“Oh, I have,” he replied with a chuckle, “but I know you haven’t, and it seems like as good a way as any to spend some time with you.”
Jade swung their joined hands as she flashed him a cheeky grin, then dropped his grasp to gather the knives at her feet. He accompanied her to the weapons station, where she returned the knives to their respective locations and properly secured them.
“Maybe later we can spar again,” she suggested, stashing the last knife. The exercise would do her some good.
Theo’s arms wound around her from behind and met across her stomach. He leaned in to her ear and whispered, “This time, we can ditch the knives and the arena.”
She whirled in his arms, her mouth agape but her eyes crinkling at the corners. “That’s a bit presumptuous of you, Major Redman.”
Three troopers entered the main door to the room, and Theo released his hold on her, but his grin remained. He clasped his hands behind his back, and his nose wrinkled for a splitsecond. “Is it?”
Jade tried and failed to suppress the wide, closed smile that stretched across her face. He offered her a hand, and she took it, leading her out of the training arena.
Joy overwhelmed Jade’s heart as she meandered through base hand-in-hand with Theo toward the dining hall. The nagging restlessness in her limbs and lingering questions in her mind evaporated into smoke. When she was with Theo, all other cares and worries vanished. Her time working The Claim was in the past, and that version of Jade along with it.
She had a new adventure to look forward to with Theo, and she was just getting started.
Epilogue
One Year Later
Dark hair heavy with waterhung in long strands down Jade’s back and over her shoulders, soaking the towel wrapped around her body. She stepped out of the bathroom in Theo’s and her private quarters on Ivanelli base, steam floating out after her. Her goal was the closet on the opposite wall, but before she made it four steps into the room, a hand reached for her towel, attempting to pull it free.
Jade rounded on Theo and clenched the towel, pressing it firmly against her glistening brown skin. The sly smile on Theo’s lips forced one out of Jade automatically. But when he reached for the towel again, she stepped out of arms-length.
“Don’t think about doinganythingwith me until you’ve cleaned up,” she said with raised eyebrows. “You reek, and you’re covered in dirt.”
Theo pressed his lips together, hiding his grin, but his eyes still glimmered. “Don’t get dressed.”
Jade angled her head toward him as her mouth pulled in a half-smile. “Deal.”
Theo tugged his gray undershirt up and over his head, revealing his muscled torso. Jade didn’t even attempt to tear her eyes away. When he turned to enter the bathroom, he cast a glance at her over his shoulder, his eyes pointedly raking over her form. Her eyebrows raised and lowered in a flash in response, and then Theo disappeared behind the door to the bathroom.
Jade continued to the closet, exchanging her towel for a robe and using the towel to wring out the excess water in her hair. Their training that morning had been particularly grueling, taking place outsideon one of the hottest days of late summer. As soon as they’d returned to their quarters, Jade had demanded the first shower to wash off the sweat and grime.
Shortly after the conclusion of the Conflict of Succession and their promotions to major, Jade and Theo had disclosed their relationship to Commander Matherson. Four months later, they had married in a small, simple ceremony on base with no fluff or frills, just how Jade wanted it. Private quarters in the leadership barracks had been prepared for them, but even though they were married, their roles on base had continued in much the same way as they always had.
More than once, Queen Arabella had requested Jade transfer to the castle base, but Jade politely refused, at least temporarily. She wanted to take one change at a time. But after eight months of marriage and nothing pinning her down at Ivanelli, she was running out of excuses.
The truth was, Jade wasn’t entirely sure how involved she wanted to be with the royal family, at least not for a while. Grand General Devereaux still eyed her as a potential future replacement, which would put her in the castle sooner or later. By then, she should be in a better place to work alongside Arabella. But Jade had done well to leave everything associated with The Claim in the past. She feared living so near the castle and working closely with the queen would bring her back to days she didn’t wish to revisit any time soon.
Not to mention, her covert investigation of Devereaux’s involvement with Nicolas was well underway, which was much easier to do when not under the grand general’s direct supervision. She had retrieved a piece of correspondence from Arabella that the queen had previously held as blackmail against her father. In the letter, Prince Reynauld had questioned King Mervyn how much then-Commander Devereaux had known about Artis’s abilities, given their close association. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.
Arabella’s commitment to the protection of magic-wielders did pull Jade in the direction of the castle. She would end up there one day, she knew,working side by side with a monarch who wanted the same things she did. Those sorcerers and sorceresses in custody had been released as soon as Arabella had taken the throne, and she retracted the law calling for their deaths.
Many people in the kingdom celebrated the change, but enough were still afraid of magic-wielders and hated to see them living freely. They called Arabella weak, demanding her abdication and even going so far as to plan a coup. That was where Jade’s work over the past months had lain, spying on people who disagreed with Arabella and might wish harm upon her. Jade had successfully unveiled the preparations of a coup and brought about the arrests of those involved.
But the work wasn’t done, and there was enough unrest among the nobility, primarily with talk of revolts and plots, that Jade was plenty occupied with her assignments under Matherson. One day, she would move on toward the castle. Perhaps when she achieved her next rank of lieutenant commander.
A sharp knock at the front door carried throughout their quarters. Wrapping her robe more tightly around herself, Jade left the bedroom and padded across the living room floor.
“Yes?” she called when she was close enough to the door, hesitant to open it while only in her robe.
“Sorry to disturb you, Major Ni’ihm,” the female voice said, a sergeant from Jade’s company. “I have an urgent message for you.”
Jade opened the door a crack. “Not a problem, Sergeant. Thank you for bringing it.”
She extended her arm through the opening, catching a glimpse of the sergeant’s hazel eyes and freckled face. She handed Jade the envelope and saluted before turning to leave.
