CHAPTER FIVE #3
A cheer went up from the table where officiates were playing games.
Officiates weren’t paid, but their food, lodgings, clothes, and other supplies all came free—as did the drinks at the tavern.
As such, no coins were up for grabs when it came to gambling.
But losers might have to take over another officiate’s chores for a day or complete a dare.
Jelani materialized at my side, his mouth curved. We’d gotten to know each other over the past six days. He was funny. Flirty. Easy to be around. “Heard you got called into the shack.” He winced. “I remember those days. How’re your legs?”
I felt my nose wrinkle. “They’ll be better once I’m sitting.” I gave the barmaid a smile of thanks when she placed a tankard of mead on the bar in front of me.
Jelani slanted his head. “How are you liking Xalbia so far?”
“It’s the sum of all my hopes and dreams,” I deadpanned. “It’s also kicking my ass.”
“It’s supposed to. That’s the idea.” He propped his hip against the bar. “The Black Tapestry is Deimos’ line of defense. It can’t afford to have any weaknesses. Xalbia essentially snips them off. You’re doing well so far, especially for a human. A lot of us didn’t think you’d last this long.”
“I still have thirty-three days left. And that makes me want to cry, because the past week has felt like a year.”
He snickered. “It was the same for me, I—”
An arm slashed through the space between us, making me jerk back.
His focus on the barmaid, Talon clicked his fingers and pointed at a beer pitcher.
Flashing him the hugest smile, the woman said, “I’ll bring one over to your table.”
With a grunt, he turned away, angling his body to fully face me.
He glared at me. As per usual. It wasn’t something that I could be hurt by—he glared at everything and everyone, as if life itself inconvenienced him.
And I supposed that I was an annoyance, considering he’d feel that he had better things to do than observe and report on a candidate.
I tilted my head. “You know, I feel so connected to you when we stare at each other this way.”
The look he gave me was so droll that I had to bite back a smile.
“I think it’s because you make me think of my old cat—she was a scowler who was completely unimpressed with the world at large. Every time you glower at me, I get all nostalgic and think, ‘Oh, Bitsy.’ Then I feel so warm and fuzzy inside.”
His eyelids flickered as he appeared to be fighting the urge to roll those pretty peepers.
“Now, I have to go sit before my legs fall off. See ya.” I swiped my tankard off the bar and made my way to Khalida’s table.
Or tried to.
Bevan slid into my path—not on purpose, just with the arrogance of someone who expected others to stop for them or get out of their way. But when he spotted me, he broke stride and gave me a smirk.
“How’s your face?” he asked, and I knew he was thinking of how he’d accidentally elbowed my cheek while exercising yesterday. At the time, he’d gone to apologize. But once he’d seen it was me, he had only grinned.
“Looks better than yours,” I sniped, flicking a glance at the ugly-ass bruise spanning one side of his face after he took a hard punch during a combat lesson.
His eyes flared. “You know something?”
“Whatever it is, I really don’t care.”
“That’s too bad, because—” He stopped talking, his gaze snapping to something behind me. And when fear sparked in his eyes, I knew that it could only be Talon whose body heat I could feel radiating against my back.
Neither Talon nor the Marshalls liked it when candidates argued. They stressed that the Black Tapestry was a family; that there was no room for people who wouldn’t have the back of every officiate, their personal feelings about each other be damned.
Bevan averted his gaze and walked off. I glanced behind me to give Talon a nod of thanks, but he’d already turned away.
I crossed to the table on which my new friends sat and slipped onto the bench beside Khalida, who was leaning into Quillen.
A tray of bread slices sat in the center of the table beside a jug of ale.
Meals weren’t served here, but bread was often laid out.
Soule was currently launching bits of it at a sleeping officiate’s head.
Quillen scowled at Soule. “You’re wasting perfectly good food.”
“Well, I’m bored,” said the Nemean with a defensive shrug. “And Nakoa won’t let me sing.”
On his left, the female Nemean sighed. “Because you sing like shit—and I say that with affection.”
He frowned. “How exactly does that communicate affection?”
Snorting, Khalida turned to me. “I noticed that Bevan was giving you trouble again. Looks like Jelani’s having a word with him about it, although I’m not sure it’s necessary after the death glare that Talon gave him,” she said, drawing my attention to where a pissed-off Jelani had cornered Bevan on the opposite side of the space.
I felt my lips twitch. “Damn, I’ve never seen Bevan’s face so red.”
She looked at Quillen, saw he was in deep conversation with Soule, and then nudged me with her elbow. “Not sure if you’ve noticed, but Jelani has a bit of a thing for you.”
I whipped my head back to face her. “What?”
“A few males here do,” Nakoa told me, keeping her voice low. “But Jelani warned them off.” She cocked her head. “You didn’t sense that he’s interested in you?”
“Not really,” I replied. “I mean, he flirts with me, but he flirts with everyone. So I didn’t think anything of it.”
“Ah,” said Khalida. “Well, I’m pretty sure he plans to make a move if you join the Order—which I’m quite confident that you will.”
