8. Tahlia

In Tahlia and Fara’s bedchamber, Fara threw down the tunic she’d been folding. “What is happening?”

“How would I know?” Tahlia asked, tossing a neat stack of socks onto the bed before rushing to the door. “I’ve been with you, dear friend. Or did you forget I was here in the excitement of our laundry party?” She squeezed out her damp hair with a square of linen as they hurried into the corridor.

Most knights had a servant in addition to a squire, but Tahlia didn’t have the funds. Payday hadn’t come up yet, as she’d only been a knight for a handful of days, so they had to do their own chores either before sunrise and training began, well after the dinner hour, or during the rare instance of free time.

Fara ran beside Tahlia, her dark lavender face flushed. “I thought maybe you would know something about the emergency through your dragon.”

They pounded down the stairs.

“Sadly, no,” Tahlia said.

“Maybe it’s only a drill. Just to see if we can exit the keep quickly and safely.”

“Sure. The order is usually all about keeping everyone safe and cozy.”

Fara let out a groan that was part whine as she grasped Tahlia’s arm. “Slow down. I’m not as fast as you.”

“You should be,” Tahlia said. “If you consider your blood versus mine.”

Fara narrowed her eyes and cocked her head. “Your training is already showing. Plus, I think bonding to a dragon makes you faster.”

“Huh. I had no idea.” That was fantastic.

The trumpets sounded again and Tahlia’s happy mood dropped away.

They hurried through the foyer, jostled by others doing the same. In the courtyard, all the other knights, squires, and castle staff had gathered. Heads were close together and the buzz of worried conversation was nearly as loud as the wind that buffeted the greenery growing along the walls.

Marius stood at the opening in the low wall, talking to two Healers—one of whom was Albus, the male who had saved Tahlia from the poison and who had discovered she was half-human. Tahlia tried not to resent the fact that Albus had reported her. It was his job, after all.

Tahlia and Fara went to stand by the rest of unit one.

“What is this all about?” Tahlia asked Titus, whose arms were crossed as he studied Marius.

Titus glanced at Tahlia and Fara and nodded in greeting. “The High Captain hasn’t said anything yet. But it can’t be good.”

Dread slithered up Tahlia’s spine.

Marius cleared his throat and clasped his hands behind his back. “I have terrible news to report. I never thought this day would arrive so soon. Our Commander Gaius is dead.”

Tahlia gripped Fara’s hand as a chill swept down her back.

No. They’d just seen Gaius a few hours ago. He had been upset, maybe a little pale, but he had seemed as healthy as anyone.

“It has to be a mistake,” Fara said quietly. “Right?”

The other knights grew eerily silent, a mark of how shocked they were.

Marius showed not an ounce of emotion as he addressed the crowd, but Tahlia knew he was crushed. The commander was a father figure to every knight in the Order of the Mist Knights.

Fara chewed her thumbnail and looked wide-eyed around the hushed crowd. “…has to be a mistake.”

“High Captain Marius doesn’t make mistakes,” Claudia said from the other side of Titus.

Marius touched the ring of black adamant he wore on his smallest finger. His steely stare found Tahlia. Her heart jumped, and she expected him to give her a meaningful look, but he grimaced and turned away as if the sight of her hurt him.

He cleared his throat and addressed the crowd again. “Our Healers say that his death happened mid-morning. They don’t know the cause, only that there was no obvious wound despite the blood found at the site. Lady Ophelia reported his door was locked and that he wasn’t answering her knocking or shouts from outside. She called out, and…” Marius’s hand strayed to that ring again and he covered his mouth and cleared his throat once more. “And the castle guards worked the door open.”

A twinge of unease bit at Tahlia’s heart. Ophelia hadn’t been able to get through the door? But she had been there already when Tahlia and Marius had met with Gaius. Had she left and then been unable to return? The commander’s door had been unlocked when Tahlia had been there, the chambers open to those people the guards permitted onto the platform.

Titus stepped away from the others and weaved through the churning group of Fae, no doubt heading for Marius.

Tahlia looked around the crowd on tiptoe. “Where is Ophelia now?” she whispered to Fara. “Do you see her anywhere?”

The wind whipped across the courtyard and the scent of rain filled the air.

Fara began searching too, craning her neck to see past Justus’s wide frame. “I don’t. But she hasn’t been around lately anyway, right? She hasn’t yet returned to training?”

“Not regular training,” Tahlia said, “but she showed up for my session with Maiwenn.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I honestly didn’t want to dwell on it.”

Fara clicked her tongue and pursed her lips. “Laundry is preferable to those two, yes.”

“Exactly.”

“But why are you asking if I saw her here?”

“Because earlier, before our terrible and oh-so-special training, I saw her in the commander’s chambers.”

Fara frowned. “You did?”

Marius had started laying out the plans for the funeral, his voice strained with cloaked grief. “…and we will host a Blessing Procession here for the town as is called for considering his position.”

Tahlia tilted her head toward Fara. “I’ll tell you more later,” she said quietly.

Fara’s eyes widened, then she nodded. “Understood.”

Tahlia had to talk to Marius. He needed to know she’d seen Ophelia in the commander’s chambers. That Ophelia had somehow, in some Fae trickster way, lied about not being able to enter her father’s rooms. Granted, that deceit didn’t mean she’d killed him… After all, Commander Gaius was Ophelia’s father. He had cared for her. She didn’t have any reason to murder him. Did she? Could she truly be that unhinged about Marius and the breaking of their engagement? And even if she was, why would she take that out on her father, the male who had respected her enough to ask Tahlia and Marius to hold off on their relationship just for Ophelia’s sake?

