Page 24 of The Warrior Priest
Rhys ignored him. “There is nolasttime. That implies there is athistime. There isn’t.”
Was he lying because he didn’t want his friends to know he was considering leaving the order for her?
Rufus cradled his tankard in both hands. “Rhys takes his oaths more seriously nowadays.” He lifted the tankard to his lips. “Fortunately drinking isn’t forbidden.”
“Nor gambling,” Vizah added. Both men looked to Andreas.
Andreas looked smug. “What the master doesn’t know about my private affairs can’t hurt him or the order.”
“Women are a distraction,” Vizah intoned, as if he were repeating something he’d heard thousands of times. “Staying celibate keeps us focused.”
Andreas barked a laugh. “Women are a distraction yet drinking and gambling aren’t? Right now, you three are as focused as a sleeping baby.”
“Enough,” Rhys growled. He sounded tired, as if this were an argument he’d arbitrated many times.
Rufus thumped Andreas on the shoulder. “You’re right. What the master doesn’t know can’t hurt him. But what happens when Master Tomaj is no longer with us, and the next master takes over?” He arched his brows at Rhys. “Heknows what you get up to in the rooms back there.”
Rhys’s jaw firmed as he lowered his gaze to the table.
Andreas shifted uncomfortably in the chair. “Master Tomaj has years left in him. He’s as strong as the castle’s walls and healthier than men half his age. By the time Rhys takes over, I might have given women up, too.”
Rufus snorted in derision.
I waited for Rhys to tell them he was considering leaving the order so he could be with his assassin lover, but he said nothing. He asked a passing serving woman for another ale.
Andreas and Rufus exchanged looks of concern whereas Vizah seemed more interested in the game of dice being played at a nearby table.
Rufus rested a hand on Rhys’s forearm. “You’ll make a great master, my friend,” he said in quiet earnest. “Do not doubt it.”
“Tomaj will be with us for years,” Rhys said. “Other candidates will come to the fore in the meantime.”
Again, Rufus and Andreas looked at one another. “You don’t believe that any more than we do,” Andreas said.
Rufus shook Rhys’s arm. “There’s no one else who has the respect of every brother within the order as well as the high priest and king.”
“If you don’t do it, the order will fall apart,” Vizah said, proving he was listening. “Anyway, why wouldn’t you do it? It’s an honor.”
Rhys’s ale arrived. He thanked the serving woman then promptly drank half.
Although Vizah seemed to have asked his question quite innocently, Rufus and Andreas appeared to be waiting for Rhys to comment. Indeed, from the way they stared at him it was as if they werewillinghim to give a reason why he didn’t want to become the master. They knew he’d reluctantly taken on the role of second-in-command, so they must suspect he had no interest in becoming the master one day. Perhaps they suspected he was considering leaving the order for Giselle.
Rhys remained silent, and eventually Rufus and Andreas gave up. They stood and announced they were departing. Vizah left, but only to join the dice game. I should have left, too. The silence between Rhys and I threatened to become smothering and I didn’t want it to douse the bright flame that was our friendship, even for a moment. We’d always been able to talk easily, or simply to sit comfortably in one another’s company without awkwardness.
Giselle’s return had changed everything.
She sat with her friends, but I was very aware of the glances she cast our way from time to time. She wore men’s clothing, but I doubted she had to shorten the pants like I did. They made her legs look shapely whereas mine looked like sticks.
“Why are you drunk?” I suddenly asked him.
He released his tankard. “I’m not.”
“Is something troubling you?”
“I’m not troubled because I’m not drunk. I mean, I’m not drunk because I’m not troubled.” He rubbed his forehead.
I shifted my chair closer. Our knees touched under the table. We both jerked away. “Talk to me, Rhys. You’ve always been able to discuss everything with me.”
“Not everything.” He sighed, then added, “He’s not going to die soon, Jac. Master Tomaj. He can do a hundred one-armed push-ups in the time it takes to sing the order’s hymn.”
