Page 17 of The Warrior Priest (After the Rift #1)

I awoke to the feeling that I was being watched. “Rhys?”

“Not Rhys. But he did ask me to give you this.” Rufus held up a pouch bulging with coins. He tossed it to me when I sat up.

I stifled a yawn and blinked sleepily at the figure standing by the shuttered window. “Why did he send you?”

“Because Vizah doesn’t know you’re a woman and therefore can’t be trusted to be alone with you. Who knows what he might say. And Andreas does know you’re a woman and therefore can’t be trusted to be alone with you. Who knows what he might say.”

Despite my glum mood, I smiled. “You’re wittier than everyone thinks.”

“Just wait until I start correcting your grammar. Everyone thinks that’s hilarious.”

When I’d asked why Rhys sent Rufus, I’d meant why hadn’t Rhys come himself, but I didn’t ask again. I knew why. Rhys was putting distance between us.

I pushed off the blankets, only to stop and arch a brow.

Rufus turned around while I dressed. “Your trick worked,” he said. “The sheriff believes the corpse is the killer.”

“Rhys told you what we did? Who else knows?”

“Just me, Vizah and Andreas.”

“He tells you three everything.”

“Not always. But the things he keeps from us are easy to guess, if you know him well enough to see the signs.”

I eyed the back of his head as I pulled on my trousers. “You can turn around now.”

“I should go.” He didn’t move, however. “Jac, can I ask what your plan is?”

“Plan?” I shrugged. “I don’t have one.”

He still didn’t head for the door. In fact, he perched on the edge of my table. “You can’t be a lad forever.”

“I’m aware of that.” I wasn’t sure if Rhys had told him I was the niece of the governor, and why I’d run away, so I didn’t elaborate. The fewer people who knew the better.

“Have you heard of Lord Zeally?”

I blinked at the odd question. “No.”

“He’s a minor lord with an estate to the east. He’s my brother.”

“You’re noble born? That explains a lot.”

He humphed. “He’s my younger brother.”

I frowned. “Then shouldn’t you have inherited the title?”

“I gave up my inheritance to join the order.”

“Why?”

“There.” He pointed at me. “That question proves you don’t really understand what it means to be called by a greater power to serve a greater good.

I gave it up because I wanted to join Merdu’s Guards.

Being a warrior priest is more important to me than being a nobleman.

My purpose is as clear to me as you standing there.

Merdu’s Guards is where I belong. I know it in here. ” He tapped his chest.

Rhys had said something similar, that he felt as though being a warrior priest was right for him.

“Your point, Rufus?”

“I simply want to know what your intentions are.” He rolled his eyes. “I sound like an overbearing father. I don’t want to be overbearing, but Rhys is my friend and I don’t want to see him…torn.”

It was the first time any of Rhys’s friends had acknowledged that there was something between he and I, something that went beyond friendship. It wasn’t surprising that the clever and observant Rufus was the one to notice, or that he was prepared to tackle it head-on.

“If you’re asking whether I will try to tempt Rhys away from the order, then you can rest assured that I won’t. We came to an understanding last night. I know what the order means to him. If I have a plan for the future, I can assure you it doesn’t involve being with Rhys.”

I thought that might satisfy him, but it didn’t. Not quite. “You have plans to leave Tilting?”

“No. This is my home. I know no other place.”

His lips flattened. He didn’t like my answer. “I won’t ask you to leave?—”

“Then don’t.”

“I think you want what’s best for Rhys, as do I.” He stood and headed for the door. “Good day, Jac.”

I watched him leave as I reeled from the strange conversation.

I was still replaying it in my mind when there was a knock on my door. I opened it and stifled a gasp. “Giselle! What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to meet you properly. You intrigue me and I want to get to know you better.”

“How did you find me?”

“I followed Rufus. Don’t blame him. He didn’t know. I’m too good for that.”

I smiled to myself. She may be good, but I was better.

“After I heard a body had been found with convincing evidence that pointed to him being guilty of murdering the deputy governor, I went to the temple to speak to Rhys about it. It wasn’t hard to guess it was his idea.

He knows everything that goes on in this city, thanks to his spies, and he must have heard the governor was going to tear through the slums until the murderer was found.

Ever the savior, Rhys would go to great lengths to protect them.

You’re one of his spies, aren’t you? I could see he trusts you, so it wasn’t a great leap to realize you helped him last night.

