CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Crouched on the tack room floor the next morning, I twirled my finger sideways at the little pup in front of me. Riot obediently did a smooth roll along the floor. Grinning, I praised, “Good boy.”
He predictably leaped at me, his tongue lolling out, his tail wagging.
I stroked him, spouting more words of praise. The pup, who’d been named Riot by Ajax, routinely visited me now. He’d not only woken me this morning by enthusiastically licking at my face, he’d danced around me while I dressed—attacking my clothes like he was competing with them for my focus.
I’d trained him to perform a number of tricks—first using edible treats. Now he responded to hand commands alone. Laelaps were exceptionally smart.
“One more trick. Then I have to go eat.” I gave him a different hand command, and Riot correctly responded by spinning in a circle.
Smiling brightly, I petted him. “You’re such a clever boy.
Yes, you are. And so damn cute, I could just eat you.
” Feeling a muzzle nudge my shoulder, I stroked Valor’s head. “Don’t be jealous, I love you as well.”
The sound of footfalls made me tense. I knew the rhythm of that stride. Knew who was coming. Knew that he would likely walk right in here.
“I gotta go now,” I whispered to Riot. “We’ll play again tomorrow.” I gave him a brief stroke, rose to my feet, and stepped away from the pup.
Moments later, the bane of my existence strode right into the room, bold as you please. Yes, he still checked to make sure that I tidied any mess I made. Such faith in me.
“Good morning,” I greeted as Valor padded over to him. “I’m running late, but I’ll put the room to rights in just a second.”
When Riot playfully bounded over to him for some attention, I snatched my pillow and blanket from the hay bales. I whistled as I tidied the room—stuffing things out of sight or putting other things back into their original position.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Valor herding Riot out of the room and presumably back to their den. I also noticed that Talon had yet to move. It was probably another attempt to grate on my nerves. And it wasn’t going to work.
Once the room was in order, I stepped into my boots without so much as looking his way. I was tying the laces when I heard more footfalls approaching.
A head stuck around the corner of the doorway. Jelani. His brow dented as his gaze flicked from me to Talon, who didn’t deign to turn and acknowledge him. “Oh, hi,” he said before clearing his throat.
I smiled. “Hey.”
Talon didn’t budge to let him advance into the room. In fact, he acted like Jelani wasn’t even there. Rude.
Jelani plucked at his earlobe. “Khalida sent me to find you,” he told me. “Said you’re taking too long.”
I inwardly frowned, since it wasn’t something that she had ever done before. I had to wonder if, knowing Talon would be at the stables, she’d sent Jelani here in the hope that another male seeking me out might somehow spur the Cardinal into making some sort of move. If so, she was wasting her time.
Done with my laces, I stood upright. “I’m ready.” I crossed to the doorway—or tried to. Talon’s broad body blocked my path, much as it had last night. And he didn’t move an inch, much as he hadn’t last night.
Staring at his throat, I inwardly spat all manner of curses at him.
Jelani frowned uncertainly. “Is everything okay?”
“Talon just finds it hard to have me out of his sight,” I quipped. “He misses me when I’m not around. It’s taking everything he has not to hold me right now.”
Jelani’s lips kicked up. “Hmm.” Turning, he made his way to the exit, clearly expecting me to follow. Which I would have done, except Talon still didn’t step aside.
A strong hand curved around my jaw and lifted my chin … and then Talon’s eyes were boring into mine, as intent and dark and enthralling as always. He pinned me with a Can we be done with this shit now? look.
Well of course he’d want such a thing. He didn’t need distance.
He fought our attraction just fine—at least until we were in a confined space when emotions were running high.
In not sharing my struggle, he failed to understand my motivations for pulling back; he couldn’t see that it was better for me this way.
Wanting this little scene over with, I offered him a ‘Sure thing’ look, but I supposed that my impersonal smile told a different story.
Giving his head an impatient shake, Talon dropped his hand. His lips tight, he pivoted on his heel and stalked away.
Subtly blowing out a breath, I left the room and strode down the aisle, carefully skirting around where he stood near Xanthos’s stall.
Outside the stables, Jelani stood waiting for me. He glanced at the building. “Seriously, is everything okay between you and Talon?”
Not willing to share the truth of the situation with anyone other than Khalida, I gave him a different truth as we made our way to the food hall.
