Page 7 of Kingdom of Spirits

“How can you be so sure? We risk disturbing the order by considering one another as a potential mate.”

“You considered Ophelia. Is this only more of a problem because I’m half-human and new?”

“Yes. That’s exactly why.”

“Maybe tonight will help smooth things over? Do you think my whole unit will come?”

He nodded. “I do.”

“Because you asked them to,” she said, cocking her head to the side.

“Yes.”

“The order is lucky to have you,” she said. “Do you think you’ll be the next commander?”

“It would be arrogant for me to say yes.”

“But silly for you to say no, right? You have to be Gaius’s choice.”

“Commander Gaius,” he corrected. Gods, she had to start using the proper titles.

“I thought we were just Marius and Tahlia at the moment.”

He was torn between wanting to be casual and easy with her and teaching her the proper way for a Mist Knight to behave. “Still.”

She held out her hands. “Fine. Sorry. Commander Gaius’s choice.”

“He hasn’t said anything yet.”

“Do you want the position?” she asked.

He took a slow breath. “Yes, but I will be in the sky, unlike him. I would have to run the order in my way, not his. He knows that.”

She ran a fingertip from his elbow to his knuckles. His skin pebbled in the wake of her touch and heat poured through his veins.

“Are you certain we need to spend the evening with the other knights?” she asked. “Because I have some pretty solid ideas on what we could do instead.”

He chuckled, surprising himself. She made him feel lighter than anyone else. “Can you wait an hour?”

“I suppose.” Her smile was the brightest fire in the room.

Chapter 4

Tahlia

Marius opened his mouth to say something, but the tavern door swung wide and the three captains walked in. Titus’s bulky form momentarily blocked Maiwenn and Ewan from view. Titus seemed to be finishing a story.

“The dragon took two fingers before the pirate relented and gave up the sack of grain. I told him he was lucky he’d chosen those particular appendages.”

Maiwenn snorted. “True.” She had a willowy build and moon-white hair like Marius. When she crossed the room, almost every male gazed her way.

Ewan smoothed a hand over his bald head as he grinned. The oil lamps suspended from the rough-hewn ceiling beams flashed in his eyes. Their unique purple-blue color was even more striking against his dark skin.

Claudia and Justus appeared out of the growing tavern crowd too. Claudia had skin the color of the sunset and a long tail. When Tahlia was a youngling, she had been envious of the Fae who ended up with tails. Claudia’s whipped around behind her, making her look like a wild forest creature. All right. Tahlia was still envious. Tails were just fantastic.

Justus was a mess as usual. His tunic had a tear at the shoulder and he’d somehow splattered mud all up his tall boots even though they hadn’t had rain in days.

Titus, Claudia, and Justus made up the rest of unit one, along with Tahlia and Marius. Though Marius, of course, didn’t function as a regular member of the unit since he was High Captain. He just usually flew with unit one.

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