Page 47 of Gift from the Tree

“What’s his problem?”

“He doesn’t know or trust you,” Corentin says casually, like that’s reasoning enough for his brother to treat me like shit.

“Okay, same, but you don’t see me being aggressive or threatening every time I see him.” My voice rises with irritation. It’s such bullshit he can treat me like this, and they act like it’s completely normal behavior.

He doesn’t respond to me, just lowers his head and shakes it in a way that gives me the impression he thinks I’m being the unreasonable one. Well, fuck that. I have every right to be mad. I’ve given him no reason at all to hate me this much. He doesn’t even fucking know me. Without waiting around for Corentin to say shit that’s going to piss me off more, I walk out of their little boys’ room and head back to mine.

Turning the corner without looking up, I slam into what feels like a brick wall. “Fuck, that hurt. Sorry,” I mumble out as I try to rub the pain out of my nose. When no response comes, I open my eyes, just to stare at a chest, so I lean my head back to meet Tillman’s eyes.

“Are you going to say anything?” I ask him impatiently, over dealing with these assholes.

“You weren’t watching where you were going, little warrior.” That’s the most he’s spoken in front of me since I arrived and that’s all he had to say. Granted, his nickname just made me shiver, but he’s a fucking dickhead too.

Fucking men. Three infuriating men in particular.

I see Draken making his way to his room as soon as I turn the corner to the hallway, but when he hears me stomping down the hall, he backs out of his room and shuts his door.

“What’s the matter, kitten?” he asks, sounding more like himself than he did when we parted ways earlier.

“Caspian, Corentin, and Tillman are all fucking assholes. And you being weird with me earlier, that’s what’s the matter.” I make my way to my door, slinging it open and trying to slam it shut, but a shoe blocks it from closing.

“What?” I snap, not in the mood to deal with any more of their confusing mood swings today.

“I’m sorry for acting weird earlier. My gift is different, rare. And sometimes, if I haven’t used it in a while, it makes me…not myself. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.” His eyes look sad, like he’s ashamed to admit this to me. Such a different side than the cheery and confident Draken I usually see.

I wasn’t really mad at him for earlier. Concerned, yes, but not mad. He just caught me at a bad moment. So I take a calming breath, wrangling my anger back in. “You don’t need to apologize. I’m taking the bad mood your brothers put me in out on you and that’s not fair. Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really, if that’s okay.” He tries to hide the pleading in his eyes when he asks, which lets me know if I did push, he’d probably tell me, but I don’t want that. He’d tell me when he’s ready.

“Okay then… I really love my room. Thank you for whatever part you contributed to it,” I say softly.

“I’m glad you like it. And now I won’t be so lonely with you across the hall.” Between his smile and the innuendo, my knees nearly give out on me.

“So are you giving me permission to go in your room? Corentin told me I had to stay out of everyone’s rooms,” I say teasingly.

“You can come to my room anytime, little wanderer.” His tone is drenched in heated intentions and hints at a promise he intends to keep. My face heats and I press my thighs together to contain my body’s reaction to him.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

How can I go from pissed off at all of them to ready to jump one of them in minutes?

“Do you want to finish my tour? It got cut short.” My voice is pitched lower than I meant for it to be, but if we don’t get out of my bedroom, I’m going to end up throwing myself at him.

Chuckling, he opens my bedroom door back. “Yeah, I’ll give you a proper tour.”

Yes, get me out of this room before I do something stupid.

Draken is a far better tour guide than Corentin. He points out certain pictures or wall markers that give me an idea of where I am headed. Like, coincidentally, at the top of the stairs that lead down to the kitchen is a large picture of a field of grains that the Vito family owns and makes whiskey out of.

He even creates a game out of it where he’ll tell me what common room he’s going to be in and would give me two minutes to find him and if I don’t, he’ll come looking for me. It’s silly and I really don’t need it after he walks me through the first time pointing out what I should look for, but he looks like he’s having a great time and needs this, so I don’t want to end his game and a couple times, I run my time out on purpose just for him to come and find me.

“We have an hour till dinner, little wanderer. What would you like to do?” he asks as we sit around in the sunroom.

“Will you take me to see the pool? I saw it out the window in the lounge. It looked amazing from up there and I’ve been thinking about it since.” I’m not getting in, but I’d like to see it and maybe stick my feet in.

“One of my favorite spots.” He hops up excitedly, grabbing my hand and pulling me off the couch behind him.

He drags me the entire way because I’m too busy laughing at his excitement to bother keeping up with him. When we approach the pool, in a matter of seconds, Draken kicks his shoes and clothes off, leaving nothing on but his boxers, and jumps straight in. My mouth waters at the god-like build of his body, and I tear my eyes away before I cause myself any more embarrassment with these guys today.

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