Page 11 of The Warrior Priest (After the Rift #1)

He stood quickly, dislodging her. Despite his inebriation, he caught her before she fell on the floor. He cleared his throat. “Sorry.”

The serving woman thrust a hand onto one hip. “You’re no fun anymore. Thank the goddess for Andreas.”

Rhys indicated the tankard. “I didn’t order that.”

“It’s from your admirer.” She jutted her chin at a woman two tables away.

Even seated as she was, I could tell the woman was tall, even for a Glancian. But where Glancians were usually fair-haired, she had the glossy black locks and flat features of a native to Dreen, the kingdom to the west. She was also strikingly beautiful.

Giselle, I presumed.

Rhys showed no surprise. He must have already known she was here. He picked up the tankard. I expected him to send it back, but instead, he saluted her with it. Then he drained it.

She watched him, openly admiring. When he finished, she crooked her finger, beckoning him. He crossed his arms over his chest and remained seated.

She laughed and turned back to her companion.

Vizah, who’d come up behind Rhys, clapped him on both shoulders. “Giselle’s back.”

“Nothing gets past you,” Rufus said.

“What’s she doing here?”

“What do you think?”

Vizah considered it a moment then glanced at Rhys. “Ohhhhh.”

“She’s probably here for work,” Rhys growled.

“So you haven’t seen her since her return?” Rufus asked.

Rhys sank in his seat and concentrated on the inside of his tankard.

“Is she the reason you’ve been acting strangely lately?” Vizah asked him.

Rhys shot him a flinty glare.

Rufus rolled his eyes. “Idiot,” he muttered.

“Who’s an idiot?” Andreas asked. He pulled up another chair, turned it around, and straddled it. “Let me guess. Is it Vizah?”

Vizah stiffened. “Why would you think it’s me?”

“Experience.” Andreas clinked his tankard against Rufus’s.

Vizah scowled. “I just wanted to know if Rhys is acting strangely lately because his former lover is back in Tilting.”

“Giselle?” Andreas looked around until he spotted her, chatting to her companion. “Ah. Now it makes sense.”

“The reason why Rhys is acting strangely?”

“How the deputy governor was killed.” Andreas said it quietly enough that only we could hear. To me, he added, “She’s an assassin for hire. She usually only takes jobs where she eliminates what she calls undesirables.”

“Who decides if they’re undesirable?” I asked.

He had no answer to that.

“I already knew she did it,” I told them. “I saw her go into the house then leave via the river.”

Rufus, Andreas and Vizah cast me admiring looks. Rhys continued to stare into his tankard.

“Merdu’s blood, you’re good, Jac,” Vizah said. He leaned forward. “Since you’ve clearly been following her, can you tell us?”

“Tell you what?”

“If Rhys has slept with her.”

Rhys slammed his tankard down on the table, drawing the attention of several patrons seated at neighboring tables, including Giselle. His nostrils flared. I’d never seen him look so angry at one of his friends. Indeed, I’d never seen him look angrily at anyone.

Vizah swallowed heavily. “I get the hint. You’re keeping that vow nowadays. Probably just as well. The high priest wouldn’t like it, especially now you’re the second.”

Rhys’s anger extinguished as quickly as it flared. “Can we talk about something else?”

“Speaking of breaking vows,” Vizah said with an arched look at Andreas. “When are you going to give the whores a rest from your prick?”

“Vizah!” Rhys snapped.

“What? Why are you giving Jac the side-eye? He’s old enough to know about women.”

“First of all,” Andreas said, “ my women are not whores. I don’t need to pay for it. Secondly, that’s not why Rhys is telling you to shut your mouth.”

Vizah frowned. “Then why?”

Rufus rolled his eyes again. “Idiot.”

“Why?”

“You really don’t know, do you?”

Vizah shook his head. “Don’t know what? Rhys?”

“It’s not my place to say,” Rhys said.

“What isn’t? Jac’s old enough. Isn’t he?”

“You’re the idiot for not—” Rufus hissed in pain and leaned down to rub his shin. Rhys had kicked him under the table. “For not getting me another drink.”

“Get your own drinks,” Vizah grumbled. “I’m not your servant. Anyway, I haven’t got any money.”

Andreas removed his hat and dragged his hand through his thick golden hair. The entire cohort of serving women sighed in unison. “You lost at dice again, didn’t you? You should give up and do what I do instead, and the drinks will flow all night, for free.”

“I am not going to sleep with the serving women to get free ale. That’s asking for trouble.”

“They won’t get into trouble. The innkeeper loves me after I stopped his son getting into a fight once. He won’t dismiss them for keeping me happy.”

“Not that kind of trouble. The women kind. I’d say more,” Vizah added, shooting a glare at Rufus, “but I don’t want to be called an idiot again for speaking about sex in front of Jac.”

Rhys cleared his throat. “Change of subject. The new prince…who wants to have a wager on whether he’ll make a good ruler?”

