She made a sort of awkward bowing motion before scurrying off toward the kitchens. Caspian turned to Keira, who was eyeing him strangely. Embarrassment flooded his cheeks. Even he wasn’t altogether used to the status of his new position, how people treated him so differently. He couldn’t begin to imagine what she made of it.
Keira made a motion with her hands, and the moisture from her clothes wrung out into a dirty mote of water before her. With a single flick, the filth went splashing out the door. She raised a brow at him, and he nodded. She drew the damp which had soaked into his boots and leggings and set it similarly out. The relief was instant and undeniable.
Afterward, he led the way through the common room to claim a table near the fire.
“I have money,” Keira said as they sat.
“I never said you didn’t,” Caspian said, rather blindsided.
“I can pay my own way.”
“Of course you can,” he agreed.
She still seemed unsatisfied.
“How about you go pay for a couple of ales?” Caspian said, nodding toward the bar with a smile.
Keira’s smirk grew slowly before she pushed up out of her chair and walked over to the bar. Caspian’s eyes followed her, slipping down her form as she leaned over the counter. Her leggings cupped her full backside in an unjusting tantalizing way. It was impossible not to imagine his body pressing her against that bar, his hand trailing up her spine, around her perfect curves.
Eventually she turned, holding a mug in each hand. Caspian readjusted himself as she set his mug on the table. The ale was spiced pleasantly, and it was warm. He took a long sip and then another, enjoying the heat spreading over his chest. When he lowered it, she was looking at him. He smiled, and she did too. This was harder than he’d thought.
“So why a harpy?” Caspian asked.
“What? Oh,” she looked to where the tattoo was, on her stomach just above her hip, even though it was covered by several layers of clothing. “It’s for the Harpy’s Revenge, a tavern down in Stormhaven. The whole party got one after a job in Queen’s Crossing.”
“The whole what?”
Keira blushed slightly into her ale. “Well, for the past two years I’ve been with an adventuring party, the Blades of Fate.”
“You’ve been working as a mercenary?” Caspian tried to wrap his mind around the idea of her gallivanting about the realm with a bunch of mercenary adventurers and failed.
“It was honest jobs… for the most part,” Keira said defensively. “And I had to do something for money… I originally went to Stormhaven to find passage across the channel. I even took a few jobs on trading ships, but somehow I never made it that far.”
Caspian remembered their talk that last day together, of running away together across the channel. “But what about the Arcanum? You didn’t get your title?”
Keira sighed. “I didn’t have it in me to go back. And sometimes, I think I regret it, not finishing through and becoming a titled wizard. But then I remember how miserable I was there.”
“In your letters you told me how well you were doing.” Caspian’s brow furrowed. He had read and reread her letters from that year countless times. To think that they hadn’t been entirely true… “You were top of your class.”
She gave a small smile, taking another drink. “Iwastop of my class, and I fought tooth and claw to get there. I had no friends, only competitors. For a while, I enjoyed the challenge. It was something to focus on at least. But when I thought you were gone, I just didn’t have the energy to fight anymore.”
He nodded.
“Besides once I left, I realized I don’t really need some council’s approval to know that I am a capable wizard, even if not in name.” She raised her brow proudly, if not a touch sourly.
“Cheers to that,” Caspian laughed, raising his mug to her. He’d seen only brief glances of how far her magic had come, and there was no denying her mastery. “So, do you enjoy it? Being an adventurer for hire?”
Keira softened with a sigh. “It certainly isn’t all bad. At first, it was a trial by fire, having to learn to think on my feet, how to use my magic to defend myself. But it was nice too, the freedom. I made friends there… eventually. They’re good people.”
“I’d like to meet them,” Caspian said honestly. She’d agreed to step into his new life, but he wanted to experience hers as well. To see what she’d become when she had the freedom to chase what she wanted.
“Really?” She arched her brow.
“Well, yeah,” Caspian said. “I’m curious. I mean, when we were young, we never really met anyone. I guess I’m just interested in seeing who you made friends with once you had the chance.”
Keira looked down at her ale and snorted. “Well, I was pretty determined not to have any for a long time. I moved around a lot during that first year, taking on odd jobs when I could. There’s always demand for magic.” She took a drink. “Then I met Rhea. She’s our leader, I suppose. The party needed help dispelling a pretty elaborate warding spell to… well, to rob someone, but I swear they deserved it. I suppose having a mage around was too nice to give up. They offered me a permanent place, an equal share of bounties and loot, and I took it.”
“Tell me more about them, your friends. What made you choose to stay?” Caspian asked, eager to hear more, to understand who she had become, and how.
