Isahn pressed his lips between his teeth to keep from smiling.
“Well, the next day we uh—we all talked.”
“Are you blushing?” George shrieked before clapping a hand to her mouth, shushing herself.
Hildy did appear to be blushing, though it was hard to tell with her tanned, olive skin.
“Weadathreesome.”
“What?” George and Isahn asked at the same time.
“We had a threesome,” Hildy ground out, her teeth clenched tight.
Isahn looked to George, whose mouth had fallen open into a perfect O.
“Well yeah, sounds great. But it’s not. Because theboysended up in a fistfight.”
“How did I miss this?!”
“Shh, shh,” Isahn shushed when Dunstan and Burke looked back at them.
“It was... the reasons were complicated. But let’s just say they were arguing over elements of their prowess. And things devolved.”
Isahn swallowed his laughter, shaking his head.
“It’s not funny, Lord Yaranbur,” Hildy scolded him. “Somehow, after nearly ripping each other’s heads off, they’re the best of friends, and neither of them wants anything to do with me.”
“Currently,” George supplied.
Hildy tilted her head side to side. “Currently,” she eventually agreed.
“Oh my gods.” Isahn laughed loudly, unable to keep his chortling under wraps any longer.
“Deiwa hathemi, Hildy,” George joined in on his laughter. “You’re going to scar Isahn. He’s losing it already. Look at him!” She gestured to him as he swiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “I don’t think they get up to that sort of thing in Selwas... Starched sort of people, you know?”
Isahn scoffed in mock annoyance. “Excuse me? We most certainly do get up to things like that in Selwas. Evenoutsideof the bonds of marriage.” He pumped his brows at George.
“Oh, and are youexperiencedthen?” she teased back.
“Probably no more than you,” he jested.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She narrowed her eyes.
“I saw that outfit you planned to seduce me in, Princess. I know you’ve got a one-track mind.”
Eyes shuttering, she turned her attention from Isahn to the road ahead. Kicking her horse into a gallop, she sped away, even overtaking the men in the front.
“I don’t—” Isahn looked over to Hildy, baffled.
Pressing her lips into a thin line, she shook her head in quiet judgment.
“What did I say?”
She tutted at him. “She’ll talk to you when she’s ready.”
They rode in silence. Isahn furrowed his brow, surprised by the uncomfortable pang in his middle. He hadn’t intended to offend George. Honest to gods, he wasn’t even sure what he’ddone wrong. But why did he care at all? It was the oddest thing. Somehow, at some point, he’d come to value Georgie’s good opinion of him.
nine
