Page 15

Chapter 15

Tahlia

L oud conversation and the clanking of plates and mugs filled the great hall. The crystals gleamed with magical light overhead—the sage-colored one aided in the dragons’ health, the rose-hued crystal encouraged mating when numbers were low, the massive clear crystal formations were said to enable the bonds that formed between dragons and their riders, and the purple and gold ones lent courage to the dragons. They were beautiful, and Tahlia imagined she could feel their benefits even as a non-dragon. She smiled and energy simmered down her back. She always did have a strong imagination. A few Mist Knights, a squire, and a couple of competitors also looked up at the crystals while their neighbors held up mugs in toasts to the day’s feats and the coming challenges.

“To number five!” Tahlia’s fellow competitors stood and gave her a cheer. Number four remained in the healing wing of the castle keep, but reports said he was well on his way to good health and might even be able to rejoin the tournament.

Tahlia waved at the cheering folk and walked with Fara to a table near the back of the hall, where servants poured in and out with heavy-laden food and drink trays.

Fara inhaled noisily and took a seat beside Tahlia on the bench. “Finally, some real food.”

“I don’t know if I can eat. I’m too excited.”

“But there is cake.” Fara raised her eyebrows at a tray a servant was sliding into place at their table.

The cooks and their assistants had set cakes in all the colors of the crystals into ordered concentric circles. Iced images of the dragon subspecies marked the cakes’ tops and lacy rings of yet more icing lined the edges of each one.

Fara grabbed two purple and gold ones. “I wonder if these will taste like courage.”

Tahlia nabbed a rose-colored one. “What does romance taste like?”

Fara laughed. “Please don’t answer that. I’m afraid of your dirty jokes,” she said around a large bite.

The rose cake was soft on the tongue, the perfect type of texture to go with the more sturdy icing. The taste was a blend of white chocolate, rose, and cinnamon. Delicious.

The servants filled their mugs with watered wine, and a piper and a lute-player began a jaunty tune. Three of Tahlia’s fellow competitors found an empty area beyond the first set of tables and started to dance.

Fara swirled her mug and sniffed. “There’s barely any wine in here at all.”

“I suppose they don’t fancy the rest of us falling off our dragons.”

Glaring, Fara took a drink. She wiped her mouth with a linen napkin and eyed the other people at their table. “Please don’t even joke about that.”

Tahlia snorted a laugh and enjoyed a white cake that had a pleasant herbal taste to it like a sweet mint with a hint of basil. She washed it down with the watered wine, which somehow complimented the treats in the most lovely way.

The clatter of dice and bones sounded at the table behind them.

“Ah,” Fara said dreamily, “the siren song of gambling dice.”

Tahlia turned to see Marius engaged in a game with another Mist Knight. The marble gaming board bore a sigil—two lions flanking a dragon’s head.

Fara joined Tahlia in staring. “Mist Knights must have even more money than I thought if they have their own marble gaming boards. Look at those carvings.”

“I overheard number one saying the knights are given a higher stipend than they previously received due to the increasing threats on the eastern coast.” Tahlia wiggled her eyebrows.

Curiosity had Tahlia up and walking over to Marius and his gaming partner. She sat beside the High Captain on the bench. Fara muttered something about “pushing her luck in too many directions,” but Tahlia ignored her.

“Is that your board?” she asked Marius.

“It is Titus’s.” His gaze cut to her then away.

Her heart beat a little faster. He smelled like fire and the stormy air they’d flown in.

“That’s a lovely fritillium.” She smiled at the wooden dice cup that Titus upturned over the marble board. The surface was a deep rosy hue.

Titus inclined his head. “Made from dragonwood, of course.”

“Of course.”

“Want to play?” Titus asked. “I’ve been rolling dogs. Marius has already beat me soundly. He could use some better competition.”

“It’s only luck though,” Tahlia said.

“Oh, don’t tell our High Captain that.”

Tahlia looked at the side of Marius’s handsome face. “Why? Don’t you agree?” His scar caught the light for a moment before he turned toward her.

