“We need to speak with the governor.” He stood with a grimace, using the post that had attempted to knock him out to steady himself.
Theo slid his hand to his belt, fumbling for his dagger as his heart pounded. He wasn’t ready for another war, especially not with the forces under the Accords’ alliance. Pinching his eyes tight, he forced back the images threatening to leak through. He’d let the soldier within slip out. Theo threw a hand over the stitch in his mind. He wouldn’t give in to it.
His trembling hand released his dagger and reached for his pouch, but he found only his belt. His eyes dropped to the empty space where his pouch once hung. He had to remind himself to breathe as he scanned the docks at his feet.
“What are you looking for?” Gris followed him as he retraced his steps and scoured the wooden planks for it.
“My pouch.” A crack slipped into his voice, and he whirled on Gris ashe tore his hands through his hair. “It’s gone.”
Her eyes were wide, and her gaze strayed to the locals staring at him like he was a raging lunatic. He couldn’t lose control. His hand slid around the back of his sweaty and sun-scorched neck, and he blew out a breath. Overreacting was not an option. He was second-in-command and couldn’t lose himself over a small memento.
He turned back to head toward the Trade House, but Gris caught him by the arm. Her eyes pleaded to let her in, but he couldn’t. He waited for his heart to drop or a tear to fall, but there was nothing. It wasn’t the silver or gold pieces within he cared for.
§
Chief Bennet rappedon the door of the governor’s study, eliciting a muffled shriek from the other side. He squinted his caramel-colored eyes, enlarging his forehead already growing more prominent thanks to the receding hairline.
Theo stretched his spine, hoping to calm the screaming muscles of his back after his scrap from earlier. Once they’d procured a meeting with the governor, Bennet had assigned the soldiers to their posts on the docks, in the street market, and outside the Trade House.
The stifling heat of the cramped hallway dripped sweat under his shirt and rimmed it around his lips. He loved coming home to the warm weather, embracing it after spending years fighting in the north in the kingdom of Mosfelkov, where a warm breeze was a miracle, but this heat wave was excessive. He peeled away the drenched fabric of his uniform, attempting to air himself out as he waited for the governor to open the door.
“Will you quit wafting your stench in my direction?” Gris muttered to Theo, her feminine voice drawing a melodic tune.
“Would you prefer I fling my sweat instead?” Theo shot at her.
She shook her head, rolling her large hazel eyes as she suppressed a giggle. A short glance at the daggers and her bow surveyed the fierce warrior she was. But she had a gentle nature to her, reminding them all that humanity was still possible after what she’d been forced to do during the war.
As his sergeant for most of their time across the Nebulous Sea, she’d been by his side, commanding parts of their squad and overseeing training. With his father’s approval, Theo had offered her a formal position as a lieutenant, but she’d denied him. He presumed she preferred the camaraderie of a soldier versus the loneliness often accompanying a commanding officer.
She bore no official rank as an officer but was still Theo’s second. He preferred keeping Gris by his side, giving him another set of eyes and ears. She’d developed a great strength at recognizing when a person was lying and had attempted to teach Theo during the war, catching fidgets or small tweaks of facial muscles.
Gris crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, causing the quiver of arrows strapped across her back to jostle a painting of an abstract rendition of a silverling. Its fluffy silver tail was greatly exaggerated, and its pointed face was drawn into a vicious grin.
A pounding jostled them as Bennet again made the governor aware of their presence. Gerard’s chortle was a low rumble as he swept back his dark hair with a leather tie. He, unfortunately, was a lieutenant and Bennet’s right-hand man, a large man with a gut hanging over his waistline forming the bulk of his stature.
“This should be fun,” Gerard whispered, elbowing Theo, who ignored his comment, shifting from his reach. “You receive a promotion during the war and now you can’t join in the fun?” Gerard shook his arms free of his jacket and aired his sweaty pits.
When Godwin officially announced they were entering the Trade War and offering soldiers to assist Soyenia against Mosfelkov, Theo’s father was more than happy to send reinforcements. Theo, Esaias, Gris, and a few oftheir other friends had departed to fight, but Gerard was one of the duke’s soldiers who’d stayed behind. All of Bennet’s inner circle had.
Theo bit his tongue, forcing himself to hold back. Gerard may have been a pain in the ass, but he was a decent fighter and damn good with a bow. Not as skilled as Gris, of course. She was the most talented archer in Godwin.
An enraged Bennet stared down the governor through the open door. At first glance, Bennet was stoic, but Theo knew his demeanor. He’d trained him for his entire life, and Theo had learned when his anger grew and how to evade the backlash. At least that much hadn’t changed in three years. Bennet gripped his wrist behind his back, scrunching the cuff of his uniform. His widened stance with his leather belt strapped tightly around his waist with a sword and dagger showed his authority, and it worked as the governor cowered in his study.
The smell of musty books hit Theo as he crossed the threshold onto the red and gold rug, sending a familiar longing through him. Bennet followed him, passing cherry thistlewood shelves filled with various volumes of war, politics, and a few leisure reads Theo recognized would fit perfectly on his shelf along with his other adventure novels.
The governor raced frantically around his large desk, righting frames and shuffling piles of parchment. Bennet marched to the center of the room and stopped at the desk of the frightened dignitary. The governor slowed his frantic movements, and the whites of his eyes grew as he shrank before him.
Theo followed in his wake, feeling the shadow he was once again forced to hide in. Bennet wasn’t pleased with the fight on the docks, but Theo hadn’t had an opportunity to elaborate much beyond requesting a meeting with the governor.
It was strange working under Bennet again. Theo had led his own squad during the war and rarely had any other higher-ranking officer with him on missions. Only when Theo had been promoted to captain and becamesecond-in-command of Thereus Company under Major Faylare had he worked with a commanding officer on a more routine basis.
Gerard took a place to Bennet’s right, and Gris perched on the edge of a red fainting couch, crossing a leg over the other. Her movements were fluid and graceful. It was hard to believe she’d spent most of the last ten years as a soldier among many men who didn’t share a single shred of her civility. She placed the tip of her extravagant bow at her feet and began spinning it in slow circles.
“Chief,” the governor stammered, “I hope this is important. I was forced to push my meeting with—”
“Governor Risley,” Bennet interrupted, narrowing his gaze as he gripped the back of an upholstered chair. “The fight on the docks this morning was intolerable.” He threw a flared glance at Theo, who tightened his jaw but didn’t interrupt.
“What happened on the docks was the direct result of an instigation by one of your officers,” Risley growled.
