Page 113

‘What makes you say that?’

Wilder sat back in the booth, his shoulders down, his legs stretched out beneath the table, brushing against hers. He looked… relaxed. ‘Because the Laughing Fox is one of many connected sister taverns across the kingdoms.’

‘Oh?’

‘The Laughing Fox, the Blushing Bear in Tver, the Singing Hare in Aveum…’

‘And what of the fallen kingdoms?’

‘There was the Dancing Badger in Naarva…’ Wilder hummed. ‘And I believe it was the Flying Stag in Delmira. Marise still complains that the Stag was his best wholesale client. No kingdom has matched those orders since.’

Thea watched him thoughtfully, struck by the contrast between what she felt for him and how little she knew of his life before her. He was almost a stranger to her in that regard. She looked back to the dartboard.

‘Are you any good?’

He followed her gaze. ‘I was more of a billiards man myself,’ he said, nodding to the table at the other end of the tavern.

‘I’ve never played,’ Thea ventured. There was a lot she hadn’t done, a lot she would never do. Without thinking, she brought her hand to rest on her fate stone under her dress.

Wilder seemed to sense her unspoken words. ‘Shall we?’

Thea grinned. ‘I’m game if you are.’

‘Oh, I’m always game, Princess.’

The name didn’t even bother her this time. In fact, it made her stomach dip pleasantly, as did the challenging gleam in the Warsword’s gaze. Thea simply picked up their wine and waited for him to lead the way to the table.

There were two men already playing, but at the sight of Wilder and Thea, they insisted that the table was theirs to enjoy and re-racked the balls for them immediately.

Thea laughed and looked up at the Warsword. ‘You make quite the impression, don’t you?’

‘That wasn’t about me,’ he replied slowly, watching the men leave. ‘By now everyone’s heard of the pretty Guardian from Thezmarr who took down a dozen mercenaries in a storehouse.’

The way Wilder said it made Thea blush, but she’d done exactly that.

Wilder was holding out a cue stick. ‘Ladies first.’

Thea leant over the table, lining up her stick with the striker.

Wilder chuckled. ‘Not like that.’

‘Well, don’t just laugh. Show me.’

‘Show you? That’s not exactly a winner’s strategy.’

Thea rolled her eyes. ‘So be a gentleman.’

Suddenly, Wilder’s body was enveloping hers from behind, his arms wrapping around her and guiding her hands across the stick. ‘We both know I’m far from a gentleman.’

Thea tensed as the hard plane of his body pressed against hers and he directed her cue across the table, delivering a precise shot to the striker, which in turn broke the triangle of balls at the end.

Thea could feel the eyes of the whole tavern on them, and though she rarely concerned herself with others’ perception of her, she did wonder how she and Wilder looked to them. Warsword and apprentice, getting handsy at the billiards table. Was that what they saw?

Wilder took his turn without paying them any heed and sank two balls at once. He was far more accustomed to the attention than she was.

‘Do you need me to show you again?’ he teased.

Thea’s stomach fluttered at that tone and she squeezed her thighs together. Gods, this man… He’d already proven he could reduce her to pieces. Trying to force the thoughts away, she accepted the cue and positioned herself over the edge of the table.