Thom, Vayden, and Isla watched with interest as Ilain stormed across the tavern and right up to Ethenn and Ivry. The couple looked up at her approach, Ivry saying something that looked like a greeting, though Thom couldn’t hear the words. Ilain didn’t bother to reply. She ignored the woman altogether, grabbed a handful of Ethenn’s coat, and hauled him to his feet. Ethenn appeared to protest, but Ilain didn’t pause as she yanked him along behind her, carting him through the tavern to disappear into the storeroom from which they’d entered.
After Ilain shut the door behind them with enough force to rattle the frame, Vayden turned back to Thom. “As an elder brother,” he said, “I feel I should ask: Should I be concerned?”
Thom raised his brow, amused. “About Ilain? No. About what she’ll do to the boy? Probably.”
Vayden’s brows hung low in confusion. “She . . . likes him?”
“You should ask her about that,” Thom said. “Look, I’m not exactly privy to how things work here in Wauld, but of all people, you don’t need to worry about Ethenn taking advantage of Ilain. If anything, she’ll take advantage of him.”
Vayden and Isla shared a look, and Thom worried he’d said the wrong thing. “Sorry, no—not like that,” he corrected. “What I mean to say is—”
“We understand,” Isla said. “Ilain is determined to marry a Warrior. The problem is she hasn’t met one she likes enough to pursue.”
“Or at least, she hadn’t,” Vayden added, his eyes on the storeroom’s door.
“Right,” Thom muttered, then sipped his ale awkwardly. “So...” He cleared his throat and looked at Isla. “You go by Highlady Freye. Do Waulden women not take on their husbands’ last names? Or is the convention a Schonese thing?”
Isla’s dark eyes glimmered slyly. She set her hand on Vayden’s, which rested on the table. “It’s a precaution,” she said.“We aren’t legally married due to our work with the Alliance. I needed to remain single in the eyes of the monarchy and the Orders.”
“But,” Vayden added, “we are married in the eyes of Allore, and that’s all that matters.”
Thom waved a hand. “I may be Ephrian, and Heavens knows we love our traditions, but the officiality of your union or lack thereof doesn’t bother me. If you said you’d done the ceremony yourselves, I’d still consider it binding.”
Vayden dipped his chin in appreciation. “And what about you? Are you married?”
“No,” Thom said with an immediate, self-derisive chuckle.
“Engaged?”
“No.”
“Courting someone?”
Thom raised his tankard and said, “No,” then took a sip.
“Interesting,” Vayden said.
Thom was about to ask why it was interesting when Lieutenant Lohen dropped into the seat next to him. “Vayd, I’m going to need you to talk to your brother,” she said, sipping from a short glass tumbler. An inch of amber liquor swirled at the bottom when she set it on the table.
Thom raised his brow. He’d never met a woman who drank whiskey. Granted, such distilled liquors were quite expensive and often reserved for the nobles or vastly wealthy merchants.
Vayden grinned at the lieutenant. “Auden’s driving you to drink already?”
The woman grimaced. “He won’t leave me alone.”
“Tell him to shut up,” Vayden suggested. “It’s always worked for me.”
“He’s not trying to marry you,” she argued.
Vayden and Isla laughed while Thom eyed the lieutenant with renewed interest. Ilain had told him that Auden was once inlove with a Night Mage named Maura, but that she was lost to the Deep. While he knew the Day Mage was capable of romantic attachment, he struggled to imagine him attempting to woo anyone.
“Huh,” Thom said with a smirk. “What sort of lines does he use to win you over?”
“I beg your pardon,” Lohen said, her thick black eyebrows dropping low over her almond-shaped eyes.
“Well, I can’t imagine he’s a good flirt. What does he say? That his dedication to Day magic speaks of his faithfulness?”
That got Vayden to chuckle while the lieutenant continued to study Thom. “Are you having a laugh at my expense?” she asked.
