The door clanged shut, and the corporal who’d been left to stick Trip in his cell turned the key.

Trip wondered if the military police had any idea how easily he could unlock a lock with his mind. The bars were made of steel, not iron, and certainly not the tainted iron from the Rakgorath quarry, so they wouldn’t be an impediment.

But, as Rysha had pointed out, sneaking out and disappearing would make him look guilty. He would stay for now and see what happened. He wanted to finish his drawings, regardless. Maybe Rysha would come by to check his math—too bad they hadn’t gotten a chance for that earlier. Magic made manipulating metal and powering engines much easier, but he still had to have the physics right if he wanted his contraption to stay in the sky.

“May I have my drawings and pencils back?” Trip asked politely as the guard backed away.

They had removed his handcuffs, but failed to return the items he’d had in his pocket and, most importantly, his work. Had Azarwrath been there, he would have said something about the indignity of a sorcerer allowing such things to be done to him. But the soulblade was back with Sardelle for now. Even though he wasn’t as chatty as Jaxi, Trip found he already missed Azarwrath’s companionship. Or mentorship, as the soulblade would no doubt call it.

“Captain said to keep your stuff locked up in the evidence room.”

“The drawings I’m working on, blueprints for a weapons platform prototype, may help with the defense of the country.”

“Sure they will, Captain. Pilots are known to be genius scientists.”

“I have some mechanical aptitude,” Trip said, attempting to subtly influence the soldier with his power. He let his aura seep out as well, in case it helped. “Besides, there’s nothing wrong with letting me have some paper in here, is there?”

The soldier met his eyes, his mouth drooping open. He seemed entranced, but mustered another argument. “It might be witchy paper.”

“It’s just paper. I’m the witch. Though the more correct term is sorcerer. Bring the papers, please.”

“I’ll bring the papers, please.” The corporal disappeared around a corner and headed into the main building.

Trip kept a mental finger on the man’s mind, not letting up on the influence, though he always found it disconcerting when people lost their autonomy and obeyed. Creepy, Major Kaika would have called it.

He wondered if it was selfish to hope that Kaika would feel fondly toward him after he’d healed her the night before, and that in her fondness, she would speak of him to the king. In a positive way. A simple, “You should probably let Captain Trip go,” might be sufficient. Presumably, she had his ear, since she had his lips.

The guard returned, his expression still dazed, and slid the papers between the bars. Trip took them and the pens and pencils that followed.

“Is there anything else you need, Captain?” The guard bowed his head, his tone so deferential that Trip almost let go of all influence, his discomfort at manipulating someone returning in full. But he didn’t want the man to remember himself and insist on taking the papers back.

“No, Corporal. Thank you for your assistance. Return to your duty.”

“I’ll return to my duty.” The guard shuffled away.

Trip sat on the floor in the windowless cell, nothing but some faded charcoal marks on the back wall for decoration, and spread his papers out. The only light came from a single lantern at the end of the hall—Trip couldn’t see it from his cell—but fortunately he didn’t need it. What he needed was a few dozen ingots of tainted iron, thousands of tons of regular steel, and a legion of workers to help him build his structure. He wasn’t sure how he would get any of that from jail.

* * *

Shulina Arya landed in the courtyard mere steps from the castle’s front doors. The guards poised next to those doors, along with eight others on the walls, pointed their rifles at Rysha and the dragon.

Trusting that Shulina Arya would protect her, Rysha slid off and strode up the steps. The dragon extended her long neck, and her head followed her up the steps. They gazed together at the guards.

“I request an audience with the king,” Rysha said. “I’m Lieutenant—Lady Ravenwood.” She decided being from a noble family would be more likely to get her an audience than being a lowly officer. Even if she’d passed the elite troops training, she was still just a lieutenant, one of thousands in the service.

One guard looked flummoxed and like he didn’t know what to do with his rifle. The other gazed back at her blandly, as if dragons landed in the courtyard on an hourly basis.

“Do you have an appointment?” he asked.

“No, this is an emergency.”

“The whole city is in a state of emergency. The king doesn’t have time for extra appointments. He’s got military advisors, contractors, and officials scheduled all day.”

“Will you at least tell him I’m here and let him decide? It’s a matter of security and safety for the entire country.” Rysha thought of the schematics Trip had been drawing, that he wanted to turn into a reality, and decided it wasn’t entirely hyperbole to say that.

