Veil of Shadows (20 page)

Aware of the curious gazes from her friends, she battled down the urge to blush through sheer will alone. Facing Elina, she cocked her head and studied the other witch. “You look like you’re feeling well enough.”

“My head hurts like a bitch,” Elina said, a cool smile curling her lips.

“I bet.” Glancing around the dormer that served as living quarters and office for the commander and his wife, she said, “Where is his lordship?”

Lee sneered. “Out lording it over his obedient subjects. Jackass.”

Under the heavy sarcasm, Syn heard the hurt. Closing the distance between them, she caught Lee’s hand and squeezed. “Bad?”

“Bad enough,” she said softly, her voice husky. “I didn’t get any sleep. He stayed away all night.”

The door opened and all four of them turned to look, expecting to see the commander.

It was Vena Saurell. She looked at Syn, a devious smile on her pretty face. “Hello, Captain.”

Lee pushed Syn and narrowed her eyes, glaring at the other woman. “Excuse me, but who in the hell are you, and why are you in
my
quarters?”

“Why, the commander requested my presence, Lea.” She widened her eyes dramatically, staring at Lee innocently.

“It’s Lee.” With a brittle smile, she said, “If the commander requested your presence, so be it. But this
is
a private dormer and you aren’t welcome in
my
home without knocking. Get your ass out. Now. When Kalen is here, you can come in.”

With a pretty frown, Vena said, “I am very sorry if I’ve offended you, Lee. I realize it must be hard sharing your husband’s attention with . . . others.”

The innuendo was unmistakable.

If Lee hadn’t been so tired, so miserable, Syn doubted Vena’s comments would have had any impact at all. As it was, though, her summery blue eyes darkened with doubt, with hurt. Syn opened her mouth to say something—anything—but Vena had already seen the look on Lee’s face, and a smug light appeared in her eyes.

“If the commander was sharing his attentions with a camp tramp, then he wouldn’t be worth grieving over,” Xan said, his voice cold and harsh, much like the look on his face as he stared at Vena. His voice softened as he shifted his gaze to Lee. “But the commander isn’t a foolish man—he’s got more sense, and more taste, than that. I know it, and likely so does every soul who’s ever had any contact with him.”

Syn could have kissed him. And she would, later. But right now, she was enjoying the look on Vena’s face too much.

“Excuse me?” Vena glared at Xan, her face red, her hands clenched into fists at her side.

“I’m quite certain you heard me,” Xan said levelly. “I do not know why the commander requested your presence, but I’m very certain he’d be less than pleased if he knew you were here insulting his wife.”

Finally breaking free from her silence, Lee shoved away from the wall and stalked to stand between Vena and the rest of the room. She gave Xan a quick glance and said, “The commander’s wife does have a name. And while she appreciates it, she’s also capable of handling this particular camp tramp on her own.”

Vena glared at Lee. “You call me a tramp? You fucking slut, you whored your way into his bed. You whored your way right up through the ranks; everybody knows that.”

“Do they?” Lee grinned. “I must be good if I convinced a die-hard soldier to marry me, just because I’m good in bed. Must suck for you—did you come here with that plan in mind?”

“You’re leading him around by his dick.” Vena’s voice shook with her fury. “There’s no other reason he would have married the bastard daughter of a Warlord.”

“You’re so certain of that?” Lee pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Okay, I take it back. I’m not good. I’m fucking amazing.”

“Yes.” Kalen’s voice came from the doorway. “You are amazing. There is no doubt about that.”

Lee started visibly, but Syn had known he was coming, and once more, she had to admit, the man had excellent timing. He’d heard Vena’s comments. The woman was up to something, and while she suspected Kalen was too clever to fall for any tricks she might have, Syn felt better knowing the man had seen her for what she was.

Recovering, Lee inclined her head and said coolly, “Good morning, Commander. I hope you slept well.”

“No, you don’t.” A smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “But don’t worry, I didn’t sleep any better than you.”

Lee’s eyes narrowed. “Good.”

He came inside, ignoring Vena, ignoring everybody but his wife. He stopped in front of her and laid his hand on her cheek. The look that passed between them was one too intimate for words, too intimate to be shared with others. Wistful envy curled through Syn, and she found herself staring at Xan. And he was returning her look.

