"Still mouthy." He sets her down and looks her over with concern beneath the teasing. "Heard you were coming back. Didn't believe it."
"Believe it." Her voice tightens slightly. "Not exactly a social visit."
His expression sobers. "Yeah. We heard. Fuckin’ Slovenians."
"Language," another prospect calls from the bar. This one's leaner, darker, with sharp eyes that haven't stopped watching me since we walked in. Bodul—I remember now from Hakon's rundown of the roster.
"Fuck off, Bodul," Bjorn shoots back cheerfully. "I'll talk how I want."
"Not in front of Runes' daughter, you won't. He hears you cussing around her, he'll have your patch before you ever get to wear it. Remember the talk we got last week about cussing in front of the kids and ladies?"
"Dalla doesn’t count. She curses more than I do!"
"That's different. She's family. You're furniture until you earn your way in."
Dalla laughs, and the sound does something to my chest. Loosens something. Warms something.
"It's fine," she says, and there's warmth in her voice now. Ease. This is her world. These are her people. "I've heard worse. Usually from you idiots. Remember that time Njal tried to impress that girl at Bubba's and?—"
"We don't talk about that," a third prospect interrupts hastily. He's shorter than the others, wiry, with a nervousenergy. Must be Njal. "That was a one-time thing. The goat was already loose when I got there."
"Sure it was." Dalla grins. "Should I ask my dad what really happened?"
"Please don't."
"Hmm. I'll think about it."
The fourth prospect—Aren, I think—appears from a back room, and soon Dalla's surrounded by four young men who clearly worship the ground she walks on.
They're protective of her, I can tell, but also comfortable.
They grew up together, probably.
Watched each other become who they are.
I hang back.
Watch. Learn.
She's different here.
Lighter.
The tension she's been carrying since Dublin hasn't disappeared, but it's loosened.
She laughs at their jokes.
Gives shit right back when they tease her.
Threatens to tell her father about something called "the incident with the goat," which makes all four of them go pale.
This is who she is when she's home. When she's safe.
I want to keep her this way forever.
"You must be the Brotherhood boy."
The voice comes from behind me, and I turn to find myself face-to-face with a man who can only be Runes.