“I’m sorry, Lady Ravenwood, but we’re just the door guards. We don’t address the king directly. That’s not our place.”

“Can you find me someone who does?”

“No, ma’am. We don’t address that person, either. We just keep people out unless we’ve been advised to let them in. And we haven’t been advised to let you in.”

“Only because the king doesn’t know I want to come in,” Rysha said, though she didn’t truly know if he would receive her. There were thousands of nobles in the country. Who knew how many pestered him on a regular basis? Though that damn Lockvale had certainly caught his ear quickly enough… “If you don’t let me in, I intend to wait here on your doorstep all day.” She tilted her head toward Shulina Arya to imply they wouldn’t have much luck moving her.

It occurred to her that with the dragon’s help, she could likely walk straight through the castle to whatever office or conference room Angulus was seeing people in. Would he appreciate such boldness? According to Kaika, it had worked for her once. She’d blown up an urn rather than strolling in with a dragon, but the tactics seemed similar.

“If you want to do that, it’s unlikely we can stop you,” the guard said. “Just don’t let your dragon trample the shrubbery, please.”

I have located your king, Storyteller. He is in an office outside of a bed lair, meeting with a pair of male individuals.

Is a bed lair like a bedroom?

I do not know. Dragons do not build rooms for themselves.

“Is Major Kaika in the castle today?” Rysha wondered if she could get an audience with her and through her, see Angulus.

The guards glanced at each other.

“We don’t know that information, ma’am.”

Rysha guessed they did but had orders not to gossip. Great.

“Then I’m afraid I must invoke the Feudal Convocation Agreement of 698, Section 12, Paragraph 13, sub-paragraph 3 where it explicitly states that in times of war, any noble may bring advice and advantages directly to the king and shall not be delayed in meeting with him. Anyone who seeks to delay such an important meeting will be subject to punishment not to exceed nine hundred days in prison.”

One of the guards scratched his head. “We’re not at war.”

“What do you call our relationship with the dragons who want to take over our country? I posit that we are most assuredly at war, at the least with the coalition that attacked yesterday, and perhaps with half of the entire dragon race.” She lifted her chin, doing her best to look righteous and far too authoritative to question.

“Uhm, you better check with his steward,” one guard told the other.

“Me? What’s wrong with your legs?”

“Yours are younger and longer.”

Shulina Arya, are you prepared to protect me and yourself from gunfire if I force my way inside? Rysha asked silently, worried this wasn’t going anywhere.

You are protected now.

Thank you.

Rysha took a deep breath, intending to stride between them, using her unarmed combat skills if need be, but one finally huffed and said, “Come on, Lady Ravenwood. I’ll check.” He lowered his voice to a mutter. “Don’t want to get stuck in jail.”

Storyteller, this guard is thinking unkind thoughts toward noblewomen.

That’s absolutely fine as long as he’s leading us to the king.

Shulina Arya shifted into human form so she could fit through the doorway. Fortunately, she didn’t appear with a scooter or roller-skates. He’s intending to take us to someone called Lord Millwood.

That’s the head steward, I think. The king would be preferable. Rysha hated the idea of asking the dragon to manipulate someone, but this would all go quicker and be easier if she could. Can you convince him that he truly wants to take us directly to the king?

Certainly. He has a meager mind.

Rysha decided not to ask what Shulina Arya thought of her mind.

“This way,” the guard repeated a few times as he took them through wide halls, past audience and banquet halls, and up a set of stairs to a series of personal suites.

Rysha had never been to this part of the castle and grew more nervous as they stepped into a carpeted hall lined with portraits of the former Masonwood kings. What would she do if Angulus truly resented this intrusion?

The guard stopped before a door and lifted a hand to knock, but paused, his face screwing up in confusion. Maybe he’d figured out someone—or some dragon—was manipulating him.

Rysha knocked before he could dwell on it.

It wasn’t until the voices inside stopped that she realized people had been talking. She hoped it wasn’t a truly important meeting. Maybe she would get lucky, and it would be Angulus and Kaika having tea together, and Kaika would make light of the interruption, ensuring Angulus did too.

“Enter,” a voice ordered. That was definitely Angulus. And his tone wasn’t inviting.

Do you want me to go first, Storyteller? Shulina Arya asked. The ire of human kings does not concern me.

No, thank you. This was my idea.

Mentally bracing herself, Rysha opened the door and strode into the spacious office.