“If you keep track of the numbers your partner rolls, you can choose which numbers you keep for your count on your rolls,” Marius said.

Tahlia winced. “That’s a lot of numbers to jam inside your head. Sounds painful.”

One of his moon-white eyebrows lifted and he watched her with those stormy eyes of his. Stones, but he was beautiful. And scary. It was a perfect combination. He pursed his full lips and she wondered if they would taste like the drink sitting beside his hand? How would a male like the High Captain kiss? Would he be slow, torturing her with the tip of his tongue as she ached for more? Or would he be aggressive and claim her mouth as his own with a demanding embrace? She cleared her throat and pushed those thoughts away.

“Games are meant to be fun, right?” she asked, frowning at Marius. “They’re not supposed to be a lesson in mental tallying.”

Titus laughed and covered his mouth with a fist. “Apologies, High Captain. I didn’t intend to disrespect you, I?—”

Marius waved his apology away. “We are off duty. Relax.”

Tahlia snickered and gave Titus a friendly wink. “Oh, really easy to relax with that face of his turning you to stone over the game board, isn’t it, Sir Titus?” She froze. Why had she just said that? She decidedly did not look from Titus to Marius. Was she trying to anger him and ruin her chances?

“Your cheeks flush at the slightest thing, don’t they?” Marius said.

She slid her gaze to the right. He was studying her face.

Please let the table grow a mouth and eat me whole.

“It’s just those stormy eyes of yours,” she said quietly, grinning with all of her teeth and hoping to all of the Old Ones that he wouldn’t kick her off the mountain right now. “They are just, um, incredibly stern.”

Why was she still blabbering? Shut up, me. She bit her lip, and Marius’s focus narrowed to her mouth. Under his body-clinging leathers, his broad chest shifted in a quick breath.

Titus was shaking, obviously holding in laughter with his pinched lips. Marius eyed her coolly, but though his expression was cold as a Saturnalia morning, she found herself feeling like she’d stumbled into the blazing hearth across the hall.

“I’m not going to eat you alive, Lady Tahlia.”

An image of the High Captain setting his sharp teeth against her thigh flashed through her naughty mind. She imagined the feel of his hot tongue on her skin and the slip of his hair through her fingers. Growing far, far too warm between her legs, she coughed and pulled at her undershirt’s neckline and prayed for a breeze.

“Of course not,” she said nervously. “Let’s play, shall we?” She grabbed the dice and bones and tossed them in the fritillium, nearly elbowing Fara, who had appeared suddenly. Tahlia upturned the wooden cup and watched the numbers appear. “Fara!” she said in an overloud and ridiculous tone she couldn’t seem to hold back. “Where were you? We were just having a great conversation!”

Fara winced and pulled at her ear. “I was making you a plate of oysters and venison.” She slid the plate toward the gaming board.

“Wonderful! Thank you!”

Tahlia paused in pointing out which numbers she chose to keep as her score and shoved an oyster into her mouth. Spicy heat seared her tongue and ravaged her throat. Sputtering, she managed to get the oyster down.

Marius patted her on the back, his expression less cold now. “Are you quite all right?”

Fara offered a fresh mug of what smelled like clean water. “Sorry, my lady. They must have a hot sauce over them. I didn’t know. The staff didn’t say anything when they set the tray on the table.”

“It’s delicious, actually. I just wasn’t prepared.”

Fara stood, hands fisting at her sides. “I’ll take care of this.” She stormed away.

Panicking, Tahlia pointed at the two and the five. “That’ll be my choices. Forgive me, I need to stop my squire from murdering an innocent seafood server.”

She started to stand, but Marius took hold of her wrist with an iron grip. With a gasp, she stopped. What was he doing?

He blinked, seemingly confused by his own actions. “Apologies. Do go. So sorry.”

Tahlia nodded and took off, scanning the crowd of servants for one who was being destroyed by a well-meaning maniac.

But her mind was elsewhere, playing a game with a handsome, dangerous male she had no business thinking about.