Tahlia tried to meet Marius’s eyes, but he had a crowd around him—Healers, Bloodworkers, Remus, Maiwenn, Ewan, Titus… Everyone wanted to give their condolences and needed his input on what would happen next.

Fara scowled at the crowd mulling around Marius. “He should have announced the new commander. It would have been in the death documents sealed in Commander Gaius’s lock box.”

Tahlia’s mind whirled. She climbed onto a boulder embedded in the courtyard lawn to get a better look at Marius.

Who would lead the Mist Knights now? The most sensible choice would be Marius. Tahlia thought of her lock box and how empty it was. She had one small note that whatever money she left when she died would be split evenly between Fara’s and Tahlia’s mothers, but that was it. She had no grand declarations to include and seal up with wax as the notary watched on. That part of her becoming a Mist Knight had been comically simple and quick.

“It’ll be Marius as the next commander,” Tahlia said, more to herself than anyone else.

Ophelia’s blue-green hair appeared in the crowd. A chill wrapped around Tahlia’s body. Stone-faced, Ophelia approached Marius, Titus, Maiwenn, and Ewan—all the unit captains.

Maiwenn’s eyebrows rose at Ophelia’s approach, but why? Was it because Ophelia wasn’t showing grief? But Ophelia was a Mist Knight, a trained warrior who could most likely hold back emotions until she was granted privacy. Also, she was a cold hag who probably only ever wept for herself.

Ewan crossed his arms, face unreadable. His dark skin was a stark contrast to Maiwenn’s pale complexion. He leaned toward Titus, who had fisted one of his big hands over his mouth, assumably to keep anyone from reading his lips.

Ophelia spoke to the small group of leaders, holding out a slip of parchment.

Marius stiffened and blinked as if surprised by the parchment’s contents. His lips tightened into a line and he nodded once, curtly, before stepping back and letting Ophelia stand in front of him to face the gathering.

Titus, Maiwenn, and Ewan moved away, whispering among themselves, their gazes tied to Ophelia.

Ophelia folded the parchment and tucked it inside the pocket of her vest. She raised her arms to call for attention. Conversation halted and everyone—riders, squires, and castle staff—stilled and went silent. The only sounds were the distant growls and mewling of young dragons that carried on the wind from the stables.

“We will mourn my great father at dawn,” she said, her voice nearly as powerful as Marius’s. “Mist Knights, I am your new commander.”

A shiver ran down Tahlia’s back and she gripped her sword’s hilt. This was the worst outcome possible.

“Surely this is a mistake,” Tahlia whispered to Fara. “Marius should be next in line.”

Fara’s gaze cut to the knights around them and she took Tahlia’s hand in the way she did when she wanted Tahlia to hush.

“Meet at the southern barbican one hour before dawn, Mist Knights. Wear your best. My father deserves your respect.”

The knights raised whatever weapons they had on hand. Bows, daggers, and swords were lifted high and shouts went up. “Hail, Commander Gaius! Hail, Commander Ophelia!”

Tahlia unsheathed her gladius and joined in belatedly, sweat beading along her upper lip. With Ophelia in charge, she would have to be very careful about talking to Marius concerning Ophelia’s presence earlier in the commander’s chambers.

When the chant died down, Tahlia dragged Fara beyond the courtyard and into the arena.

“What are you doing? Don’t you need to talk to the High Captain?” Fara asked, tugging at Tahlia’s hold on her arm.

Once behind the arena wall, Tahlia checked that no one was within earshot and pulled Fara close.

Then she told her everything—about Ophelia sneaking around, about the dagger in her hand, and how it didn’t fit with the story of how Ophelia had been barred from Gaius’s rooms.

Fara chewed her thumbnail. “If you falsely accuse a commander publicly, you’ll be back in front of that death sentence dragon again before you can say ‘I’m new here.’”

When Tahlia had first arrived to compete for a place in the order, her half-human blood had set her on a path to death by dragon fire. There was an old Green-flanked Terror whose job it was to end the lives of riders who committed serious crimes. Tahlia shuddered, recalling the dragon’s dead eyes. With the help of the king and queen, as well as Marius, Tahlia had barely escaped that fiery fate.

“I’ll just tell Marius,” Tahlia said. “Do you really think Gaius named his daughter as the next commander?”

“It’s an unusual choice, but I suppose it’s possible. It would be a tough thing for Ophelia to fake that he had chosen her, seeing as the other captains would have to approve the sealed death document written in Gaius’s hand.”

There were plenty of ways to deceive without directly lying.

Fara’s gaze intensified. “I do not like that look, Tahlia. Seriously, even if they don’t put you to death for the accusation, they will banish you from the mountain and you’ll be cut off from your dragon.”

Tahlia’s throat went tight. Separation from the Seabreak would feel akin to losing a limb. No, worse than that. It would be like having her soul scraped out of her body.

Shoving her fear into a dark corner of her mind, Tahlia started to walk away. “I’m going to find him.”

Fara stopped her with a hand. “Now?”

Tahlia swallowed. “Yes.”

“Be careful,” Fara said. “Promise me you won’t do anything insane.”

“Your definition is different from mine,” Tahlia said.

“We are using my definition here.”

“I can’t always be careful, Fara.”

“You are never careful. I’m just asking for you to give it a whirl in this mad situation.”

A dark laugh rose from Tahlia. “I’ll do what I can.”

Fara hugged her close, then released her. “I’m going to eat my way through the market and try to pretend this isn’t happening.”

“Good plan.”

Fara started in the direction of the arena’s main entrance, waving a hand in the air as a farewell.

Tahlia knew exactly how lucky she was to have Fara in her life, but Tahlia had to risk telling Marius everything she’d seen. He needed to know. Now.