Page 9 of The Warrior Priest (After the Rift #1)

I was so engrossed in the conversations that I almost missed the figure coming down the stairs.

If it hadn’t been for the tavern keeper calling her name I would have missed her altogether.

Giselle was dressed like a man beneath a black woolen cloak.

With the hood up, her hair and face were obscured.

The tavern keeper said he had a message for her then gave her the name of a street.

From his accompanying shrug, I suspected he didn’t know what the message meant.

If he knew who gave it to him to pass on to her, he didn’t say and she didn’t ask. It was as if she were expecting it.

She left and I followed, keeping my distance.

I worried my boots were too loud on the cobblestones.

My concern forced me to ease back, but because of that, I almost lost her twice.

Each time, I caught up again. It wouldn’t have mattered if I did lose her anyway.

She went directly to the address the innkeeper had given her.

She didn’t knock on the door set in the stone wall.

Instead, she did a very odd thing. She climbed a tree in the park opposite.

Her long, agile limbs easily took her to the upper branches where she could see over the wall.

She’d scrambled to the top without hesitation and not a single leaf shook. Impressive.

We were in the better part of Tilting, where the lords kept their city residences.

Houses were large, their owners wealthy.

I climbed another tree, not quite as quickly as Giselle, but I didn’t have the benefit of her height.

I watched her as she watched the house. My tree was smaller so I couldn’t see beyond the wall, but I presumed she was gathering information about the occupants’ movements.

In the distance, the high temple’s bell rang out, then an hour later, it rang again.

As dusk began to settle and my legs began to cramp, Giselle finally climbed down.

Instead of going to the house, she went around it.

Her route was a little more difficult to follow this time, given the fading light, but I managed to keep up.

She stopped at the river and pushed a small rowboat out from the bank.

We were upstream from the factories and tanneries that used Upway River as a cesspit.

Here, the river flowed pristinely past the private gardens of the houses, including the one she’d just been watching.

I slowly cursed as the cloaked figure of Giselle rowed the boat away.

Following along the bank on foot wasn’t easy.

I had to scale fences and crawl through bushes.

I got bitten by insects and my boots became caked in mud.

While I came across more than one boat ready to launch, I decided against following Giselle that way.

I would be too conspicuous on the river.

I’d rather put up with bites and thorns than be exposed.

As I expected, Giselle rowed the boat to the bank at the bottom of the garden belonging to the house she’d been watching.

After securing the boat to a tree trunk, she headed through the garden, using tree trunks, shrubs and the occasional statue to keep herself hidden.

Dusk had given way to darkness, so she was difficult to spot in her hooded cloak.

I was acutely aware that I’d still not seen her face, but also glad that she hadn’t seen mine.

I’d scaled a vine on the wall to reach the balcony outside Rhys’s room many times, yet I was surprised to see Giselle do the same. She pushed the cloak aside with a sweep of her arm, revealing those long slim legs clad in black leather trousers as she confidently found her footing.

I remained where I was. A woman’s voice came from somewhere inside. I strained to hear, but she was simply instructing someone how to set the table for dinner. It wasn’t Giselle’s voice.

Mere moments after she entered via a window, Giselle re-emerged and descended the same way.

She moved quickly, racing across the garden, not bothering to use trunks, bushes or statues to hide herself this time.

She untied the rowboat and leapt into it.

She rowed away, the faster flow downstream taking her well ahead of me.

I couldn’t keep up on the bank, and decided to abandon my pursuit.

Instead of going home, I headed to my usual meeting place with Rhys and lit a candle.

I placed it on the windowsill. While I waited, I considered what I’d witnessed and what it meant.

For one thing, Giselle had certainly returned to Tilting.

That wasn’t in doubt. The other thing not in doubt was that she was as good as me, if not better, at getting into and out of places.

What was less certain was whether she was a burglar.

By the time Rhys arrived, I’d come to the conclusion that she must be. Her accomplice gave her the address of houses where small yet valuable objects could be stuffed in her pockets for quick removal. Perhaps her accomplice lived in that house and left the window open for Giselle to easily enter.

The question was, did Rhys know?

I was still considering whether I should tell him when he arrived. He blew out a relieved breath when he saw me. “You’re all right.”

“Is there a reason I shouldn’t be?”

He threw his cloak over the back of the armchair. “You gave me your report earlier, so there was no reason for us to meet tonight.”

“I didn’t think I needed a reason. Neither of us do, usually.”

“No. Of course not.”

He picked up the fire poker and used it to move the burning log. His attention seemed caught by the rising sparks before he moved the log back. He returned the poker to the stand then rested a gloved hand on the mantelpiece. His fingers drummed the stone.

I extinguished the candle with my finger and thumb. “Rhys, what’s wrong?”

His shoulders stiffened. “Why do you think something’s wrong?” he asked without turning around.

“I can tell.”

“Your mind can read others as well as remember everything?”

Why was he being so petulant? “I can tell because you can’t be still. You always move when something’s wrong. Nor will you look at me. Is it Giselle?”

He swung around to face me. “Giselle? What…? How do you know about her?”

“The high priest asked me to find out if she was back in Tilting.”

He blinked slowly at me. “The high priest…why?”

“I suppose he’s worried she’ll distract you from your duties as the second-in-command of the order.”

He rubbed his forehead. “I don’t want to talk about Giselle.”

I watched him carefully, until he turned to the fire again so I couldn’t see his face. “She is back in Tilting, by the way. I saw her today.”