Kalen dipped his head and pressed his brow to Lee’s. For a moment, they just stood like that.

Then Lee eased back and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not going to apologize, Kalen.” She glanced at Elina, then Syn, before looking back at her husband. “We can’t keep going on like this . . . It’s destroying us inside.”

To Syn’s surprise, he nodded. “I know.” He reached out and brushed a hand down her arm. “We’ll work through it.”

Then he strode to his desk and settled behind it. Settling once more into his position as commander, he studied Vena Saurell.

“When you have several thousand people living in one place, you’re going to have your share of troublemakers.” He had a bored tone to his voice, a bored look in his eyes. He studied Vena as though she had about as much significance to him as a gnat. “You’re not the first troublemaker here; you won’t be the last.”

She flushed, but in a fairly steady voice, she said, “I apologize, Commander; however, I’m not sure why you would think I’m trying to cause trouble.”

“Because you are.” He glanced at his wife and then at the other women in the room before once more meeting Vena’s gaze. “Now . . . you’re here because you told me you had concerns about Captain Caar and Xan. Would you care to explain those concerns? In front of them?”

Her eyes flashed, hot and bright. Her mouth tightened. Then her features smoothed out. “I prefer to discuss any personal concerns I have in private.”

“Too fucking bad.” His face impassive, he said, “I haven’t the time or the inclination to listen to
personal
concerns. If there’s a matter that can affect my camp, my men, those under Caar’s leadership, speak—have the guts to lay your
concerns
out before those involved. But if it’s personal, don’t waste my time.”

“I don’t feel a person can fairly lead when she’s screwing one of her subordinates.”

“Oh, puh-leeze.” Lee snorted. She shoved off the wall and moved to stand in front of Vena. “While I don’t really consider myself one of Kalen’s subordinates, he is in charge and he screws me on a regular basis. Are you questioning
his
ability to lead?”

“You aren’t an active member of his army.”

Lee widened her eyes. “I’m not? Then what am I?”

“His wife,” Vena said, her mouth twisting in a sneer. She spat it out like she’d just taken her first sip of insian tea.

“Really? Just his wife?” Lee glanced at Kalen and then back at Vena. “Wow. Then can somebody explain why in the hell I’m routinely dragged out of bed at an ungodly hour, why I have to take my turn doing the damn job rotations, why I’m dragged to weapons training, why I get sent out on—”

Kalen interrupted, “Lee, I think she gets the point.”

“Everybody knows she’s not a real fighter in this army,” Vena said. She wouldn’t look at him. She stared straight at the wall over his shoulder.

Somehow Syn suspected this meeting wasn’t going exactly as Vena had planned. But that didn’t surprise her. Vena hadn’t ever struck her as somebody who’d fight fair in the open—she’d come at somebody’s back, while doing everything she could to avoid a head-on confrontation.

“What I find massively entertaining is this . . . ‘everybody knows . . .’ crap,” Elina said. She lounged on the hard, ladder-backed chair like it was a silk-covered throne. She wore her fighting gear with ease and elegance. Ease and elegance . . . it described Elina from the top of her head down to her feet. She studied her nails, as though she couldn’t be bothered to look at Vena as she spoke. “If everybody knows, as Saurell here implies, then why does Lee regularly have people either ordering her about or coming to her with concerns? More important, if she’s not a
real
fighter—that would imply she has no use here other than warming the commander’s bed.”

Now she looked up, pinning Vena with an icy, green stare. “But if she has no other use than that, then I’m curious . . . who destroyed the Gate?”

Confusion danced across Vena’s face. It was echoed in Xan’s. Syn said quietly, “Vena, do you know what happened in Sojourn Gap?”

“The Gate collapsed.”

“It didn’t collapse,” Kalen said and for once, he looked at Vena with real emotion. The look in his eyes was one of utter disgust, complete disdain. “Lee leveled it.”

Lee flushed as she became the object of Vena’s disbelieving stare and Xan’s intent interest. Jerking a shoulder in a shrug, she said, “I didn’t exactly level it, and if it wasn’t for Morne, I probably would have killed us all. It was blind luck.”

