Riv? What the hell is going on right now?
“How sweet of her. Get her to teach Thayla how to be nice. She’s in a foul-ass mood tonight.”
“You’re an asshole and I don’t like whatever this is going on.” I wiggle my fingers between the two of them. “Tell everyone bye, Lambrit. I’ll show you my room, change, then we’re going to Yemi’s.”
I turn to march out of the kitchen but stop short as Kyzen wraps me in his arms and leans down to my ear.
“Have fun with your friends and don’t let your fear take away from this quality time with them. Everything’s going to be fine. I promise.”
I relax against his chest and nod. “You’re right.”
He laughs before stealing another kiss. “I know.”
A gagging noise sounds beside me, and I smirk over at Lambrit. I regretfully pull away from Kyzen’s comforting embrace and jerk my head toward my hallway.
Lambrit tells the guys he’ll see them later as he follows behind me, and he whistles low as soon as we pass into my room.
“Wow. It matches you perfectly.”
“You think? Kyzen said the same thing, but I’m not so sure.”
“This green reminds me of the forest you’d run and hide in. The fireplace you always said you wished you had on the cold nights. Bookshelves full of books to entertain you. I’m assuming behind those curtains is a view that you can get lost staring in. What don’t you think matches?”
He makes his way to my bathroom, and I wait for him to really call me out.
“Well, when you start spelling it out like that…”
“You really do have a hot spring. I thought you were being dramatic about an above-average bathtub.”
I smile as he comes back out with a huge grin on his face, then he takes it upon himself to flop down on my bed.
“Yes, of course, make yourself at home. I’m going to change.”
His chuckle follows me into my closet and I smile to myself as a sense of old times and home engulfs me. This is the first time I’ve had alone time with my best friend since arriving and it’s easy for me to admit, I’ve missed it.
“So why did Riv say you were in a foul mood?”
“Ugh, why are you calling him Riv?”
“He likes nicknames. It’s his subtle way of showing how he perceives you. You know whether he likes you or not by what he calls you. Therefore, I reciprocated that so he knows I like him.”
My eyebrows scrunch and I stop sliding my clothes around as I ponder that. I have noticed he gives less favorable nicknames to people he’s mean to, but at the same time, his ass still calls me a burden.
And angel.
I guess I get two depending on how he feels about me inthe moment.
“I’m not in a foul mood, per se. Just got a lot on my mind. I guess moody is a better word since I’m experiencing multiple different moods all at once.”
“You’re going to be quite difficult when you enter into your reproductive time frame. I’ve read that the hormones you’ll release during those times can be very temperamental.”
I poke my head out the closest and glare at him. “I’m going to be sweet as pie, thank you very much. Unlike a certain someone’s mother I remember being quite mean.”
“Well, can you blame her? They thought they’d only have me. Mom hit her end years and bam, little Laney.”
My heart pinches at the longing in his voice. “I better have hundreds of years until I have to worry about that, and I can sure as shit promise you, I won’t be praying to the Goddess of Creation to ask for it any time sooner.”
“Fun fact, did you know that the nonmagical women enter their reproductive phase very early in life? There’s some sort of monthly cycling system that wasn’t explained in great detail, but it’s every month for years.”