He sighed. “This is not going well,” he murmured.

“What’s not going well? Rhys, what is it? Talk to me.”

He didn’t answer.

“Is it the promotion? Are you doubting yourself for the role?”

He grunted.

“You claimed you didn’t want it, that there was no one else, but I know you’ll be good at it, Rhys. Better than good.”

“That’s not it.”

Then it had to be Giselle. She and the promotion were the only two changes in his life that could have brought on this melancholy. Perhaps it was both combined. I hardly dared ask, afraid of the answer. But I had to know. It was best to find out now rather than allow my feelings for him to grow.

“Are you worried because being the second-in-command makes it harder for you to leave the order?”

He raised his head. A beat passed. Two. “What would you say if I said I was considering it?”

My chest tightened. I couldn’t breathe. He loved her so much he was considering leaving the order for her?

Merdu’s Guards was his family, his entire life.

It wasn’t merely a profession, like being a carpenter or constable, it was intertwined with his faith.

A carpenter or constable could leave their work behind them when they went home, but a warrior priest’s days and nights were consumed with prayer, contemplation and training.

It was his essence . Not to mention Rhys’s star in the order was rising. It was an awful lot to give up.

Particularly to marry a thief. I wanted to tell him Giselle wasn’t worth it, but that wasn’t my decision to make. Besides, it could harm our friendship and that was the last thing I wanted. I may never have Rhys as anything more than a friend, but I didn’t want to lose even that.

Yet, as his friend, I still had to give him some advice since he clearly wanted it. “I think you’re mad.”

He lowered his head and resumed staring at the fire. I’d not given him the answer he hoped for.

I hated seeing him like this. I hated that Giselle was the reason for his sorrow, and I hated that I could make his choice easier by telling him what I knew about her.

But I had to do it. Sometimes when you love someone, you have to risk losing them to help them.

“Rhys, there’s something you should know. ”

“I’m already aware. I heard that he saw you.”

I frowned, trying to follow the shift in the conversation. “Are you talking about my uncle?”

He nodded.

“How did you find out?”

“One of my other spies informed me the governor spoke to the sheriff and asked him if it’s possible you weren’t killed in that fire. He told the sheriff he thinks he saw you today, passing yourself off as a boy.”

“He did,” I said heavily.

Rhys drummed his fingers on the mantelpiece again, only to stop when he realized he was doing it. He closed his fingers into a fist. “I’m worried about you, Jac.”

I couldn’t deny it felt good to know that Rhys thought about me at all, but I didn’t want to be the cause of his worry. Rhys had always been so full of mischief and laughter, and I didn’t want to be another burden on top of his new duties as second-in-command.

“Tilting is a large city,” I assured him. “He won’t find me.”

“He already has once. Anyway, you can’t be a boy forever,” he said without taking his gaze off the flames.

“Sooner or later, people will realize. They’ll ask questions about the youth who never grows up.

What if the governor conducts a search? If he offers a reward for the lad who looks like his niece, how long will it be before someone turns you in? ”

I’d never wanted to put my arms around him more than I did in that moment. He needed comforting. We both did. To be embraced by his warmth, to feel his heart beat against my cheek, and the tension in his muscles ease as he relaxed against me… It was all I wanted.

I suddenly felt a little unsteady, so I sat in the armchair. From that angle I had a better view of his profile. Firelight softened the strong angles of his cheek and jaw, giving him a vulnerability I’d never noticed before. I tried to look away but couldn’t. My gaze was drawn to him.

His was drawn to the flames. “You have two choices, Jac. You could leave Tilting.”

“I’m not leaving. Where would I go?”

“I thought you’d say that.” He cleared his throat and turned to face me. “Then you’d better get married.”

It was so utterly unexpected that I burst out laughing.

Rhys didn’t join in. His eyes shuttered. “Find it ridiculous, do you? Well, I don’t. A married woman becomes the responsibility of her husband. Everything she owns belongs to her husband. The governor won’t legally be able to get his hands on you or your pendant.”

“I don’t want to be a man’s responsibility . I don’t want to become his property, forced to do his bidding until the day one of us dies.”

“A good husband won’t force you to do anything.”

I put up a finger as I thought of another thing. “A husband won’t let me continue to spy for you.”

“You won’t need to spy. He’ll support you. You’ll have his children and keep house for him.”

“ Ugh . Sounds dull. Who would I marry, anyway? The only eligible man I know is my neighbor, the butcher’s son, and he smells.”

“He’s the only one?” he scoffed.

“Getting married won’t stop Uncle Roderic anyway.

It will stop him from legally getting his hands on my pendant, but you forget about all the illegal methods he could employ.

Marrying won’t protect me. All it will do is expose me.

I can’t use my false name because that’s for a man, so I’ll have to give my real name, which will then be recorded in the city’s marriage registers.

Then it’ll simply be a matter of time before news reaches Uncle Roderic that a woman going by the same name as his niece is getting married. ”

My logic seemed to annoy him. He strode past me, whipping his cloak off the back of the armchair as he did so. He stopped when he reached the door. “You’re right,” he bit off. “It was a stupid idea.”

Why was he being so ill-tempered about this? It was so unlike him.

“Goodnight, Jac,” he said, opening the door.

“Wait, Rhys. I almost forgot.” I approached him, not wanting to speak too loudly with the door open. “I followed Giselle today and I need to tell you something. She’s a thief.”

“No, she isn’t. She’s an assassin.”