A Game of Masks (Talons and Tethers Book 2) by Eliza Eveland

Author:Eliza Eveland [Eveland, Eliza]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grim Cat Press LLC
Published: 2022-05-11T16:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Eight

Katyr was the closest thing to an expert on tea that Aryn knew of, and so Aryn decided he would include Kat in Mercia’s tea practices. The two of them seemed to get along well. Maybe too well. By the third day, their tea became a gossip fest that barely included him.

Mercia, being Eris’s lady-in-waiting, already knew all the etiquette when it came to tea. She only had to master being Eris. Those subtle mannerisms were what they worked on together, day in and day out. How she walked, talked, sat, smiled, laughed… It all had to be perfect. It all had to be a seductive lie to get Zaidan on the hook.

He didn’t know what shifted in Mercia after her encounter with Zaidan, but she was suddenly more dedicated to the exercises and practices, even if she wasn’t any more personable when she wasn’t impersonating Eris. She snapped at him repeatedly, and butted heads with Ruith constantly, enough that Ruith had decided to take an increased interest in the new recruits. He was out of the house as much as possible in the mornings and evenings, which was when he was most likely to run into Mercia. Like Aryn, she had adopted an unusual sleeping pattern, sleeping through the middle of the day. She had tea twice a day with Kat and practiced her other skills at night with Aryn.

After that first evening, however, she never slept in his room, and their flirty banter seemed to have ended, all their focus shifting to the training at hand. Instead, she slept on the sofa downstairs, Heartseeker clutched against her chest the same way Faelyn held the stuffed dog Ruith had bought him.

During their morning teas, Aryn went out to complete his training rotation shifts with Ieduin. There were two recruits that showed enough skill he thought about testing them for the Shadow Cadre once all of this was over. The cadre could use some new blood.

“You ask him,” said Josie, one of Ieduin’s lieutenants, to Ieduin. “He’s your co-commander.”

Aryn wasn’t watching them from where he sat atop the fence, but he had one ear cocked in their direction, listening lazily to their boring conversation.

“It’s your bet,” Ieduin scoffed. “You ask.”

“I don’t want to get stabbed. He looks particularly stabby this morning.” Josie was trying to whisper, but it was impossible with Ruith’s giant sword clanging against Rixxis’s and Orin’s armor.

The Crow was sparring two-on-one. It had started as a lesson for some of the newer members, but turned into a way for Ruith to work off some of his frustration. Orin and Rixxis together posed a decent challenge.

“He always looks that stabby,” Ieduin said with a snort. “Hey, Aryn!”

Josie hissed for Ieduin to be quiet.

“Listen to your lieutenant, Cock,” Aryn advised, tilting his head. “I am very stabby this morning.”

Ieduin waved him off and swaggered across the yard to lean against the railing next to him, leaving Josie on her own. “Eh, you and you-know-who need to just quit griping at each other and admit you like each other.

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