Grumbles bounced around our group, fueling my joy, and I beamed at Kali. She had tasted the clothing right after me.
“How many times do I have to say it, Eli? Iknowhow to act around blades.” Eislyn’s usually sweet voice rose as Eli sheathed his knife, both of them on the way to our group. Eli’s combat class must have ended. “My job is literally handling them every few days.” She waved at the selection of cold weapons strapped across Eli’s chest. “These are just oversized scalpels.”
“What if you injure yourself?” he argued, the high ponytail of his blond waves swaying in the wind. “It could hurt the baby.”
“That’s… That’snothow it works.” Abandoning her partner, Eislyn stomped over to the girls. “I should not have told him I was pregnant before I started showing and had no other choice.” Before Eli could object, she snapped at him, “Don’t you dare say anything about where I should sit.”
Lifting her pointy chin, probably scanning the sky for first signs of rain, Tarri mused, “I bet Conall will be the same once he and his partners marry.”
I doubted it. Gedeon’s and my childhood friend was usually the one getting me and Damia out of trouble, not the other way around. He valued peace over adventures.
Boring.
“We won’t have to guess for long.” Kali zipped her leather jacket up to her chin. “Five days and we’ll see it for ourselves.”
The fool wanted to tie the knot before the war. He was too afraid of the possibility of Coriattus invading their compound in retaliation for us attacking Ilasall. But I did agree with Conall on one thing—boasting about your conquests as loud as you could. Everyone should be aware of who was yours.
“But what exactly does a wedding entail?” Kali asked, glancing at Jayla nestling closer to Ava for warmth. The bench wobbled under their weight, the wood rotten from years of exposure to the elements. “How do they work? Do they all just go on stage together and that’s it?”
Lingering near Eislyn, Eli echoed, “On stage?”
“Yes.” Wiggling into a cross-legged position, Kali explained, “Zion said they will get together and have sex in front of everyone. Like it was with my tattoo celebration.”
Eli gaped at her. Jayla buried her face in her hands. Sadira rubbed her forehead. Ryder paused drawing a new chalk circle around the training ring we’d occupied.
“My gods.” Tarri’s blonde eyebrows rose so high I wondered if they were about to leap off and run for their lives.
Standing at my side, Gedeon enfolded my waist. “That’swhat you told her?”
I shrugged, reveling in how the action made his hold tighten. “I told her the important bit.”
Sure, weddings were sort of a ritual, a public vow to each other but, in general, they could be anything you wanted. A mark was necessary, yes, but what type was up to you.
And I preferred the memorable kind. A flavorful one. A meal for your senses, encompassing all five, hypnotizing you with the sweet notes of exhaustion a person underneath you exuded.
“Zion…” Jayla trailed off, gazing at the mass of our residents filling the square to the brim. The number of bodies had tripled in the last two hours despite the brewing storm. “I don’t have the energy to deal with you today.”
Ava patted Jayla’s thigh.
I grinned at the leader of my catch-and-play team in case of my absence. “You keeping her up at night?”
Extending her legs, Ava crossed them at the ankles. “You got it.”
Jayla’s cheeks reddened beyond the point of recovery. Chuckles rounded our friends, interspersed with Sadira’s and Ryder’s whistles. Years of working together had taught their duo how to communicate non-verbally.
Looking over his shoulder, Gedeon surveyed the swarm of our people. The training rings buzzed with activity as everyone sought to burn their restlessness away. The war date was approaching faster and faster.
“So?” Kali re-tied her high bun, but half of her strands fell out, too short to stay up after the recent trim. “What should I expect at Conall’s compound?”
With all our friends lined up before us, I patted Gedeon’s ass. In plain view of all his subjects. But he didn’t say anything, didn’t move, and I decided right then and there that he was the most delectable person I’d ever met.
Kali was vicious, while he was…cold, undoubtedly, full of himself, true as well, but also a total darling. As soft as a kitten. With claws sharp enough to slice our enemies apart.
Squeezing his butt, I began to list the activities. “Before the feast begins?—”
“No,” Gedeon cut me off, as imposing as ever. The seriousness etched on the firm line of his mouth was so cute, I debated squeezing his cheeks to see if kissing his squished lips would allow me to taste it. “Zion,no.”
“But—”
