She barked a laugh. “We’re all a little nuts here. Some say it’s a pre-requisite for the job; that only the crazy and the bizarre would join. Others think it’s the stress of it; of being trainedto end people in gruesome ways—that can strip you of civilized layers.”
I lifted my tankard. “I guess I can see that.”
She bit into the large piece of meat dangling from her fork. “You should do fine. Acolytes might be all politeness and serenity, but you honor the teachings of the gods. In their name you hunt, fence, practice their fighting arts, and all that stuff. You’re kind of like those ancient warrior monks I heard stories of.”
A small group of officiates materialized. One plopped himself on the bench beside her—his amber eyes marking him a Lykaon. A rather gorgeous one, in fact.
He flashed her a lopsided grin that made a dimple pop out. “There you are.” He planted a quick kiss on her mouth, humming as she fisted his walnut-brown hair. When he pulled back, his attention drifted to me. He squinted. “Soyou’rethe human Sayer.”
“She is,” Khalida unnecessarily confirmed before locking her gaze on me. “This mountain of muscle is Quillen. Alongside him we have our cute Nemean couple, Nakoa and Soule. The beautiful Delphiae on your right is Layna, and beside her is—”
“Jelani,” the blond butted in, his eyes on me. “We’ve met already.”
“Everyone, meet Anara, one of our candidates. I’m planning to take her under my wing,” Khalida announced, surprising me.
Quillen’s grin wavered. “Is that a good idea?” he asked her, piling food on his pewter. “You might be a little too, you know, special to make a good mentor.”
Her brow very slowly inched up. “By special, you mean weird?”
“I mean you’re someone who starts fires when they’re upset.”
I paused in transferring vegetables to my pewter. “Youstilldo that?”
“Not as often as I used to,” she replied before turning back to Quillen. “And as it happens, I have faith in Anara’s ability to get through Xalbia.”
“I’m curious, why would you want to try for a place in the Order?” Layna asked me, the cadence of her voice a little sing-songy.
“I don’t,” I told her, stabbing my fork into a carrot. “The Sovereigns want to see how I perform in the try-outs. Honestly, I’d quit if they hadn’t mentioned something about havingotherways they could tease out my strengths and weaknesses.”
Layna pulled a face, tucking a chin-length white-blonde lock behind her ear. “That wouldn’t be anything fun.”
Biting into my carrot, I looked from Quillen to Khalida. “Onto a lighter subject, I’m guessing you two are a couple.”
Khalida pulled a face. “We keep things light. Most in the Order see no point in building solid relationships. We’re not allowed to marry, so there aren’t a lot of true couples in the Order. Which isn’t to say that there’s no exclusivity.” She gestured from herself to Quillen. “We’re exclusive, for instance.”
“Soule and I aren’t,” Nakoa interjected as Soule loaded both her pewter and his own with food. “Casual sex is something of the norm around here.”
His lips quirking, Soule scratched his stubbly jaw. “We’re not exclusive? Is that why you whacked a woman over the head with a tankard yesterday for smiling at me?” he asked in a deliciously rumbly voice.
Batting her waterfall of corkscrew curls over her shoulder, Nakoa shot him an arch look. “It wasn’t because she smiled at you. That was over something else.”
“Which is?” he pushed.
The corners of her brown eyes tightened. “Personal,” she responded. “Respect my privacy.”
Grinning, he cut his gaze to mine. “We’re exclusive,” he said quietly. Oraimedto say quietly—his deep voice easily carried.
Her lips flattening, she glared at him. “Remember how we covered that you can’t whisper for shit?”
Fighting a smile, I looked from Layna to Jelani. “Are you two together?”
“What? Ew,” she blurted out as Jelani barked a, “Hell, no.”
I blinked, startled by the rather vehement replies.
“It would be way too weird,” she added with a shudder as the two exchanged an awkward look. “We’re friends.”
“Justfriends,” he insisted.