I wanted to meet you. Your name’s Jac, isn’t it? ”

I didn’t like that she knew so much about me. It was time to prove she wasn’t the only one in possession of information. “Why did you need to speak to Rhys about the body? What business is it of yours?”

She looked oddly pleased that I’d answered her question with one of my own. She leaned forward. Her sleek black hair, chopped short at her shoulders, fell forward, enveloping us both in the scent of orange blossom. “To thank him, and you. You see, it was me who killed the deputy governor.”

I stepped aside. “You’d better come in.”

She reminded me of a cat when she moved.

Her lithe limbs seemed to effortlessly glide rather than walk, yet every bone, muscle and sinew was poised to pounce at a moment’s notice.

“I see from your lack of reaction that you knew,” she said.

“I suspected Rhys guessed it was me, so I assume he confided in you.”

I closed the door. “I was the one who told him.”

It was rather satisfying seeing her surprise. It quickly vanished, however, replaced by admiration as her gaze took me in anew. “You followed me?”

“I saw you use the vine to climb into and out of the house. I didn’t know whose house it was until later.”

“I had no idea you were even there. Well then, I’m even more glad I followed Rufus now. You, Jac, are someone I want to know better.”

It was my turn to be surprised. No one had taken this much interest in me since I met Rhys, three years ago.

She smiled at my reaction then looked around my room. “Cozy.” She fingered the blanket on my bed. “Soft, feminine.”

I self-consciously touched my short hair but dropped my hand when she smiled at me. I invited her to sit on the chair. “I’ll light the fire.”

“No need. I won’t be here long, and neither will you, if you agree to come with me.

” She stood by the fireplace and crossed her legs at the ankles as she leaned against the mantelpiece.

Clad in trousers with high leather boots, and oozing the confidence and swagger of a man, she ought to seem masculine.

But she was too beautiful, her figure too feminine, to be mistaken for anything but a woman.

“Agree to go where?” I asked.

“The temple of Merdu’s Guards. I thought we could watch the priests train.”

“Women aren’t allowed.”

“That’s a stupid rule, so I broke it long ago. Come on. I’ll show you a way in.”

“Why do you want to watch them train?”

“Because I like watching muscular men who are capable in a fight get hot and sweaty.” She shrugged. “Also, I have nothing better to do.”

It was such an honest answer that I laughed.

She smiled. “You don’t have many female friends, do you?”

“None who’ll watch Merdu’s Guards training with me.”

She threw her arm around my shoulders. “Then I’ll be your first.”

Getting into the temple was much easier than I expected.

Giselle had a key to one of the side doors.

Since it was always locked, it was only ever guarded during times of attack.

According to Giselle, the last direct attack on the temple had been over a hundred years ago.

She led me up a tight, circular stone stairwell in the corner tower.

It was cold and smelled musty, with moss growing on the walls.

“Where did you get a key?” I whispered as I followed her.

“Andreas.”

“He gave it to you?”

“I stole it from him when he was asleep after we’d made love.”

“You were with Andreas and Rhys?”

“Not at the same time.” She looked at me over her shoulder. “I gave up Andreas for Rhys. When Rhys takes an interest, it’s hard to say no.”

If I’d doubted that she and Rhys had once been lovers, she’d just confirmed it. It seemed he was happy to break his vow of celibacy for her, but not for me. My bruised heart took another blow.

“And Andreas just accepted it?” I asked her.

“Andreas had his hands full, quite literally. He had another two mistresses.” She continued up. “He was probably happy to hand me off to someone else. I can be…time-consuming.”

I could well imagine Andreas preferring his women to be undemanding.

Giselle opened a small door at the very top of the tower. “Keep low. No one will stumble upon us up here, but if one of the men down below happens to look up, they’ll see us if we’re not careful.”

We approached the crenellated parapet and peered through the embrasure.

On the opposite side of the open yard, the onion-shaped dome identified the building as the temple where the priests prayed and conducted services.

The building was small, so couldn’t be seen from the street behind the complex’s high external wall.

In front of it was the gravel training yard where the warrior priests sparred.

Giselle pointed out the garrison where the men ate and slept.

It was a rather utilitarian structure with a stone foundation and red-brick walls.

The part of the complex where we crouched was the oldest building, the original fort, that now housed the administrative offices.

“There’s Vizah,” Giselle said, pointing to Rhys’s friend.

“He’s not sparring.”