Grow the Bond (Nightstar Book 0)

Chapter 1

Petre sighed as they walked up the hill to General Ainreth Tyr-Naralyn's tent. They'd been out here in this outpost in the chilly mountains near the border for two weeks now, monitoring the situation. And so far it had been very dull. Well, aside from the fact that yet another one of Ainreth's second-in-commands had decided that she didn't want her promotion after all.

This had been happening since Petre could remember, most of the general's lieutenants quitting after a few weeks or months due to their inability to put up with him, and at this point, it was a running joke. Petre would find it more humorous though if it wasn't their turn now. Petre had wanted to refuse when asked to fill the role, though mostly because they felt they were not fit for it, only being eighteen and having none of the authority required to give orders.

But in the end, the need for some extra silver that would come with a promotion like that convinced Petre to at least give this a try, even though they doubted it would work out. What could Petre offer as a lieutenant? Using their power to grow some delicious mushrooms and making Ainreth, the revered Daybreaker, a sundering omelet?

But ever since Ainreth had become general, he hadn't seemed very interested in anyone keeping him company, aside from occasionally someone to spend the night with, a fact Petre had learned against their will because their fellow soldiers insisted on gossiping at all times. It was none of Petre's business—what they cared about was that perhaps the general wouldn't need them for much, and Petre would be able to keep their head down while earning more money for essentially the same duties.

Petre sighed again as they reached the large red and golden tent, a banner with the Lys-Akkarian dragon standing right next to it. There were no guards at the entrance, which under normal circumstances would make Petre think that Ainreth wasn't there right now, but they were familiar with the general's behavior enough by now to know this was to be expected. There was no use guarding Ainreth during the day, anyway, as the lightweaver could bend light in a way that rendered him invisible, and he tended to very often use that to get away without anyone knowing.

Since there was nothing to knock on, Petre cleared their throat as they pushed the fabric covering the way in to the side, running a nervous hand through their mess of red hair, no doubt making it stick out at all angles even worse.

"Yeah?" came the general's incredibly bored, uncaring voice. He was lying down on his bedroll, wearing a simple tunic and dark trousers, his golden, sun-themed uniform robes discarded over the small, portable chair in the middle of the tent, his leather armor piled up behind it.

Ainreth didn't even bother to look up at Petre, scribbling in his journal, which was right next to him on the floor, as was an inkpot. Petre couldn't see much of the journal's contents, but from where they were standing, they could tell Ainreth wasn't writing but rather doodling something.

"Sir."

Finally, Ainreth craned his neck up to meet Petre's gaze, a strand of his slicked-back black hair falling in his dark eyes. His annoyed frown quickly disappeared as curiosity took over instead. He even decided to get up after a beat of silence, which Petre was both grateful for and not because while they didn't wish to talk to Ainreth while the man was on the ground the entire time, Petre also couldn't say they were thrilled at now having to look up at him. Everyone around Petre was annoyingly tall.

"You look familiar, kid," Ainreth said, scratching at his stubble. Petre did their best not to sigh for the third time.

"Yes, I have served under you for two years," Petre couldn't help but deadpan, which they immediately winced at. But Ainreth didn't seem offended at the insubordinate comment, just narrowing his eyes in thought, almost looking through Petre for a moment before shaking his head.