She gasps dramatically. “You calling me a slacker, newblood?”
Cai heads towards the door, hands raised in surrender. “Just call ‘em like I see ‘em. Maybe the men around here have been taking it easy on you; Soren and I just didn’t get the memo before our first run.”
“Care to make this interesting then?” she challenges, laser focused on his every movement.
Cai gestures for her to continue. “Sure, whatever you need to give yourself proper motivation,” he goads.
She cracks her knuckles. “Winner gets a favor.”
His eyes light up. “What do you want if you win?”
She shakes her head. “To be cashed in later whenever the winner wants.”
He licks his lips. “That’s just asking to be fucked over; it’s a blank check,” he protests.
She smirks, stretching her arms over her head. “All the more reason not to lose, don’t you think?”
Elias groans from the kitchen and calls out, “Just kiss already so they can leave, why don’t you? All this flirting is scarring me for life. Disgusting.” He scoffs, starting to slam pots around noisily as we all burst out laughing.
“See you in the morning, Ezra.”
She tilts her head. “You don’t want the day off?”
“Not even a little.”
Chapter 12
Ezra
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“Ihave an idea I thinkwe can all live with,” Yri eventually states.
All three of them showed up that morning with Soren. Caius was the loudest advocate, insisting if I was going to be running the Gauntlet in a couple of weeks, I needed to be at full strength instead of nursing my wounds. At least three men end up dying every run, so I can see his point, but it’s an odd adjustment.
Amazing how many different ways there are for people to show they care.
