“Didn’t walk in here with you on my arm to improve my reputation.” His smile widened. “It’s already formidable.” As I rolled my eyes and went to look away, his grin faded. “I’ve been coming here at the end of each week since I got the first hair on my balls.” That sound of disgust escaped me without meaning to. “First and only time I’ve walked in here with a girl on my arm was with you. I wanted every bastard in the district to wonder how a man like me got a woman like you.”
This had to be a joke. I kept waiting for the corners of his lips to twitch, then curl upwards into a mocking smile, marvelling at the way I was taken in, but instead those ice blue eyes held mine as the moment stretched on.
“Me too.” Lorien’s glance was far more circumspect, there and gone again. “I mean, you can reject the lot of us soundlyand we’ll still be drinking for free for months, but…” His roving gaze finally settled on me. “I’m hoping you don’t.” An elbow was shoved into Dain’s side. “Him too, if he was even the slightest bit honest with himself.”
Dain grunted, then waved a serving woman over.
“Lieutenant?”
Kael was always making trouble and my cheeks flushed bright red at the imposition.
“Lance,” I said in a placating tone. “You don’t need to be drawn into this. I know?—”
“That I’ve wanted you since the moment you appeared in Dragon Rest?” My back pressed against the booth, feeling Kael’s arm returning there absently. “Your hair was a tangle, and I felt this impossible need to comb it smooth.”
“Put her head in your lap and then work each snarl out as gentle as you can?” Kael asked him.
“No, no—” I said.
“Yes.” Lance gave me a pained smile. “Just like that. Fern, I never would’ve taken a position at the keep if it wasn’t for you.”
“But you love to teach swordplay,” I said.
“Maybe?” He shrugged. “Had no intention of spending a minute longer than I had to in the keep. The general had been after me for years, but I always said no, until you.” I went to assure him he needn’t stay on my account, but Lance forged on. “When I realised that you’d be stuck at the keep for a year, I knew that’s where I needed to be. There was no way I was letting you become a cadet without my protection.” He scowled at Kael, whose grin got brighter. “I became a lieutenant for you. Fern.”
Told you.Auren’s voice echoed through my mind as I sat and stared at the tabletop.I told you that these males wanted to mate with you.
Her words, theirs, they got louder and louder, but remained undigested. That meant… When Kael… That time with Lorien… Which meant Lance…? I dared to look up and saw the man was staring at me fixedly, which meant I needed to respond.Say something, anything, I thought, right as the barmaid appeared.
“Five beers?”
With a nod from Dain, she placed them in front of us as he passed her some copper coins. The silence that fell over the table was quite different to one from before. Finally, I wrapped my hand around the tankard and took a sip. The bitter, hoppy brew helped clear my head as I faced them down.
“I don’t know what to say.”
That was honest, if inadequate.
“What you’re feeling.” Kael’s voice had become a low growl, his gaze intent. “That’s all you can say.”
Making me laugh was not what he intended, but it happened anyway.
“You do.” With little effort, I conjured quite a different memory. Him striding up the stairs of the keep in front of everyone and laying claim to me. “The rest of us?” My focus couldn’t help but shift to Lance. The man looked positively stricken, perhaps regretting his words. “We aren’t so brutally honest.”
“Well, she’s got you pegged,” Lorien said, holding up his mug, then taking a sip.
“I was prepared…” I started to say.
Since coming to the keep, I barely thought of my home, my parents. Perhaps that was terribly disloyal.
You cracked from your egg, Auren said, her voice a warm, comforting presence.Now you’re learning to fly.
Baby birds, when they’re just learning, I replied.They fall from the nest, flap around inefficiently.
Until they learn how to become what they are born to be. As my bondmate, you are a queen too. These males, you needn’t give them another thought if they are unworthy. You and I, we’ll find our way to Blackreach.
But what if we don’t?
It wasn’t my lack of faith in her abilities, but something else that had me asking that. What if…? My eyes were greedy, taking in the way Lance’s knuckles had turned white as his hands formed fists. Lorien’s dagger was out again and flipped over and over as he waited me out. Kael’s fingers playing with the tiny hairs at my nape again and Dain?—?
