I stand up straighter, frowning. “What the hell are you talking about, Soren?”
Caius answers instead. “This town is psychotic and let their only woman run in the fucking gauntlet.” He scrubs a hand through his blonde hair, frowning. “She used me as a damn springboard and jumped onto a rope two hundred feet above the ground. She nearly fucking died, and nobody here acted like it was a big deal!”
What the flying fuck?
“I think I’m missing some key information here. You’re telling me not only did Ezra run against you, but she won? I saw her less than an hour ago and besides burning her own clothes off, there wasn’t a scratch on her.”
Soren leans his elbows on his knees and laces his fingers together. “You saw her naked?”
I roll my eyes. “No, I’m a gentleman, thank you very much. I gave her my shirt.”
He nods his head as if he expected as much. I start cooking dinner while we all get lost in our own worlds, the time passing comfortably and easily as it always does with each other. When we’re settled in at the table, Soren can’t seem to take it anymore though.
“When’s the next race?” he asks, and Caius huffs.
“Not you too? Look guys, you know as well as I do there’s no point in getting our hopes up. There arethousandsof men in the area. Resign yourselves to a life of masturbation like the rest of us and move on already. If she’s going to go for anyone, it’ll be someone that horde of brothers of hers approve of, so it’ll be a local they’ve known their entire lives.”
Soren takes another bite before he casually tosses out there, “Heard a rumor on the way back that whoever can beat her in the Gauntlet gets to marry her.” He goes back to chewing, subtly watching the way Cai’s hand tightens around his fork.
“I don’t buy it. Girl like that has too much pride, she wouldn’t want to go for someone that makes her look weak in front of a crowd,” he counters, stuffing another bite into his mouth.
“I met the triplets,” I add. “They were looking to hire another hand around the forge and offered me a discount on my bow if I could start tomorrow.”
Cai’s fork pauses halfway to his mouth. “You didn’t.”
I happily finish off my plate, rising to my feet and towards the kitchen. “I did.”
I start washing the dishes as the other two finish and come join me, Cai glowering and Soren smirking.
“This is a mistake,” Cai tries again, but there’s a little less heat behind his words than before.
“All the best things in life seem that way at first,” Soren counters, grabbing a rag to dry the plates.
“It’s not going to end well,” he tries again.
I set my sponge down and look Cai right in the eye. “Since when have you ever rolled over and accepted defeat? You have to fight for what you want, and if you never try, you’ll never succeed. I’ve never taken you for a quitter, Cai.”
He rolls his eyes and flips me off. “I’m practical, not a quitter. But fine, what do you suggest, Yri? Show up on her doorstep and sweep her off her feet?” he mocks.
Soren smacks a cut on Caius’ side and he hisses in pain. “Don’t be a dick.”
Cai rubs his side, glaring, but nods. “Fair point.”
I crack my knuckles. “We’re not going to do anything dramatic. We’re newbloods. We get jobs, get our new life set up over here, and we’ll end up crossing paths with her enough in daily life. No need to turn into stalkers and get exiled from town.
“We let her get to know us and see if she even has an interest. If she doesn’t, we back off and I’ll let you say ‘I told you so’ as much as you want. I’m not about to force ourselves on a girl that doesn’t want to give us the time of day, so let’s just see what happens naturally. No schemes or evil plots to trick her into falling in love with us, just spend time figuring out who she is. For all we know, she might not even mesh well with our flight and it’s a moot point.”
Soren snorts. “You walked in here ready to kidnap her and skip town.”
I shrug. “What can I say; the heart wants what the heart wants.”
Caius shakes his head, walking away. “I’m taking a shower and going to bed, you nutjobs. Soren and I will head out to look for work in the morning.”
We part ways for the night and I head to my room, setting my alarm ungodly early in preparation for my first day at work tomorrow. Despite the reasons we had to leave home, I can see this new life worth every bit of the suffering it took to get here.
