Page 109 of Shadow Queen
“You shouldn’t threaten a man with a knife unless you intend to use it,” he said.
Tahla stepped out in front of him, still holding the blade to his neck. “Who says I don’t?”
Blood coursed through his veins. This woman woke something inside him.
But Caspian hadn’t become captain without merit. Before Tahla could react, he threw up his arm and knocked the blade away. Catching Tahla’s wrist, he pulled her to him, forcing her along a sidewall and pushing her back up against it. She moved her body against his suggestively. This game was new. And it excited him.
She grinned. “Unexpected, Northman.” Her body relaxed, but as soon as he loosened his hold, she snapped up a knee against his thigh, almost dropping him, and ducked to slip past him. But he caught her and spun her around, pressing her against the wall again. Her back was to him this time, and he leaned against her, his mouth to her ear.
“I am generally not a man who enjoys a fight, but—”
A hand grabbed him from behind and threw him back against the opposite wall. The commander snarled at him with a deep rage, swinging his axe in attack. Caspian dodged the blade, and it hit the stacked stone behind him.
“I thought I knew you better, Northman!” the lord commander seethed.
“Soren, no!” Tahla cried, but he was focused on Caspian. He swung again, just missing, but the axe gave a skin-prickling sound as its tip scraped Caspian’s armor. Caspian scrambled back, but the walls of the joined houses gave him no escape. The commander coiled back for a final blow.
“Soren, stop! Stop!” Tahla cried. “I love him!”
The lord commander paused his assault, and both he and Caspian gaped at her in surprise.
“I love him!” she said again, breathless. “We’re together.”
The commander shifted his gaze from Tahla back to Caspian with an angry trench in his brow. He was quiet for a moment. “ANorthman?” he asked Tahla, with a tinge of disgust in his voice.
She nodded.
His rage faded, but his anger remained. He glared at Caspian. “Who knows about this?”
“No one, my lord,” Caspian admitted, looking at the ground in shame. “But I’ll tell the queen.”
“You won’t,” Soren growled.
Caspian’s eyes widened, and he jerked his head up. “What?”
“You won’t,” the commander said again. “She has a weak heart, and she’ll release you to be together.”
Caspian looked at Tahla. While he would never choose to leave the queen’s service, the thought of being with Tahla, together, always, was a pull he didn’t expect.
The commander grabbed him by the breastplate and pushed him back against the wall. “Salara needs you,” he said between his teeth. “If you leave her, I’ll kill you.”
Caspian knew he meant it, but he had no intention of leaving the queen’s service.
“Soren,” Tahla gasped.
“I’m sworn to Salara!” the commander snapped. “Don’t make me choose.”
His statement surprised Caspian.
“What do you mean you’re sworn to her?” a voice called out behind them.Alexander. Caspian prayed he hadn’t overheard the exchange about Tahla. He didn’t want him to find out this way.
The commander let out a long breath, baring his teeth. “It’s not your concern, Bear.”
Alexander looked at Caspian. “It is my concern. I’m her lord justice. And that is my captain.”
Soren chuckled. “And I’m her lord commander.”
“That means nothing,” Alexander said.
