Tae took me down the table, pointing out his favorites as he snagged them and stuck them on his plate. By the time we reached the dessert section, our plates were full, and I wound up pouting at the cream puffs.
“We can come back for more.” Tae patted my shoulder reassuringly.
“All right.” I followed him to an empty table—a tiny round thing that only sat four.
A servant brought us drinks, and we set to enjoying our meal of appetizers. We were halfway through our plates—me groaning in pleasure—when the pale Princess and her critical boyfriend stepped up.
“Do you mind if we join you?” Princess Sanasenne asked.
“Of course, Your Highness.” Tae started to stand.
“Oh, don't be like that, Tae. You don't have to stand for me.” The Princess set her hand on Taeven's shoulder and pushed him back into his seat.
“He could have been standing to greet me,” the man chided her.
“Oh, how rude of me,” the Princess declared. “By all means, let the reunion commence. The Terrible Two back together.”
Terrible Two?
Taeven grinned and got to his feet. “Thalsar, how are you?” he asked as he shook the man's hand.
“Excellent, thank you.”
“As am I,” Sanasenne declared brightly, her tone warming her cool coloring.
“But look at you—the conquering hero, returning with a valorian on his arm,” Thalsar said and turned his bright green gaze on me pointedly.
“Thal, this is Shane,” Tae waved a hand toward me and then the man. “Shane, this is General Thalsar of the Royal Falcon Army.”
“General?” I asked in surprise.
“I'm his replacement,” Thalsar said with a nod toward Tae as he held out a chair for the Princess. “Someone has to watch over the troops while this guy is off saving the continent.”
The General took the seat across from Sanasenne as Tae resumed his. I stared from princess to warlord to general, trying to process what was happening. Taeven had prepared me for the worst, but he didn't mention that he had a friendship with the princess and her boyfriend general. That felt odd to me. I lifted a brow at him.
“We became friends during our training,” Tae explained.
“The three of you trained together?” I asked. Then added, “Your Highness.”
“Don't worry about all that.” Princess Sanasenne waved off the title. “Call me Sana.”
“Oh, I don't know if I should—”
“I insist,” she cut me off. Then, to Taeven, she added, “He's beautiful. His skin is amazing.”
“Yes, he is, and it is,” Tae said. “But you can compliment him directly instead of saying it to me as if I had anything to do with it.”
I had to hold back my snort.
“But you did have something to do with it,” she protested. “Giving him a piece of your soul made him pretty, didn't it?”
I stiffened.
“No, Shane was attractive before the change,” Tae said firmly. “In fact, we were together before I made him my valorian.”
“Are you saying that you were loversbeforehe proved his valor to you?” Thalsar asked in shock.
“No.” Tae shot me a grin. “Shane saved my life first. I was compelled to change him, but he refused.”
