"Let me do it for him," I suggested, waggling my eyebrows.

Alluin flashed his brows back at me, alongside his gorgeous, easy smile.

I settled back and put myself into a Dain stance, my shoulders back and legs spread, and directed a glower at Alluin. With my best growl, I lifted my lip and leaned forward. "If you ever have a soulmate, General Xilsatra, I will tolerate a lecture on overprotectiveness from you. Until then, I suggest you watch your tongue."

Alluin and I managed to hold our serious expressions for about three seconds before we dissolved into peals of laughter, Zhiolas following with. I buried my face in my hands and laughed until I cried, with Zhiolas growling "General Xilsatra" at me to spur me on. At last I managed to stop laughing and leaned back against the booth's couch and my friend's arm.

"I would love to see you do that in front of him," Zhiolas said, tossing back the rest of his cocktail. "It would delight me if you saved the debut for when Alluin and I are present."

"Well, it wouldn't be any fun to do without someone to observe his reaction," I said, grinning.

"Hear, hear," replied Alluin, and together we laughed our way through the night.

33. Love Letter

Chapter 33

Love Letter

Dear Leah,

I'm writing this letter the day before I leave the Rynsandoral lands. It has been fairly miserable remaining both diplomatic and conciliatory. I am not very good at it, and I don't enjoy it at all. At least Gweyir and I have some familiarity, and she has no interest in warfare, so we are on the same side of this unpleasant affair. It took some time, but we've been communicating enough and she's seen enough soulmated pairs that she has come to believe me when I tell her that I wasn't war-mongering, or even thinking much at all. There is a woman here with two soulmates – a rival and a lover – and I think that the fact that Gweyir is familiar with how they interact with each other helped.

I will admit, as an aside, that I don't know how well I would handle it if you had a second soulmate. I suspect that I am possessive and protective to a fault, with little desire to change. Of course, if you ask it of me, I will add it to my long list of flaws to work on, but I reserve the right to grumble about it. (Is that, too, a flaw? I wouldn't know what to do with myself if you decided that my snarling had to go. Might I dare to hope it's part of my dubious charm?)