Page 37 of The Warrior Priest
“I had no idea you were even there. Well then, I’m even more glad I followed Rufus now. You, Jac, are someone I want to know better.”
It was my turn to be surprised. No one had taken this much interest in me since I met Rhys, three years ago.
She smiled at my reaction then looked around my room. “Cozy.” She fingered the blanket on my bed. “Soft, feminine.”
I self-consciously touched my short hair but dropped my hand when she smiled at me. I invited her to sit on the chair. “I’ll light the fire.”
“No need. I won’t be here long, and neither will you, if you agree to come with me.” She stood by the fireplace and crossed her legs at the ankles as she leaned against the mantelpiece. Clad in trousers with high leather boots, and oozing the confidence and swagger of a man, she ought to seem masculine. But she was too beautiful, her figure too feminine, to be mistaken for anything but a woman.
“Agree to go where?” I asked.
“The temple of Merdu’s Guards. I thought we could watch the priests train.”
“Women aren’t allowed.”
“That’s a stupid rule, so I broke it long ago. Come on. I’ll show you a way in.”
“Why do you want to watch them train?”
“Because I like watching muscular men who are capable in a fight get hot and sweaty.” She shrugged. “Also, I have nothing better to do.”
It was such an honest answer that I laughed.
She smiled. “You don’t have many female friends, do you?”
“None who’ll watch Merdu’s Guards training with me.”
She threw her arm around my shoulders. “Then I’ll be your first.”
Gettinginto the temple was much easier than I expected. Giselle had a key to one of the side doors. Since it was always locked, it was only ever guarded during times of attack. According to Giselle, the last direct attack on the temple had been over a hundred years ago. She led me up a tight, circular stone stairwell in the corner tower. It was cold and smelled musty, with moss growing on the walls.
“Where did you get a key?” I whispered as I followed her.
“Andreas.”
“He gave it to you?”
“I stole it from him when he was asleep after we’d made love.”
“You were with AndreasandRhys?”
“Not at the same time.” She looked at me over her shoulder. “I gave up Andreas for Rhys. When Rhys takes an interest, it’s hard to say no.”
If I’d doubted that she and Rhys had once been lovers, she’d just confirmed it. It seemed he was happy to break his vow of celibacy for her, but not for me. My bruised heart took another blow.
“And Andreas just accepted it?” I asked her.
“Andreas had his hands full, quite literally. He had another two mistresses.” She continued up. “He was probably happy to hand me off to someone else. I can be…time-consuming.”
I could well imagine Andreas preferring his women to be undemanding.
Giselle opened a small door at the very top of the tower. “Keep low. No one will stumble upon us up here, but if one of the men down below happens to look up, they’ll see us if we’re not careful.”
We approached the crenellated parapet and peered through the embrasure. On the opposite side of the open yard, the onion-shaped dome identified the building as the temple where the priests prayed and conducted services. The building was small, so couldn’t be seen from the street behind the complex’s high external wall.
In front of it was the gravel training yard where the warrior priests sparred. Giselle pointed out the garrison where the men ate and slept. It was a rather utilitarian structure with a stone foundation and red-brick walls. The part of the complex where we crouched was the oldest building, the original fort, that now housed the administrative offices.
“There’s Vizah,” Giselle said, pointing to Rhys’s friend.
