Page 191 of Scourged

She shrugged, even as her skin prickled. “I needed something convincing to keep him from asking questions. Don’t tell me it triggered your commitment issues.”

Andrian’s breath huffed across her cheek as he laughed. “Far from it, princess. Maybe I liked it a littletoomuch.”

Mariah’s eyes widened, and she was about to whirl on him just as the innkeeper returned, glasses still sitting on the bridge of his nose.

“Good news,” he rumbled. “We have two rooms that should fit your needs. Bunk rooms, four beds in each room.”

“Perfect. We’ll take?—”

“You don’t have any single rooms left?” Andrian leaned around her, forearm resting on the bar. The innkeeper flicked him a glance.

“I have only one left, but it’s my smallest. It has a private bathroom, but the bed … it is quite cramped.” His dark gaze pinged between Mariah and Andrian, and more warmth bloomed across Mariah’s cheeks.

“That’s quite alright?—”

“We’ll take it.”

Mariah shot Andrian a glare at the second interruption, only to see him giving the innkeeper a blinding smile. The aging man nodded, giving them their total for the three rooms before helping another patron to a refill. Andrian finally glanced at Mariah, eyes wide with feigned innocence. “What?”

She grumbled, digging a hand into the satchel strapped across her chest. Her fingers brushed against the coin she carried, pieces of silver and copper and gold. Some of it was from the palace coffers, but …

As she placed what they owed on the bar top, the innkeeper swiping it up as he handed them their keys with a nod, she couldn’t help but smile at how far Donnet’s stolen coin had traveled.

“The food should take abouttwenty minutes, but I will be back with ale shortly.” The young serving girl smiled at their table, a soft blush staining the apples of her cheeks before she rushed away.

“Did we make her nervous?” Trefor frowned after the girl, ruffling his pale blonde hair as he scratched his temple.

Mariah stifled a giggle, the sound instead coming out as a muted snort. She settled further into her chair, leaning into Andrian’s warmth. His arm rested on the chair-back, his fingers tracing idle circles on her shoulder. “It may be hard to believe, Trefor, but I think the group of you would make anyone nervous.”

Trefor’s frown deepened. “Why? I think we’re nice.” His sea-green eyes slid to Andrian for half a heartbeat. “Mostly,” he finished, his mouth lifting a little into a grin.

Andrian’s fingers stilled, and this time Mariah did not try to muffle her laugh. “It’s not so much about beingnicebut more about howmanythere are of you. I just happen to be stuck with you for life and therefore had to get over it quicker than most.”

They chuckled, grins stretching across faces, as the serving girl reappeared with a tray laden with ale. Even Andrian smiled softly and shook with quiet laughter, his fingers resuming their circles on her skin.

Trefor turned to face the girl as she set the last glass on the table. “Do we make you nervous?”

The girl blushed even more furiously this time, her entire face flooding with color. “I—no, of course not?—”

“Because we’re nice. I promise!”

“Very convincing, Trefor.” Feran turned to the girl with his gentle, easy smile. “Don’t let him trouble you, miss. He’s seen twenty-seven years, but we don’t really let him out much. For obvious reasons.”

It was Trefor’s turn to flush bright red, muttering under his breath as the serving girl nodded her head and rushed away.

Mariah laughed again, leaning forward and resting her forearms on the lacquered wood. The loss of Andrian’s fingers was immediate, but his warmth still pressed against her side, solid and sure.

“I guess,” she started, meeting the stares of each of her Armature, “that this is our last night for some lightheartedness. I think, after this journey … everything might be different.”

Despite the noisy rabble of the inn dining room, the silence at their table was deafening.

“How are you? With everything, I mean,” Matheo asked from his seat across the table. Mariah’s smile faltered, shifted into something tinged with sadness.

“Better, now that we’re out of the city. And I’m glad I’m not alone, that I have each of you.” Warm smiles and nods answered. She cracked open her bonds, just enough to feel: affection, pride, fear, sadness, all woven together in a tapestry of emotion that seeped into her soul.

She wasn’t exactly sure when, or how, these men had become her family. Closer to her than brothers. The love she carried for them differed from the love she carried for Andrian or even her blood.

To be known so deeply and be accepted without question anyways was a special thing.

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