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We both grinned, but while it lessened my irritation a touch, I still couldn’t believe he’d actually pulled the protective older brother role with one of his teammates.

“He didn’t hurt me,” I said.

“Not from where I was sitting.”

My shoulders drooped. “Only a little, but I deserved it.”

“And what does that mean?”

“You know. I’m…me. I’m used to rejection.”

Crim went very still. “No way.”

“I mean, it’s fine. I’m comfortable in my own skin. But when someone looks at me like Brashe did at that picnic…” I shrugged, aiming for casual and landing somewhere closer to pathetic. “I wondered if maybe everyone else is right. That confidence is just the lie I told myself before the world corrected me.”

“Who taught you that?”

I took a drink of wine instead of answering.

He started to rise from his chair. “Who do I need to kill?”

“No one. Jeez.” I laid my hand on his arm, urging him to sit again. To eat. “I haven’t been rejected in years.”

His growl rose again, throatier this time. “I do need to kill someone.”

“I’m over it.” Though the sting still lingered. I’d always been comfortable in my skin, and yeah, some would say I could stand to lose some weight, but there were more important things in life than being skinny.

“Say the word, and they’re dead meat.”

Damn, but I loved my big brother. “Deal.”

We ate a few bites.

“This is amazing,” I said, dipping my bread in the broth and eating some more.

“Of course it is.”

“Your ego has continued to grow while I was away, I see.”

He reeled back in his chair, pretending to be offended. “Not me.”

“I mean, I get it. You’ve been a star hockey player since you were eight.”

“Five, actually.”

I rolled my eyes. “Alright, five.”

I lowered the rest of my bread back to my plate and kept my gaze on my food. “The point is, you don’t need to keep doing this. I’m all grown up.”

He reached out and ruffled my hair, something he’d been doing to me since I was eight and him twelve, and we’d been neighbors and friends after my parents had moved to the orc kingdom to study their culture. “Even when you’re ninety, I’m going to be your protective older brother.”

“I’m not interested in Brashe.”

“Don’t protest too loudly.”

“I don’t do players.”

“Hockey players in general or those who fool around?”