The wine sitting in my stomach soured immediately. If I had to produce Vagach’s magic…

“Aye,” the five of them said in unison, and I hastily added my agreement, grateful that I held a metal goblet so no one could see how badly my hands were shaking. I’d convinced Izgath to keep my secret, but I couldn’t trust anyone else with it.

Dromak chugged his wine, wiping the remnants from around his mouth when he finished. Pushing back from the table, he asked the rest of us, “Are you coming?”

“Maybe when I’m done with my wine,” Izgath commented, swirling his glass.

“I had more to drink than you and still finished first,” Dromak pointed out.

“You always finish first.” Uzadaan casually sipped from his drink like he hadn’t dropped the funniest comment of the whole exchange. We roared with amusement as Dromak spluttered out a paltry excuse.

Izgath drained his goblet, and I followed, hoping that the excess alcohol wouldn’t interfere too much with my magic use. Later and later every evening I was able to hold it, but I also hadn’t had much to drink and never while I was using my form.

Too late to turn back now.

“You just want to blow shit up, Dromak,” Izgath said, rising from the table. “That’s why Jaku made you a tester after all.”

Dromak, still stinging from the insults, only grunted in response.

But then Uzadaan finished what was left of his wine and grabbed a piece of creamy cheese, setting it on the smooth wood. “Me Dromak,” he said in a guttural voice, then smashed his fist into it, sending the soft product flying in every direction.

Gnim and Grex howled, doubling over and clutching their stomachs, and Jaku looked both pissed and amused as he joined everyone but Dromak in laughter. Throwing his hands in the air, Dromak left the tent, muttering curses about the six of us the entire way. That only served to make us laugh harder.

“You are so mean to him,” I commented when I caught my breath.

Uzadaan wiped the tears from his eyes. “He’s good humored about it at least. We all need to laugh, especially out there.” His eyes cut north, to where a war raged thousands of miles away.

The reminder of the reason we were all together sobered us. Jaku opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get a word out, Izgath chirped, “No time to waste.”

I chuckled again, and the Százados cut me a glare. “Dromak isn’t the only one who sets himself up for it,” Uzadaan commented, offering our Százados a clever grin.

“Get out before I make you run the remaining distance to Uzhhorod,” Jaku said, though his tone was playful.

“Yes, sir,” we said in unison, then dipped out of the tent to find Dromak.

I hadn’t spoken much to Izgath since I found his note beneath my door the previous night, and I sauntered up to him since he was supposed to organize the testing. His garnet eyes flicked to me, and he slowed his pace, allowing Uzadaan, Gnim, and Grex to lead us through the camp in search of Dromak.

Swallowing down my nerves I whispered, “I don’t think I can mimic Vagach’s magic.”

He nodded but kept his eyes forward. “I’ll handle it.”

Relief crashed through me and I nearly sagged against a passing tent in relief. “Thank you, Izgath.”

He said nothing but kept following Uzadaan as we wound our way toward the supply wagons ringing the camp. Beyond, Dromak was shouting at the recruits to run faster. “I got your note,” I murmured.

His face brightened into a light, teasing expression. “And?”

“And I appreciate your understanding. This is…” I paused, looking up as if the words I needed were written in the clear blue sky, “strange to me. All my life, I was told that I needed to lie back and spread my legs and accept what my husband gave me, then bear as many children as I could. Yesterday–yesterday was the first I’d seen of what happens to fallen females. Sure, our priestess had described those houses to us, but when I was sitting in there, and you desired me, and I you–”

“I knew it,” Izgath interrupted me, and my cheeks flamed.

“Desire for females is shameful,” I said, ducking my head. I kicked a small rock out of my path.

Izgath stopped us completely. “Desire makes the act of making children more pleasurable. It’s nothing to fear. Your priestess seems a bit…harsh.”

I huffed a laugh and shook my head. “That’s one word you could use to describe her.”

A mix of emotions crossed Izgath’s face. “There are ways to prevent children, if that is what has you hesitating.”

Blowing out a breath, I nodded. “That is part of it. Though I might be barren. Vagach and I coupled for years, nearly daily, without success.”

Something flashed in Izgath’s eyes I couldn’t quite read. He looked me up and down, almost judgmentally. “Then I assume you find the act to be…horrendous, given how you appeared to us at first.”

Tears pricked at my eyes as he managed to name exactly what I felt. I blinked them away. “Perhaps. Though yesterday showed me that there was more to it than I ever experienced.”

Izgath nodded, then took a slow step forward, silently indicating that we should catch up to the others. “I’ll protect you, Assyria. Not only with your magic, but with everything else.”

His words slammed into me, leaving me stunned as he walked away. The male barely knew me, and yet he offered me these grand words. I couldn’t decide what to make of the entire situation. Regaining my composure, I fell in line with him as we picked our way out of the camp.

We said nothing else as we approached Uzadaan, Dromak, and the twins, who were already wrangling a group of recruits away from their evening exercise to begin testing. They remained behind to oversee the hand-to-hand training, calling out secondary groups in case we should cycle through everyone in the first.

Somewhere between Jaku’s tent and the clearing, Uzadaan had procured parchment and a board to write on. Settling into the soldier’s stance, I surveyed the operations, glancing at Izgath every few moments, wondering what his plan was.

More often than not, he was looking at me, too.

After the line of males had cycled past Uzadaan, they lined up, shoulder to shoulder, and faced us. Dromak and Izgath stepped forward, surveying the group, while Uzadaan and I slunk back, bracing ourselves against a nearby wagon. I glanced over the parchment, finding a list of names, eye color, and reported magic written in a neat script. Uzadaan scratched one word in the top right corner—rating.

Dromak called out the one on the end, a tall, lanky male I thought I recognized. His apple-colored eyes danced with worry as he stepped toward the designated spot. The others watched on as he closed his eyes and tuned into his magic. Izgath waited about a dozen paces in front of him, shadows swirling around his muscular arms. I couldn’t help the desire that washed through me at images of those arms wrapping around me.

I’ll protect you.

Could I trust him, though? What if he were like the Incubi Priestess Anara warned us about, the ones whose smooth words would lead us astray and leave us with an F branded on our wrists?

The male’s eyes snapped open, and he stretched a hand toward Izgath. Izgath remained impassive, unaffected by whatever this male’s magic was. A flash of something caught the sun, and then I realized that a dagger Izgath normally strapped to his calf was flying through the air. It didn’t whip through it like a forceful gale, but rather, it sailed on a light breeze, eventually landing in the male’s outstretched hand.

Scratching tore my attention to Uzadaan. Beside the male’s name he marked a two. Unable to stop myself, I asked, “What’s the scale?”

“Five,” Uzadaan replied simply. “He’s a Summoner, but not a powerful one. Unless he can increase the speed or distance from which he can summon objects, he isn’t as useful as someone with a three or higher.”