“As you can imagine, it wears on me a little to know that I’m being constantly watched and that my every activity is reported to the Sovereigns.
Likewise, it seems to be wearing on Talon that he’s been ordered to oblige them this way when he has far better and bigger things to do. ”
“Ah,” said Jelani with a nod of understanding. “Yeah, I can see how some resentment might build.”
If only it were that simple.
In the food hall, I followed behind Jelani as he headed to where our group sat. The sound of deep laughter coming from a particular officiate made my lips curve, because I knew why he was so happy. His power had surfaced last night.
It had happened at the tavern. His body had shook.
His chest had heaved with labored breaths.
His eyes had glimmered with pain. Then his skin had rippled …
and he’d shifted into a wolf right there.
He couldn’t yet properly control the shifting process, but officiates were giving him guidance just as they were to other candidates in his position.
I peered over at another group. They were quieter than usual.
Subdued. One of their friends had also come into his power.
But the guy hadn’t made it. His skin had rippled as though he might shift shape, but then his entire body had arched as he choked on a scream.
Mere moments later, he’d crumpled to the ground, dead.
And so forty-two candidates now remained.
Honestly, I worried for Lear’s friend. The female Lykaon often muttered to herself, her eyelids flickering, her head twitching. She seemed wildly paranoid and didn’t appear to tolerate the company of anyone other than her boyfriend.
As I finally reached our group, Khalida urged me to sit beside her. Before I even got the chance to load food onto my pewter, she leaned into me and whispered, “So, how did your morning interactions with Talon go?”
I slid her a sideways glance. “Don’t think I don’t know that you sent Jelani to the stables hoping it would bug Talon in some way.”
She gave an unapologetic shrug. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
I frowned. “Nothing about the situation is desperate. Have you always been so dramatic?”
She pursed her lips. “Yes. It’s a flaw, but I like it.”
“Well, so long as you like it.”
Her amused snort was a little weak.
I felt my brows dip. “Is something wrong?”
She hesitated, chewing on the inside of her mouth. “I don’t know yet. We’ve all been trying to work out what’s happening, but we aren’t sure. It doesn’t make sense.”
Unease gripped my gut. “What doesn’t?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard of the glorious garden located beside the fortress.”
I nodded. “The Garden of the Gods. Only the Sovereigns and landscapers are permitted to go there.”
“Right. But Talon and the Marshalls have their fingers on the pulse of everything that goes on here. They somehow learned something seriously weird. I’m sure they meant to keep it to themselves, but two officiates overheard them speaking of it …
and it wasn’t long before the entire Order then became aware of it. ”
“Of what?” I prodded.
“You know the golden apples?”
“Yeah.” There was really no way to forget them.
“Well, they’re not so golden right now.”
I felt my brow dent. “What do you mean?”
“I mean the apples dangling from the trees aren’t fully coated in ichor. There’s only patches of it on them.”
My nape tingled. “So, the fruit has somehow been poisoned?”
“Maybe. Or …”
“Or, what?”
She bit down on her lower lip. “Or maybe what some officiates believe is right: that the cracks in the fortress and the state of the apples are both signs that the Sovereigns are weakening.”
I straightened in my seat, frowning. “What could cause that?”
“We don’t know—there doesn’t seem to be anything that could do such a thing, which is why the theory is only a ‘maybe.’ The Sovereigns haven’t made the apple issue public, so either they’re not concerned or they’re intent on hiding it.”
I lifted my shoulders. “It could just be that the problem is with the tree itself. Or the soil, even.”
“There might be an environmental cause,” she agreed.
“It’s the most likely explanation. But it’s never happened before, and the problem didn’t appear until very recently.
Some think that maybe Theseus managed to do something to the land here, but I don’t know if that’s possible either.
We’re all just stumped. Quillen tried asking Ajax for some elaboration, but he was shut down fast. It’s a need-to-know topic, apparently. ”
“If there’s a chance the Sovereigns are weakening, I personally feel it’s something we all need to know.”
“Couldn’t agree more. But—at least for now—they’re being closemouthed about it. So maybe they just don’t have answers either but don’t want to admit it.”
I sighed. “There are too many maybes.”
“Again, couldn’t agree more. All we can do is wait until they choose to raise the subject. No amount of questioning them would achieve anything.” She pulled a face. “I don’t like to wait.”
“It’s not my favorite pastime either.”