“Shhh.” Rufus glanced around. “Merdu, keep your voice down, Rhys. It’s treason to talk about the heir like that.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know but there must be some law about that kind of talk. It sounds seditious to me.”

Vizah watched as a serving woman delivered a tankard to Andreas then brushed his cheek with her knuckles before walking away, hips swinging seductively. “You’re suspicious of everything, Rufus,” he said.

“I said seditious, not suspicious. And stop staring at the women.”

“Why? Andreas does it.”

“I don’t stare ,” Andreas said. “I admire .”

“And Jac’s been doing it. He can’t stop staring at Giselle.”

My face flamed. I thought I’d been discreet, watching her from beneath my lashes, but if Vizah had noticed then I’d failed miserably.

Vizah laughed, the sound a low rumble in his barrel chest. “She’s a little old for you, Jac, but I don’t think she’d mind. As long as Rhys—” He grunted as he winced. “Why did you kick me?”

Rufus and Andreas both chuckled. I was certain they both knew I was a woman now, although before tonight I hadn’t been sure if Rufus knew. It seemed Vizah was the only one who hadn’t guessed, and the others were having too much fun to enlighten him. All except Rhys, that is.

Rhys swiped up his tankard. “Leave Jac alone. He’s too young.”

Vizah frowned at me. “How old are you?”

“Twenty,” I said.

“Definitely old enough.” Vizah’s frown deepened. “You’re very small for a man of twenty years. Rhys, you should pay him more. He needs a good feed.”

“He’s not twenty,” Rhys said. “Fifteen or sixteen. Seventeen at the most. Too young.”

“I am twenty,” I said through a clenched jaw. “As Rhys well knows. He just can’t accept it, for some reason.”

“I understand now,” Vizah said with a knowing nod. “It’s got nothing to do with Jac, does it? You just don’t want to talk about sex.”

Rhys lowered his tankard. “You’re right. Let’s not.”

Vizah wasn’t at all worried, despite the icy glare Rhys shot him. “You should talk about your feelings. It’ll help you release any lingering doubts you may have about giving up sex for good now that you’re the second.”

Andreas snickered while Rufus leaned forward. “This will be interesting,” he said.

“I don’t have lingering doubts,” Rhys growled at Vizah.

“Isn’t that why you’re acting strangely lately? Now that you’ve been promoted, you’ve decided to keep all your vows, even that one.”

Rhys craned his neck to peer past the other patrons toward the bar area. “I need another drink.”

“Don’t replace women with ale,” Vizah bumbled on.

“Or gambling,” Andreas added with a pointed look at Vizah.

Rufus lifted his tankard to Andreas. Andreas clinked his against it then both drank deeply.

It seemed Rhys hadn’t told his friends he was considering leaving the order for Giselle. “How long were you with Giselle last time?” I asked him.

Andreas grinned. “Yes, Rhys, tell Jac all about your relationship with Giselle.”

Rhys ignored him. “There is no last time. That implies there is a this time. There isn’t.”

Was he lying because he didn’t want his friends to know he was considering leaving the order for her?

Rufus cradled his tankard in both hands. “Rhys takes his oaths more seriously nowadays.” He lifted the tankard to his lips. “Fortunately drinking isn’t forbidden.”

“Nor gambling,” Vizah added. Both men looked to Andreas.

Andreas looked smug. “What the master doesn’t know about my private affairs can’t hurt him or the order.”

“Women are a distraction,” Vizah intoned, as if he were repeating something he’d heard thousands of times. “Staying celibate keeps us focused.”

Andreas barked a laugh. “Women are a distraction yet drinking and gambling aren’t? Right now, you three are as focused as a sleeping baby.”

“Enough,” Rhys growled. He sounded tired, as if this were an argument he’d arbitrated many times.

Rufus thumped Andreas on the shoulder. “You’re right. What the master doesn’t know can’t hurt him. But what happens when Master Tomaj is no longer with us, and the next master takes over?” He arched his brows at Rhys. “ He knows what you get up to in the rooms back there.”

Rhys’s jaw firmed as he lowered his gaze to the table.

Andreas shifted uncomfortably in the chair. “Master Tomaj has years left in him. He’s as strong as the castle’s walls and healthier than men half his age. By the time Rhys takes over, I might have given women up, too.”

Rufus snorted in derision.

I waited for Rhys to tell them he was considering leaving the order so he could be with his assassin lover, but he said nothing. He asked a passing serving woman for another ale.

Andreas and Rufus exchanged looks of concern whereas Vizah seemed more interested in the game of dice being played at a nearby table.

Rufus rested a hand on Rhys’s forearm. “You’ll make a great master, my friend,” he said in quiet earnest. “Do not doubt it.”

“Tomaj will be with us for years,” Rhys said. “Other candidates will come to the fore in the meantime.”