
“I knew you weren’t off to the stables. You don’t possess the ability to stay out of harm’s way.”
“This hallway is safer than a labyrinth cave system full of dragons.”
Fara glanced at Tahlia, frowning as she walked on. “Ophelia is the worst kind of monster.”
“You’re not wrong. But I did see some odd things.”
“Like what?” Fara asked.
Tahlia hurried down the stairs with Fara at her side. The sound of conversations trickled up from the foyer.
“The person in question was moving a rug.”
Fara faked a shiver. “Horrifying.”
Tahlia smacked Fara’s arm with the back of her hand. “The place smelled so strange. Like someone had been sick there for a long time. And the chamber smelled like smoke.”
“Just because Ophelia has an ague,” Fara whispered as they crossed the foyer to return to the great hall, “keeps too many candles lit, and enjoys redecorating doesn’t mean she murdered her father. Although I’m here for throwing insults her way regardless. Just not out loud.”
Tahlia eyed the crowd in the hall, searching for a certain grouchy High Captain. “Something is off here. I just know it.”
Fara reached for the milk and egg puddings sitting in a tidy row on a sideboard. “Well, for now, it’s nothing a tiropatina with pomegranate seeds won’t fix.”
The desserts were fantastic and no one bothered them when they retired to bed, but Tahlia didn’t sleep a wink. She hadn’t seen Marius the rest of the evening and she could not shake the feeling that she should be working harder to uncover what in the hells was going on.
Chapter 11
Tahlia
At the front of a mile-and-a-half-long line of townsfolk, the Order of the Mist Knights donned full regalia for the funeral and Blessing Procession. The sky still hadn’t fulfilled its promise of a storm, but the clouds shifted and curled above the knights. Tahlia hadn’t earned any purple tassels for her white riding leathers yet, but she was given a circle of golden laurels like all the other knights. They stood side by side with their squires adorned in dark blue across from them. Tahlia had filed in behind Titus and Ewan, hoping that she’d get a chance to check on Marius with a private whisper, but he had arrived later than the rest and had taken a spot at the very front of the line.
Marius had been late. Marius. The male who had his own water clock, custom-made in the valley and probably worth a small fortune, on his bedside table. The male who was always fifteen minutes early to training sessions and who arrived a half hour before mission takeoffs.
She leaned forward to peer at him. He glanced her way, making her heart triple-beat like she was some lovesick adolescent. Dark circles hung below his stormy eyes and he drew back his lips, showing his full Fae fangs as he looked her way. He wasn’t angry but frustrated for some unknown reason. Heseemed insistent on gaining her notice. She would be sure to grab him after this was over and see what was going through his mind.
The heralds’ trumpets sounded and Marius straightened. The other knights blocked the view of him, so she stood at attention too, ready to give respect to Gaius.
A masked male wearing Gaius’s livery drove a gilded cart with the casket lying in the back. Black roses, snowy mistbloom, and the commander’s golden laurel circlet sat atop the casket. Tahlia’s heart cinched as the casket passed slowly in front of them. Gaius could have further fought her presence in the order, but he had accepted her at the queen’s behest. Since entering the order officially, Tahlia had never been treated as less by him. He had been a good male, a great rider, and a strong leader. She truly wished he would have an afterlife fit for the Old Ones.
The trumpeting stopped and all turned toward the Tombcarver, who had obviously been at work since the announcement of Gaius’s death. The Tombcarver stood in front of the death monument and read aloud the words he’d carved.
“Commander Gaius Maximus Aeneas, defender of the Realm of Lights and son of the mountain. In death as in life, may you conquer evil and hear your name echoed in the clouds.”
The knights knelt, Tahlia following as best she could, then they scooped a handful of the churned dirt beside the cobblestones of the road. She had been wondering why there was a row of earth piled along the pathway. The knights set their handfuls of dirt against their chests and spoke the commander’s name as one.
“Gaius, we mourn you.”
Tahlia hadn’t been taught the funeral process, so she was late to speak and kept her voice as solemn as possible. She glanced at Marius. Unshed tears glimmered in his eyes and her heart broke for him. She longed to pull him into her arms and let him tell herall the stories about the man who had been a father figure to him for so many years.
The rest of the day passed in a quiet blur of conversations with Maiwenn, Fara, Titus, and Enora. At sunset, Tahlia and Fara went to the stables to check the Seabreak’s wing. She’d injured it two days ago. Nothing serious, and the injury hadn’t hindered her flying, but Tahlia wanted to keep it that way by consistently salving the area and making certain the dragon stretched that wing to keep it from going stiff.
The Seabreak’s head emerged from the cave-like stall as Tahlia and Fara approached. The dragon blinked her glittering eyes and let out a puff of black smoke. Joy lifted Tahlia’s heart at the sight, a sensation she always had in the presence of…
A name rang like a gentle bell in her head and shivers danced down her spine.
Vodolija.