Fire crackled in the hearth, and Angulus stood behind a desk and before one of two large windows. Two men in almost matching gray suits were in the middle of a presentation, complete with easel, pointer stick, and text and charts printed on large cards.

“I beg your pardon, King Angulus,” Rysha said, clicking her heels together and saluting sharply. “I don’t have an appointment, but I must talk with you about an important matter.” She kept herself from saying it was of country-wide security, since he would likely see through that.

“There aren’t any appointments available because he’s booked,” one of the men at the easel whispered to her, frowning. “We had to wait three months to present our concerns. Given the destruction dragons have been doing to crops…” He glanced at Angulus. “Well, it’s not my place to object.”

Rysha looked at the top card on the easel, prepared to feel bad—or at least rude—if their concerns were important and time-sensitive. It showed a picture of a pond next to equations dealing with volume and drainage rates, followed by a summary of the equipment and manpower needed to turn a wetlands area into agricultural land.

“Did you check your math?” Rysha asked, spotting an error in one of the equations. They would need a few tons more fill dirt than they were requesting to fill in the wetlands for farming.

“Of course we did.” Both men whirled toward the equation she pointed at.

“Seven gods, is that—someone didn’t carry the—Sire!” One man blurted while the other positioned himself to block the view of the card. “Please forgive us, but the gentleman who prepared our data should have been double-checked. We, uh, aren’t as ready as we thought. Many pardons.”

They hurried to fold the easel, grab the cards, and rush out, nearly knocking over the guard in the doorway. The guard still looked puzzled and was frowning at Shulina Arya.

“Jasfer,” Angulus said, meeting his eyes and pointing at Rysha. “Explain.”

“She invoked the, uh, Feudal Convocation Agreement of 697—no 8, sir. Section 12, Paragraph 13, sub-paragraph, uhm, something.”

“There’s no such document,” Angulus said.

“What?” The guard gawked at Rysha.

She shrugged, almost feeling bad for him, but she was on a mission, damn it.

“Go.” Angulus flicked his fingers toward the guard. “We’ll talk later.”

The man fled, his expression promising he did not look forward to that discussion.

“Lieutenant Ravenwood,” Angulus said, facing her as the door closed. “Explain. No, wait.” He strode from the window to the open back door that led into a private suite. “There’s a wayward lieutenant out here with a dragon.”

Rysha arched her eyebrows and thought about protesting that she was wayward, but Angulus didn’t sound angry, and she didn’t want to provoke him. Shulina Arya was poking around the room, peering at books on shelves and picking up and fiddling with what were likely priceless objets d’art.

“Sounds like a vast improvement over the stuffy people you’ve been talking to all morning,” came Kaika’s voice from the next room over.

“That remains to be seen,” Angulus said.

Kaika walked out in a lush brown robe and fluffy tiger-striped slippers. She carried a steaming mug of something and smiled, but she didn’t look like herself. First off, Rysha had never seen Kaika out of uniform, even when they’d been traveling together, so that was startling, but more alarming was that most of the hair on the left side of her head was gone or cut extremely short. Rysha had heard she’d been burned, but she didn’t see evidence of wounds, other than the missing hair. The robe might hide a lot, though. Rysha glanced at Kaika’s hands and bare shins.

“I don’t suppose dragons can grow hair back?” Kaika looked at Shulina Arya, who was spinning the wheel on a gold-and-silver ancient fidget ball from the Dumeriun civilization. Rysha was positive only a few of those devices remained in existence.

Shulina Arya looked up. “You wish to be hairy?”

Angulus held up a finger. “Be careful how you phrase your request.”

“What, you couldn’t love an ape?”

“It depends what the ape’s propensity for injuring itself is. Apes probably don’t fling themselves in front of fire-breathing dragons.”

“Ah, so now you’re thinking of replacing me with a zoo specimen.”

She smirked and elbowed him. Angulus gave her a tender smile, and Rysha looked away, not sure she was supposed to witness their intimate moments. Though a part of her was glad to know Angulus had tender inclinations, at least somewhere in there. He always appeared so stern at speeches and in his photographs. Rysha had met him a few times over the years at the semi-annual social gatherings among the nobility, but he’d always seemed distant at those, like a man who either didn’t want to be there or who was, despite his job, uncomfortable in crowds.

