Page 5 of The Storm of the Empire

Goddess spare me from this ordeal. I was too old for small talk and getting to know people. Why was it such a chore to start conversations with someone new? Why wasn’t there a way to skip all of that?

“You didn’t strike me as a shy female when I saw you practicing today,” he said with a smirk, making it almost a taunt.

“I’m not,” I agreed with a measure of defiance.

By the Goddess, I was the toughest warrior in the kingdom. I just had no way to really prove my might when I couldn’t join the legion. But even those who saw me as less than were quickly schooled if they tried to meet me with a weapon. And that was without the enhanced power I would have to match them if I had a ryder of my own. I would be unstoppable with a ryder, but I had begun to give up hope of it ever coming to pass.

“Then what has you looking like prey caught in a dragon’s sight who wants to run as far away from me as possible?” he asked, summoning me from my thoughts.

I shook off my trepidation and decided on attack as my best form of defense. “I’m just asking myself why I’m giving time to a non-flying fae who thinks he is special enough to train with the elite of this kingdom when such a privilege should only be open to those the Goddess chooses.”

“How do you know she hasn’t chosen me?” he shot back like an arrogant fuck.

Why did I like it?

I wrinkled my nose. I’d gone too long without amusement. The palace had become my tomb of boredom. That’s why I was here. I longed for anything else.

But I wouldn’t let him win so easily.

I looked around deliberately with a frown. “I don’t see a dragon with you. What else could possibly qualify you?”

He leaned in with a raised brow and a wry smile. “You’re mistaken. I am with a dragon.”

“Not what I meant and you know it,” I growled and emitted a small puff of smoke before I could catch myself.

“Steady on.” He held up his hands in supplication. “Don’t burn the tavern down. I like it here.”

I merely rolled my eyes. “As if I would lose control because of anything you could say to me.”

He lifted a brow. “That sounds like challenge.”

“You want me upset?” I asked, shocked and not sure how to feel about the admission.

“Not at all. I’d say I’d prefer worked up.”

I rolled my eyes. “You don’t stop do you?”

“Never. Unless I’m asked. But you haven’t asked.”

I huffed again, taking a sip of my ale so I wouldn’t say something I regretted because, despite every red flag, I did like his attention.

After a few moments, Luka broke the silence. “Listen, as I said earlier, I have my uses. I serve the General, and in return, he has graciously allowed me to keep up a personal passion. It’s not like I’m hoping to graduate as a ryder. That is not my future. I simply like to train, and there is facility to do so in the palace.”

I sat back in my chair, relaxing slightly. Something about combat, be it verbal or physical, always put me at ease, and I felt myself unwinding. “Well, it’s nice for you that you have friends in high places, then. Not everyone is so lucky.”

“I would be if you’d let me progress to your class.” He folded his arms in challenge. “There are no worthy opponents in the lower classes. It’s a bore.”

I shook my head. “You’ll have to be content with the trainers who have accepted you. Only the chosen train in my classes.”

“That’s a little hypocritical, don’t you think?” He smirked with a light in his eyes like he could bait me into what he wanted.

Maybe I’d let him, if only just to cure some of the monotony.

“Meaning?” But not that easily.

He raised a brow. He knew I knew. “Do you just want me to say it out loud? Because I’ll feed your ego if I must.”

“So you have done your research on me,” I said defiantly.

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