“Commander.”
Turpis turned back at Nikias’ voice. “Your Highness?”
Aimilia shook her head, spotting the servants and the other Runai in the courtyard watching the scene Nikias was making. If he wanted to make a fool of himself, fine, she wouldn’t stop him.
Nikias’ frigid voice cut through the air. “That’s Commander Aimilia to you, Lieutenant.”
“Of course, Your Highness.” But Turpis didn’t address her again, he just kept walking over to Commander Prisca.
Nikias finally turned to face her, and she crossed her arms and glared up at him.
She hissed, “What is wrong with you?”
Nikias, however, was unfazed by the scene he’d caused. “I don’t know what you’re referring to. The boy was summoned by his commander and didn’t address you with the respect your position owes you. Commander Prisca has her work cut out for her in shaping him up, that’s for sure.”
“He was one of my classmates. If you insist I call you by your name when we’re—” She paused, trying to find a word appropriate for such a complex and fraught dynamic as theirs.
When she came up short, Nikias simply raised an eyebrow. “What exactly are we?”
“My point is, he has every right to be familiar with me, considering we were classmates and now friends.” She narrowed her eyes, her next words biting. “Which the two of us certainly aren’t. Now you’ve gone and made all of this look like something it wasn’t.”
“What have I made this look like?” Nikias’ lips twitched into a grin.
Heat rushed to her cheeks and she lowered her voice to a sharp hiss. “Like Turpis was seriously flirting with me when he was just having a laugh, and I was too. It also made it look like you still have any involvement with me beyond a strictly professional capacity. Whether you give them any weight or not, you will have to deal with rumors and what people think, especially when you select your next unfortunate target. You should stay as far away from me as possible so she doesn’t think something foolish.”
“Thank you for the advice, I will take it into consideration. However, I didn’t come over here simply because the boy has much to learn about how to behave. I was going to come see you anyway after this.” Nikias then reached into his bag and pulled out a small stack of papers. “For the entrance exams. The profiles on all of the novices you will be assigned to score. I expect you will be able to familiarize yourself with them quickly.”
Had she just heard that correctly?
Had Nikias thanked her? He had. Was it sarcastic? It had to be. He never valued her opinion, at least not on the subject of gossip and how to best navigate it.
She took the stack from him. “You still could have come and found me afterwards and then we wouldn’t have a scene.”
Nikias finally pulled his gaze away and as he looked over the servants and mages, they all scrambled to look busy or as though they hadn’t been observing their interaction. He turned back toher. “Let’s think of it as doing them a favor. Now they have something to talk about for the next few days until the exams start.”
“You hate people talking about you.”
Nikias grinned. “But not as much as you hate them talking about you.”
Was that why he was doing this? Was this his revenge? Keeping her in the rumor mill for a little longer?
It was rather tame for a man who’d tried to kill a girl for looking like someone else.
But she failed to see how this was particularly damaging to her, other than connecting her and Turpis romantically. While not an ideal match for her as a commander, he wasn’t the worst she could do. If anything, it only made Nikias look worse.
Like a jealous fool, which he most certainly wasn’t. Jealous at least. The verdict on the fool part was still out.
Aimilia just turned on her heel, waving the stack of pages at him as she went. “I better get to work then!”
He made her head hurt.
“I’ll see you soon, Aimilia.”
She looked back over her shoulder, and he just watched her go, a strange guarded look on his face.
What was he up to?
Chapter 11