“What’s wrong, Rysha?” Kaika asked, glancing at Shulina Arya. “Other than gullible guards and math-challenged agri…thingies. I forgot who those people were.”

Kaika’s eyes crinkled, and Rysha sensed that she at least approved of her tactics.

“The MPs came and arrested Trip,” Rysha blurted, then winced, realizing she shouldn’t have led with something that sounded like it was a personal problem for her. She had to make the king understand how important Trip was to the country.

Surprisingly, Kaika slapped Angulus on the chest with the back of her hand.

“What? I didn’t arrest him.”

“You can wave your hand and have him un-arrested.”

“Mm,” Angulus said, very neutrally.

“He was in the middle of working on a solution for our dragon problem, and they dragged him away from his drawings,” Rysha said, already sensing that this wouldn’t be as easy as asking for hand-waving. She’d been afraid of that. “And if dragons come again, and he’s locked up, the city will be at a disadvantage. I know you drove them off yesterday without us here, but we can certainly help with the next attack. And if Trip can get his hands on some of the banded iron from Rakgorath, he has an idea that may solve our problem forever. At the least, it would make the dragons hesitate to attack us.”

Angulus’s lips pressed together, and Rysha sensed she was pushing too hard.

“Also,” she said, to wrap things up, “he didn’t do what that idiot, Lockvale, is accusing him of. All he did was ask Lockvale questions, which I asked him to do. That bastard has been plotting against my family, trying to bring down the value of our land and scare all our workers away so he could buy our estate cheaply. He even talked a silver dragon into colluding with him.”

Angulus’s eyebrows drew together. Was this the first he’d heard of the dragon? She knew her parents were proud and that her father wouldn’t whine to the king for solutions to his problems, but they should have reported a silver dragon lurking around the countryside.

“I know the MPs picked him up,” Angulus said, focusing on that first. “Lord Lockvale—” his voice held mild reproof at Rysha’s failure to use the honorific, “—has made an accusation of attempted murder and has four witnesses who came forward, willing to back up his claim. There’s a fifth that the police are trying to locate. Captain Trip needs to be held until a formal inquest can be put together and both sides can be heard. Trip will be invited to bring in character witnesses. Lord Lockvale’s witnesses will also be questioned separately to see if their stories match. They are known acquaintances of his, so that may raise a judge’s eyebrows, but at the same time, they are all from respected noble families, and none have criminal records.”

“Because it’s not a crime to bring down somebody’s property value and attempt to get their land, apparently,” Rysha said, unable to hide her frustration. She’d promised Trip that rational heads would win the day, but what if that proved wrong?

“Captain Trip, on the other hand, is—”

“An honorable man who has risked his life repeatedly to help Iskandia against pirates and dragons, and who flew across the world to destroy their portal. Sire, all he wants is to be a hero and help people. He’s not a murderer. He doesn’t like to use his power for the greater good if there’s any bit of moral ambiguity in doing so.” Rysha looked at Kaika, hoping for support.

Kaika did open her mouth, but Angulus spoke first.

“Captain Trip is now widely known to have dragon blood and be a sorcerer,” Angulus said, “which does raise questions about his character and motivations for those who believe all magic is evil.”

“But he’s up in his flier fighting dragons every chance he gets,” Rysha said. “How can—”

“I know,” Angulus said, raising his hand again. “I know we owe him our gratitude. But if I simply have him released and tell Lord Lockvale that the captain won’t be charged with any crimes, I will be seen as ignoring a judiciary system that has existed for centuries. When kings have done that in the past, there have often been political repercussions. Occasionally beheading repercussions. Though people may believe differently, I’m not a tyrant with absolute authority, nor would the country support me if I wished to be.”

“I understand that, Sire, but—”

“Just give it time, Ravenwood. If Lord Lockvale is lying, a clever military defender should be able to ferret that out.”

“I haven’t noticed that people try hard to be clever when defending witches,” a familiar male voice drawled from the hallway.

General Zirkander walked in, wearing his dress uniform with his cap in hand. Major Blazer, also in dress uniform, stepped inside after him.

“We’ll make sure to find someone who will be impartial,” Angulus said without missing a beat.

“How did you get in, sir?” Rysha whispered when Zirkander stopped next to her. She didn’t see any guards loitering in the hallway.

“Told them I needed to see the king,” he whispered back.

“And that worked?”

He winked.

No wonder Trip wanted to be a beloved national hero.

