5.5 - Under the Ice Blades Read Free

hope. Earlier this week, I sent her the schematics for the new models of dragon fliers we’ve got in production. I even dragged a photographer out to the hangar to take pictures of the machine guns to include.”
    “You really know how to charm a woman, sir.”
    “Funny, my mother said the same thing. Only with even more sarcasm.”
    “It’s probably a good thing that you’re pretty.”
    He gave her a sidelong look. “I prefer ruggedly handsome.”
    “I’m sure you do.” A wink slipped out. Damn it. She was not flirting with her happily paired C.O.
    He didn’t seem to notice. She told herself that was good, not depressing.
    Zirkander tilted his chin toward the course. “Any of the youngsters looking promising?”
    “Compared to what?” Kaika asked before a more diplomatic answer could form on her tongue. Diplomacy wasn’t her forte.
    “Well. You’ve seen Colonel Therrik manhandle me. Our ground combat standards aren’t that high.”
    Kaika snorted. “Therrik manhandles everybody.”
    One of his eyebrows twitched, and she caught her cheeks flushing slightly. She’d had a brief—extremely brief—dalliance with the grumpy colonel a few years earlier. He had extremely lickable abs and an ass that—well, that didn’t matter. Those body parts were attached to a man with the personality of a cannonball, and her only defense was that she had been horny, and alcohol had been involved.
    Reminding herself that Zirkander hadn’t actually said anything—maybe his eyebrow was just itchy—she decided to move the conversation on from manhandling. “Have you gone to visit him yet? Now that you’re General Zirkander?”
    “Therrik? No, he’s up commanding the two-mile-high Magroth Crystal Mines post.” Zirkander flashed an edged grin. “I have considered going out for an inspection, just so he’d have to show me around and yes-sir me.”
    “Do the mines fall under your domain now?”
    “Nah. This is my domain.” He waved toward the pilots who were toweling off under a tree, though he cast a longing look toward the cloudy sky over the harbor where a squadron of fliers buzzed about performing aerial maneuvers. “And yours, too, I suppose. Odd as that is.” He gave her a quizzical look. He didn’t think she had requested this assignment, did he?
    “Yes, about that, sir. I was wondering if you knew—uhm, I was told the king was responsible for my orders. Do you know anything about it? I’d rather not be the one to pummel your flying puppies into the ground on a daily basis.”
    “Are you this candid with all of your senior officers?”
    “Aren’t you?”
    “Well, yes, but I’m told my military manner shouldn’t be used as a model.”
    He reputedly got away with a lot because he was the best pilot in the sky. Yet, he’d still made general at forty. Kaika was one of the best soldiers at what she did, but that never seemed to translate into promotions. It was a good thing she didn’t want more responsibility or to end up in charge of teams instead of on teams.
    “Do you think you could talk to him, sir?” Maybe if she pummeled enough of his cadets into the ground, they would complain, and Zirkander would see the merits of requesting someone more serene for the teaching position.
    “The king? We’re not really best buddies.”
    “I thought you were best buddies with everyone, sir.”
    “Only those who appreciate my irrepressible charm.”
    Oh? From what Kaika had noticed, King Angulus had a dry manner that might turn to laughs if one could ever catch him relaxed and off duty. But did kings ever get to be off duty? She wasn’t sure she could imagine him sitting at a bar and swilling beers with Zirkander, but he seemed like he’d be more likely to appreciate Zirkander’s bluntness, however irrepressible, than the attitudes of men who chose diplomacy—and prevarication—with him. Still, what did she know? When Kaika had been recounting— confessing —the events of the queen’s death after