Page 39 of The Storm of the Empire

“Not because we are fragile—because we are weapons. Females are the warriors in our culture. We are trained from birth to defend our lands.”

It clicked in his head, and it showed on his face. “No wonder you’ve been the weapons master for years. When they told me about you, I expected some old wizened dragon not…” He pulled a face again and lifted his shoulders.

“Not what?” I asked with a bite to my tone.

“Not someone hot,” he laughed.

“We age quite well, thank you, but no, I’m not old. It’s the only place they had for me without a ryder.” I tried to keep the resentment out of my voice, but it was impossible.

“The only place? You’re the best weapons master in all the Twelve Kingdoms. I don’t think that’s a pity post.”

“It’s not a pity post, but it’s not where I should be with the legion.” I quickened my pace, not really wanting to get into my whole sob story. It was embarrassing.

“I can’t imagine how awful that must be,” Luka said softly. Whatever I was expecting from Luka, it wasn’t that.

“It’s fine. It’s my duty.” I finally spotted my brother. “Cal!”

“Hazel! Dad said you were visiting and I was to be home for dinner. Still, looks like I’m not the only one who missed it.” Cal said, glancing between us. “I’m sure Dad just kept it simmering for us.”

My cheeks heated. “I, uh…I stayed in the temple through the storm.”

He grinned and nodded. “No need to make excuses, sis. It’s natural.”

I lifted my lip in mock disgust. “Get your mind out of the bloody gutter. I was keeping a friend safe from the storm. He can’t go out in it.”

Cal inspected Luka again. “He doesn’t know better?”

“I do now. Honest mistake. I hadn’t traveled much before the Goddess blessed me with this new posting.” Luka instantly slipped back into his priest persona.

I don’t know how he did it, but at that point, I had to go with it because I didn’t really have a better story. “He had a bit of a rough day. First storms can be terrifying.”

Luka’s glare burned into the side of my face, but I didn’t spare him a glance.

“It was a turbulent one.” Cal flicked his gaze towards Luka like he felt bad.

Males, always giving each other the benefit of the doubt. Arseholes.

“It was fine,” I snapped.

“If you say so, sis.” He winked at me.

“We have a question about storm opal glaze.” I said, changing the subject.

“Why?” Cal asked.

“Er—” I really had not thought this through.

Luka slipped in like he’d already thought all of this out. “Since it was developed in the storm kingdom to protect the dragon’s eggs here from the storms, and we’ve since adapted it to help protect all the eggs in the Twelve Kingdoms, I’ve been tasked with researching it and its origins so we can preserve the practice and perhaps improve it for future generations.”

He lied so smoothly. It hit a deep place inside me. I didn’t like it, even if it helped me out with my brother.

“Since we are old friends, I told Brother Luka I’d help him.” I felt awful lying to my kin, but I held it together because if all this was true, there were much worse crimes than my lying.

“That makes sense.” Cal was so easy going and trusting. He’d never doubted me.

“Do we keep a store of it?”

“No, we don’t grind up our stones anymore; we don’t have enough for that. The Far North supplies it to the priests from their stores, and we charge it here.”

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