Alexios straightened, then bowed low. “I never intended to. You asked me to show you how I fought. This is how I fight.”
“Pulling your punches? Giving up?” Goran let his hands fall to his sides, obviously confused. “That’s not fighting.”
“But it is how I fight. Continue, Warlord.” Alexios lifted his hands in a challenge. “Unless you forfeit?”
Goran clenched his jaw. “There’s no honor in fighting someone who won’t fight back.” But he pulled one arm back, leaning close enough to reach the Beta when the blow fell… and found himself flying through the air, landing on his back on the ground.
In a second, Alexios had done a flip and had a wheezing, stunned Goran in a headlock.
I stifled a laugh. He’d shown me this move, though I could never pull it off on him. If he squeezed for long enough, Goran would pass out from lack of blood flow to the brain.
Goran reached around, trying to dislodge the smaller male, and he even managed to rise halfway off the ground, but Alexios pressed on a spot on the warrior’s neck that I knew would stop that attempt.
It did. “Do you concede, Warlord?”
Goran tried again, though his movement was sloppy. Finally, he slapped a hand on the ground twice before Alexios moved away smoothly, standing to bow.
“Well fought, Warlord. Thank you for the chance to test my skills against a truly worthy opponent.”
The warriors all around were silent for a long moment before Goran found his feet. “No, thank you, Priest.”
“Call me Alexios.”
Goran grinned and patted the smaller man on the back. “Do you like venison? My men brought down a stag this morning,and I’d love to have you eat with us… and tell us about your fighting style.”
“Teach us!” someone else yelled out.
“I do not eat meat,” Alexios said, and the whole group went silent again, dismay on their rough, bearded faces, as if he’d just told them he was dying. I pressed a hand to my mouth to hold in my laughter.
Goran blinked. “Do you drink ale, then?”
“On special occasions.”
“Well, this can be one of those,” Goran shouted, his grin breathtaking even from a distance. “Ale for the champion, ale for the priest! He eats like a rabbit, but fights like a beast!” I almost gasped as memories of Goran’s poetry washed over me. There had been days he practically spoke in sonnets.
His laughter as he pounded Alexios on the back, as well as his men’s shouted rhymes, filled the camp. “Ale for everyone!”
I watched the men all gather around the two, the camp’s cook rolling a barrel of ale into the center of the group. Some of the older warriors helped set it up on a boulder, and the younger ones passed out horn drinking cups. Alexios was welcomed into the heart of it all, having proven himself, even though he’d honored his vow.
I ignored the twinge of jealousy that pinched somewhere close to my heart. I’d had a crew in Rimholt growing up. They’d included me like this. I’d known what it was like to have a group of fighters who had my back, who genuinely liked me. I just hadn’t seen any of them since I left home. Being a spy was lonely work.
I slid closer to the shadow of the salt cypress and leaned on the bark. “What was that kind of fighting?” one of the warriors demanded once the ale was passed out. “You didn’t hit the Warlord once.”
“I’m a priest.”
“I thought you were a valet.”
“Ah, yes. I am a valet. I was a priest, until the Goddess called me to a higher station.”
“Brave to lie down with that viper,” someone said. I heard a scuffle, followed by a weak, “Sorry, Warlord. Sorry, Priest.”
“I’m sorry as well,” Alexios said. “I’m not her lover.”
For a moment, my mind spun. Had he meant he was sorry, and he wasn’t my lover? Or he was sorry that he wasn’t my lover?
Goran blinked. “You’re not?”
“You’re not serious.” When Goran just stared without speaking, Alexios went on. “I made a vow, and… I’m a Beta.”
