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His right eye darkened. “Perhaps brave isn’t the right word for you, then,” he remarked dryly, assessing me with cold detachment.
Cocking my head to the side, my smile grew shrewd, and I savored every thrum of my wildly beating heart. “If you’re insinuating that I’m dim-witted, then maybe it’syouwho should embark on some inner reflection.”
Dropping my hands from my chest, I rose dangerously close to the top of the dense water. That tinge of pink on his cheeks deepened.
I had his full attention.
The Knight held my gaze, his milky-blue eye a cloud of mystery. Something flashed across his face, and I might have believed it to be intrigue, had I been in my right mind.
I doubted a recruit had ever spoken to him this way, especially face-to-face. But a little scarring wasn’t enough to frighten me, of all people, away, and the adrenaline that came with challenging him gave my lungs new life.
“I’m more than open to share.” I smiled, feeling bold and altogether unhinged. “If you’re still wishing to utilize your scheduled bath, that is.” It was a taunt, nothing more, but my heart plummeted as I awaited his response.
“I take it back.” His muscled arms rippled as he crossed them over his chest. “I do believe there to be a third option, little recruit.”
“And what is it you think now?”
The Knight and I faced off, neither one of us breaking contact. But I never received his answer. Instead, he turned around abruptly, giving me his equally muscled back. An onyx tattoo twisted around his shoulder, three interwoven circles with odd, vine-like branches curving around the loops. It was a shame he was too far away for me to get a decent look.
“I’ll be back in five minutes. I expect this room to be empty upon my return.”
I stared, open-mouthed, as he marched away, his steps heavy.
Either I hadn’t learned my lesson, or I simply wasn’t done playing, but I opened my mouth one more time.
“Wait!”
His boots froze, though he kept his back to me. It wasn’t an altogether displeasing view, I hated to admit.
“What’s your name?”Besides Sir Tall-Rude-and-Growly?
His shoulders tensed, the only sign he heard me. “Commander Jude Maddox.”
Shit. All air rushed from my lungs.
Thecommander.
I’d just verbally sparred with the damned Hand of Death, the same man who’d taken me in place of Liam. I hadn’t recognized him without his helmet.
“Five minutes, recruit, and this better not happen again.”
And then Jude—Jude Maddox, Commander of the Knights—was gone, leaving me speechless for the first time in my life.
Chapter Eight
Jude
Only through our devotion and prayer can we hope to appease the Sun Goddess Raina. And perhaps we can convince her to take mercy on our world. Darkness and its shadows feed off the light of souls, and the warriors of the night are so very hungry.
Excerpt from Asidian Lore: A Tale of the Gods
Ishould never have picked her.
I thundered down the hallway leading to the officers’ rooms.
She hadn’t known who I was at first, but she sure as hells did now. I wondered if she’d be so bold the next time we spoke. A part of me wished she would. Something had sparked to life in my chest at the challenge in her piercing amber eyes, and a piece of myself I’d long ago believed dead had taken a deep breath.
Kiara.