“No. It was instinct, and it was a damned good one,” Elina said, rolling her eyes. She came out of her chair and closed the distance between herself and her niece. She gave the younger woman a light pat on the shoulder. “Modesty is nice, honey. Really, it is. But you did a good thing. You saved a lot of lives. Deal with it.”

Then she turned and looked at Vena, eying her with more than a little irritation. “Commander, as fascinating as this is, I thought you’d called us in here to rail at us more, not to have a little gossip session with this twit. Am I wrong?”

“Oh, I definitely plan on railing,” Kalen said darkly. “But since it was word from Saurell that informed me of the plan the three of you hatched, and since she’s also been muttering to various individuals about her ‘concerns’ regarding Syn and one of her subordinates, I decided it would be more effective to clear the air.”

“Word from Saurell?” Syn echoed. She narrowed her eyes and focused on the other woman. Lee, Elina and Syn had met to discuss their plans only once—in Syn’s quarters. Elina shared her grandmother’s old dormer with a medic. The medic, the young woman who’d showed up in camp the same day as Xan, had a promising healing touch, and Elina was teaching her some of the potions and brews she’d learned from her grandmother, Eira. Since Lee shared her dormer with her husband, their best bet at privacy had been in Syn’s quarters.

They’d discussed it there. Only there. And only once.

“You little bitch,” Syn said, utterly disgusted. “You’ve been spying on me.” And doing a damn good job of it—Syn hadn’t once detected the presence of another, and it wasn’t likely Lee or Elina had, either, because they would have mentioned it. It wasn’t that easy to spy on a witch—hell, at one time, Syn would have said it was almost impossible to eavesdrop on a witch, but that was back when they’d still had full use of their magic.

Vena didn’t bother denying it. She said nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Looking back at the commander, Syn said, “Commander, respectfully, I want this woman out of my unit. If you have no concerns with that, I’ll talk to Bron and see if he can find a place for her. I don’t want her near me or my men.”

Kalen grimaced. “Respectfully, Captain, request denied.” He held up a hand before Syn could argue. Shaking his head, he pointed out, “This woman was assigned to your unit for a reason. You train your soldiers to fight either as a unit or in small groups of two or three. You help those used to fighting alone integrate into fighting as part of a team. Saurell is woefully in need of that particular ability. She’s best suited to your unit, and you know it. Bron works better with the larger teams. If I place her with him, she’s too likely to end up dead. Or cause even more dissension.”

Vena opened her mouth, only to snap it shut when Kalen glanced at her. He lifted a brow and quietly asked, “Did you have something you wanted to say?”

“It’s very clear the captain has personal issues with me.”

“Do you?” Kalen asked, looking at Syn.

“Respectfully, sir? Hell, yes.”

“Don’t blame you.” Then he shrugged. “Too fucking bad. Captain Caar, you’re a professional and I expect you to carry on as such. You’ve never let personal issues interfere with your job before and I don’t expect that to change. I’m not concerned over it.”

He paused for half a beat and then asked, “Should I have reason to be concerned?”

Syn wished she could lie about it. She did not want Vena Saurell in her unit. Period. But she knew how to work with people she didn’t like. And Kalen was right. Vena, wherever she’d learned how to fight, didn’t know how to function as part of a team. Here, that was something that could get a person killed.

“No, Commander. No reason for concern at all.”

“Good.” He glanced at Saurell. “You’re dismissed.”

With her back and spine stiff, Vena headed for the door. Just before she opened it, Kalen said quietly, “Saurell, this is the only warning you’ll get from me. I don’t tolerate this type of bullshit from my men. At all. One more incident like this, and you can expect to find yourself eastbound.”

Vena gave a single terse nod. “Of course, Commander.”

It sounded a lot like,
“Fuck you all,”
Syn decided as the door closed behind Vena. Giving Kalen an irritated look, Syn settled onto one of the other chairs in the room. Spinning it around, she straddled it and rested her arms on the top of it. “Was that some weird way of entertaining yourself, Kalen?”

“So it’s Kalen again, Captain?” he asked, cocking a brow at her.

“Unless you plan on being an ass all day. Then I’ll call you Commander again.”

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll do something that rubs you wrong.” He reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. As he glanced at his wife, something sad and heavy moved through his eyes. “There are days when I’d give anything to turn this job over to somebody else.”