“In all honesty, Sire,” Zirkander said, the amusement dropping from his face, “I’d prefer he be defended by someone who’s partial to him. What happens if the military judge decides he’s guilty and should be hanged? That’s what this fluffed-up noble is asking for, in case you didn’t see the paper.”

“I saw it,” Angulus said, his tone cooling.

Rysha wondered if the king would correct Zirkander for the lack of an honorific. Or even a name.

“He made his complaint during the middle of the dragon attack,” Angulus said. “I was not pleased.”

“He’s the one who should be thrown in jail. For interrupting you when the city was in danger, when you were doing important things.”

“You’re interrupting me now. Unfortunately, that’s not a crime.”

“I can’t possibly be interrupting important things though.” Zirkander looked at Rysha, then at Kaika, seeming to notice her robe and slippers for the first time. “Well, I guess I could be. But really, Sire, it’s almost noon.”

Angulus issued an audible sigh and looked skyward.

“Sir,” Rysha whispered to Zirkander, “I’m not sure you’re helping.”

Major Blazer, who’d taken up a position near Rysha, grinned at her. “More people should dare tell him that.”

Should I be doing something to assist you, Storyteller? Shulina Arya had left the fidget device on a shelf and was looking back and forth between the various people in the room. I can gaze into your king’s eyes and make him more amenable to your suggestions.

Tempting, but Rysha shook her head. Just be prepared in case we need to break Trip out of jail.

Perhaps we should find this Lord Lockvale and incinerate him. Would that not solve your problem?

Rysha couldn’t keep from making a choking sound. Fortunately—or unfortunately—Angulus was too busy glaring at Zirkander to notice.

“Look, Sire,” Zirkander said, lifting his hands. “I understand that you need to appear impartial and be fair to everyone, but Trip in a cell is useless to us. Sardelle said he’s designing something to fight the dragons, some kind of…” He looked at Rysha.

“He called it a flying weapons platform. He said if he can get Dr. Targoson’s help, they can make a large structure that launches dragon-seeking rockets full of acid that can eat through their scales, and he wants to use some of the ore that the chapaharii blades are made from to make the platform impervious to magic. Physical attacks would still be a concern, but if people were stationed there around the clock and could fire the weapons…”

Rysha trailed off because Angulus was staring at her. She couldn’t tell if it was in exasperation or not.

“Is this actually a thing?” Angulus looked at Zirkander and at Kaika, too, though she only shrugged. “How long has he been working on this?”

Zirkander opened his mouth, but Rysha spoke first. “The drawings are almost complete. He said he’s ready to start construction soon.”

No need to mention that he’d started the drawings the night before.

“Did you check his math?” Angulus twitched an eyebrow toward the spot where the easel had been.

“I didn’t get time, Sire. The MPs came and took him away.”

Angulus grunted. Acknowledging that the arrest was inconvenient?

Rysha hoped so. “The main thing he needs is the tainted ore, as he calls it, and someone who can handle it without getting headaches and passing out.”

“Someone?” Angulus asked. “Just one person? To help him build a flying weapons platform?”

“He did construct a locomotive in the desert almost by himself,” Kaika said.

“What?” Blazer said. “We helped. We carried scrap metal out of the dragon’s lair for him.”

“I believe he was also going to ask Bhrava Saruth for help,” Rysha said. “He was thinking of doing it out at the dragon’s temple since no other dragons go out there, so it would be easy to make it a secret project. Perhaps Shulina Arya’s parents would consider helping too. They seem to like science and engineering. Also, they might not require Trip to worship them in exchange for their assistance.”

Angulus blinked slowly, though nobody in the room truly appeared surprised by the comment.

They would certainly not do such a thing, Shulina Arya said. Believing yourself a god is the sign of a delusional mind. All sane dragons know this.

“I’d like to learn more about this project,” Angulus said, “and would approve it going forward if it looks as promising as you’ve made it out to be.”

“Excellent, Sire.” Zirkander snapped his fingers. “We’ll just have to get the project leader out of jail, and we can get started right away.”

Angulus gave him a flat look, but Blazer and Kaika both nodded. Even though Rysha wasn’t sure Zirkander was the best advocate—Angulus didn’t seem to adore him as much as the newspapers did—it did please her that Trip had this many people fighting for him.

