Page 58 of Warrior's Reign
Zoriah laughed. “Anyway, of course we’re coming to dinner. Though it was a shock. I wish you’d told me you were courting.”
Benyon was watching Reign. Sometimes she felt like he knew her better than her mother did, though nothing against her mother. Not with all those kids distracting her. Reign counted it lucky Ma still knew her name.
“Rhyksai. I know his father and mother. He is respectful to you?”
Reign scowled.
“Reign,” her mother demanded, demeanor shifting.
“He is the epitome of respect. We have differing views about the nature of our relationship while on duty.”
Benyon’s severe expression relaxed, his mouth twitching. “Ah. Well, he will adjust.”
“TheseAdekhantypes can’t help themselves,” Zoriah said. “Draw a firm line in the sand, and be patient if he’s worth it.”
“What did he gift you?” Pa asked.
Reign brought out the dagger and lifted it to the screen. Zoriah sighed. “A weapon. Of course.”
But Benyon was staring at it hard. “Is that—”
“Yup.”
He lifted his gaze to Reign’s. “He must hold you in very high regard.”
Zoriah rolled her eyes. “YouAdekhans. Why can’t you just say it? He must be madly in love. Though I don’t see how a dagger demonstrates that.”
“You are sacrilegious,” he told his mate. “I will explain. We should let Reign rest. Her duties are demanding.”
Zoriah smiled up at him, then looked at Reign. “He’s proud enough to burst. He brags about you to the town council every session. Rubs your success in their faces. It’s deliciously undignified.”
Reign snorted. A handful of them hadn’t been what one would call pleasant over the years. She and Khalid had been too old, wary and defiant when they arrived on Yedahn, clashing with the town’s authority figures several times.
“We’ve tried to reach your older brother to tell him the news, but we don’t know if he’s received the comm.” A shadow passed over Zoriah’s face.
Benyon pressed a kiss on her head. “He will contact you when he can,yada’ami.Have faith in our son’s strength.”
“I do,” she sighed. “Okay, daughter, we’ll let you go. Wear a dress to dinner, not your grays.”
“The Rhyksais would not be offended by her grays,” Benyon said. “It is an honor to wear the colors of Yna Ipaluk.”
“She doesn’t need to wear her school uniform to dinner, Benyon.”
“School uniform,female?School uniform?”
Reign signed off as they continued arguing. She fell asleep on the couch thumbing through the news feed, and awoke when her door chimed.
She groaned, but there were only a handful of people who would come to her quarters at this time of the cycle, and none of them she should ignore. Flinging an arm over her eyes, she ordered the lights to eighty percent.
“Enter.”
The door slid open. There was silence after soft footsteps. Reign lowered her arm, then cursed, startled, and cringed for cursing. She surged to her feet, standing at attention.
“SecondAdekhan.”
Aanyah Rhyksai tilted her head, amusement on her face. “We’re in your quarters,Adejahna.At ease.”
At ease her ass. Not only was Aanyah SecondAdekhanto the Heir and therefore so far above her in rank it wasn’t funny, but she was her. . .courtmate’s. . .mother. A Yna Ipaluk alumni of more cycles than Reign had fingers and toes.
