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The first time Domitan of Masbolle notices Keladry of Mindelan, or rather when he realizes that others notice Kel is more than “the girl” or “Lord Raoul’s squire,” is while they’re riding on progress together. Dom is flirting. He always flirts with all girls. And usually no one has a problem with his flirting with Kel: the whole of Third Company, including Kel herself, knows he means no harm. He respects Kel, Raoul, even his own meathead cousin too much to mean anything by it.
Not until the big redhead that everyone knows is sweet on Kel scowls at Dom. “She looks like herself.”
Dom may mean nothing by the flirting, but he knows when he’s not wanted.
“Does it seem cold to you all of a sudden? I believe I’ll find a blanket,” Dom winks at Kel and rides forward to talk to his men, hearing Kel chide the man as he moves on. For some reason though, Dom itched to flirt even more with Kel, just to make the Kennan knight squirm. He brushed the thought away as the progress crawled ahead to meet the Bazhir.
He was happy to simply spend time with Kel as they followed where Raoul led.
Dom grinned so wide he felt his face would crack when he saw the adjusted Mindelan coat of arms flying over the refugee camp as he and his men rode towards the front gate, caked in mud. When Raoul and Kel left for her Ordeal last fall, he was saddened that he would not see her nearly as often anymore. Despite knowing she was a squire, he and much of the Third Company were happy to pretend she was one of them, really. He was pleased that his men had wanted to do something for Kel when they were told which knight would be in command of the yet to be named refugee camp, though Dom wishes he had thought of the idea.
As the men rode in, he saw Lord Wyldon, a red headed knight he did not know, Neal, and the Lady Knight. He greeted his cousin with a hug, and as he turned to Kel, his heart swelled with pride and affection for the girl- a young woman now really. It would be improper to hug her though he wished it was not so, and settled instead for a warm and firm forearm clasp to welcome her back to the north and her new home.
“You did it. We knew you would.”
When Dom and his men had to leave Kel and Haven behind several weeks late, he felt his heart wrench in his chest, despite knowing he could not stay. He had his orders to return to Raoul, and knew Kel was resourceful and would defend her command and her people with the scant resources she was provided. He would follow where Raoul led, his loyalty to his Knight Commander always came first.
As Kel saw them off and he rode away from Haven, he was startled to find he wished he could follow where Kel led, as well.
Finding Kel at Giantkiller was the easy part. She was exactly where Raoul had predicted she’d be. Dom and his boys were eager to help Kel, and Dom was glad that Raoul’s orders had been to stay with Kel and help, rather than bring her back. If he ever had to make the choice between his orders from Raoul, or following Kel to protect her people, Dom wasn’t sure he would be able to follow his orders. But he knew Kel, and he knew Raoul, and Raoul wasn’t stupid enough to make the same mistake as Lord Wyldon. They'd’ve been dead years ago if Raoul was stupid. And he was glad that he could continue to follow them both.
When their party finally made it to Fief Rathhausak, it somehow felt even easier despite Dom knowing this was it; they would save the children, or they would all die trying. It was an all or nothing fight ahead of them. As Neal and Dom talked with Kel before heading into the castle to turn this war, Kel talked about afters as if there was a chance she would not have one.
“We’ll get it, Kel,” Dom told Kel, as a matter of fact, not a shadow of a doubt in his mind. “I have faith in you.”
Dom knew at that moment with every fiber of his being that he would stop at nothing to be able to follow Kel into any battle she fought from here out.
Raoul and Buri’s wedding came and went with raucous celebration. Dom was pleased that the two would no longer have to hide in secret, though he knew that their public life would not change a bit. He was pleased to see that Neal’s betrothed managed to make the meathead more tolerable, and he teased his cousin that Yukimi must have put something in his cider in order to make the impossible happen. That earned Dom a smack on the back of his head when Yukimi hid her mouth behind her fan, and a more open laugh from Kel. He was pleased that Kel was laughing, she had, understandably, not laughed once while behind enemy lines, not for lack of trying.
Dom was even more pleased that the morning after the wedding, Kel slid into an open spot next to him at breakfast in the mess. The pressures of war still remained, but the atmosphere of the wedding had lightened everyone’s spirits considerably.
As Kel told him of New Hope and the goings on, Dom flirted and teased, as he always did when given the chance. As Kel flirted and teased back, Dom realized that maybe he did mean something by flirting with her.
As they finished their breakfast and left the mess together, Dom decided that he would follow Keladry of Mindelan anywhere she led him for the rest of his life.