“The impartiality problem we discussed still exists,” Angulus said. “You have my word that I won’t let anyone rule in favor of hanging him—not that we truly have the power to harm him, regardless—but I need it to appear that I’m not dismissing Lord Lockvale out of hand. His father may have been a drunk and a gambler, but his grandfather was one of my grandfather’s right-hand men and instrumental in keeping the peace with the Cofah in their time.”

“Can’t Trip be punished somewhere besides a jail cell in the fort?” Zirkander asked. “Oh, I know. What better punishment for a man than being forced to serve the delusional dragon who thinks he’s a god out at his temple?”

“I approve of that idea,” Kaika said.

“I like it too,” Rysha said.

Angulus still wore that flat look. Rysha couldn’t imagine Kaika falling for a man without a sense of humor, so she decided to assume that Angulus had one but that it disappeared when Zirkander walked in the room.

“Stay,” Angulus said, then walked past Zirkander and Rysha and out the office door.

For a few seconds, nobody spoke; they only looked at each other in puzzlement. Kaika didn’t seem to have any insight into where Angulus was going.

Then Shulina Arya groaned into Rysha’s mind. I will not stay.

She turned into a parrot, used her magic to open the window, and flew outside.

Rysha gaped after her. Shulina Arya?

I will return when he is done handling his bars.

“What just happened?” Major Blazer asked.

“I don’t know,” Rysha said. “I—”

Angulus walked back in, carrying an iron case. He thunked it down onto his desk, opened the lid, and stepped back so they could see inside. A plain-looking iron bar rested inside.

Rysha guessed what it was immediately, though nobody in the room would be able to sense it the way Trip did. And the way Shulina Arya had.

“You had the sudden urge to fetch a paperweight, Sire?” Zirkander asked.

“Zirkander.” Angulus sighed. “When was the last time someone told you it’s a good thing that you’re so competent at flying and shooting things because your mouth would have gotten you kicked out of the army years ago, otherwise?”

“Yesterday, Sire.”

“Consider it said today, as well.”

“Yes, Sire.”

“As soon as I got Major Blazer’s report back with information about that quarry, I had Colonel Anchor from Cougar Squadron send a team over to retrieve some of the ore. I debated on whether I needed to open trade negotiations with Rakgorath’s leaders, but as far as our intel department believes, nobody claims that part of the continent, and it was easier not to have to deal with the various city-states. The pilots took a few miners along, and they extracted the ore without incident. I have ten bars like this in an iron vault, and we can get more if necessary. My intent was to save them and perhaps see if Sardelle or Captain Trip could figure out how to make more of the chapaharii swords, but I have to admit, this talk of a weapons platform appeals far more to my modern mind than pigstickers. Or dragon stickers.”

“So Trip can start working on the structure?” Zirkander asked.

Angulus narrowed his eyes. “I want to see his blueprints first and have one of my engineers look over them. If this weapons platform seems feasible, he can get to work. We’ll work on the cover story. I’m not sure worshipping a dragon sounds enough like punishment. The newspapers better report that he’s out there under guard and scrubbing latrines with a toothbrush.”

“Do dragon temples have latrines?” Kaika asked.

“Two up front, one in the back,” Zirkander said, “for the comfort of his worshippers that travel to seek out his blessings.”

“And you know this, why?”

“I helped with the initial construction, remember.”

“I thought you just finagled the land for it from Angulus.”

“If only it had ended there.” Zirkander pointed toward the door. “Can I go get him out now, Sire? Assuming I arrive with a toothbrush in hand?”

“Yes, and don’t forget to bring the blueprints.” Angulus closed the lid on the box.

“I better go find Shulina Arya,” Rysha said. “Uhm, may I be dismissed, Sire?”

She felt odd asking for his permission to leave since she’d barged in without any permission, but that was expected.

He grunted and waved at the door.

“Actually, wait a minute, will you, Lieutenant?” Kaika crooked a finger and nodded toward the suite behind the office.

Angulus looked up. Kaika made a shooing motion at him, as if to indicate he should follow Zirkander and Blazer out.

“I’m being kicked out of my own suite?” Angulus asked.

“Just for a little while. We need to talk about woman stuff.”

Angulus mouthed the words but did not repeat them aloud.

Rysha paused before obeying Kaika’s wriggling fingers to make sure this would be allowed. Even though Kaika was her superior officer, Angulus was her superior… everything.

“Fine,” he said, heading for the door. “I’ll see if the math has been corrected yet or if my noon appointment simply fled in shame.”