I scratched my cheek. “Hmm.”
“What does ‘hmm’ mean?”
“It means I’d rather that he didn’t. I’d prefer to have an arrangement with someone, like what you have with Quillen. And from all I’ve learned, Jelani isn’t big on exclusivity. He likes the freedom to do whatever he wishes with whoever he wishes. Which is fine, just not my style.”
Her nose wrinkled. “That’s true. I’d say he might be different with you, but …”
“But it’s likely that he just wants to be the first to fuck me,” I supplied.
“Maybe,” she conceded. “But not in a cold way. It would be more like he wants to get there first because if someone offers you an exclusive arrangement and you take it, he might never get there at all.”
I shrugged. “Whatever his reasons, I’d rather he didn’t make any moves. Try to talk him out of it. Tell him I’d want an arrangement. That would be enough.”
Her brows lifted slightly. “I could do that. It should work. And if it doesn’t, we’ll know he’d want more. Would that change things for you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“I don’t get why it means so much to you, Anara,” Nakoa cut in. “Exclusivity isn’t necessary.”
At those words, Soule’s head swerved toward her. “Exclusivity what?”
“Isn’t necessary,” Nakoa repeated. “It’s better to have the freedom to share a bed with whoever we like.”
Soule scraped his lower lip with his teeth. “And yet, when she”—he slid a look at a nearby female Lykaon—“came onto me a few months ago, you didn’t react too well.”
“I told you, you can sleep with anyone but her,” Nakoa said, all reasonable.
“Except for Khalida. And Layna. And—”
“So there are some exceptions to the rule. So what?”
Sighing, Soule looked at me and mouthed, “We’re exclusive.”
Feeling something brush my leg, I glanced under the table to see Zinc licking up crumbs. No foods bothered their digestion, so Laelaps could—and did—eat anything.
The canines were fed four times a day—which wasn’t even particularly necessary, since they could go days without eating—but they’d still lap up any crumb they could find.
I snatched a chunk of bread from the tray, tore off a piece, and fed it to Zinc beneath the table. Only once his chomping sounds faded did I pass him another piece.
Right then, Jelani appeared and took the spot across from me. “I had a word with Bevan.”
“Thanks, but you didn’t have to.” Having fed the last of the bread to Zinc, I raised my tankard. “I’m used to him being a dick.”
“You shouldn’t have to be used to it.” Jelani lifted the heavy pewter jug and splashed beer into a tankard.
“And he needs to understand that it isn’t going to happen anymore.
Not merely because I’ll punch him if it continues, but because things don’t work that way in the Order. We look out for each other.”
I smiled. “Well, aren’t you cute.”
His lips kicked up. “I am. Don’t forget it.”
“Don’t forget what?” asked Layna, plopping her butt on the bench beside his.
“That I’m cute,” he told her.
She gave him a once-over. “You’re all right, I guess.”
I bit back a smile and drank a swig of mead.
Khalida, Nakoa, and I suspected that the two Delphiae were resisting acting on their attraction because they didn’t want to ruin what a close friendship they had.
Watching the pair bicker, I strongly suspected that they’d end up in bed together at some point.
Laughter sliced through the air, drawing my gaze.
It was coming from Keyes, who sat with Talon, Ajax, and a few others.
They always sat at the corner table nearest the door, and no one else ever claimed it just in case they showed up.
It was pretty much reserved for them at all times, no matter how crowded the place became.
A curvy Phoenixian officiate leaned back against the wall near the table, her gaze locked on Talon.
Skye commonly orbited around him, desperate for his acknowledgement and attention.
Which spoke of a lot of optimism, since he’d shown no interest in the nine years she had been here.
But I felt it was also her way of discouraging other females from coming close.
Much as she hovered near him, she was always very careful not to touch him. I’d heard that he was not casual about touch. Much like the Laelaps and Arions.
Likely because he was more beast than man, there was something so very untamed about Talon. He possessed an animalistic intensity. Like someone who had been raised by a pack of wolves or something.
I’d heard stories of what he was like in bed. It was said that he liked to fuck. No kisses, no cuddles, no sensual finesse—he kept it basic and primal. Most likely reserving everything else for Eva, I thought. He was, in a sense, emotionally committed to her.
My insides seized as his eyes flew to mine. I saw no point in quickly averting my gaze—he’d caught me staring. So as his eyes narrowed and hardened, I mouthed, “Oh, Bitsy.”
With a short shake of his head, he turned his attention back to his friends.
A bell from outside tolled loudly once, twice, three times. The sound as urgent and alarming as a yell for aid.
I froze, dread flickering to life inside me as silence crashed down on the tavern. A silence that lasted all of two seconds. Then every officiate jumped to their feet, their faces hardening, and rushed out of the building—all bar one.
Keyes’ perceptive gaze skimmed over those who were left. “Candidates, we have company. Go to the armory now, arm yourselves fast, and then get onto the battlements.” His face hardened. “Whatever’s here cannot be allowed to get over the wall.”