Page 64 of The Court of Thorns and Wings

Tavish reached for the pitcher and refilled the glass while I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

“A little.” This time, when I responded, I sounded like my normal self and not like a frog back on Earth. “I didn’t realize how dehydrated I was.”

“We were walking in the woods for hours.” Eiric took a bite of fruit. “We were all dehydrated, especially after Finnian’s stuntwith the Seelie guards.” She leveled a deep, hateful glare at him, the type I’d seen from her only once before.

It’d been right after her parents had adopted me, and we’d gone to school. I’d struggled to fit in, and a boy had asked me if I was from this planet. Eiric had torn into him in a way that had made me petrified of her, but it hadn’t taken me long to realize she was protective of her family. And the guards were part of her family because she was training to be one of them, and they were Seelie.

My stomach dropped. Her eating wasn’t necessarily a good sign. She liked to eat her emotions more than I did.

Tavish placed the glass of water back in front of me, and I didn’t hesitate to drain it. He swiped a sunburst fruit that reminded me of a lemon but was twice the size, along with a piece of brown bread. As soon as I put the glass down, he handed me the food and refilled my glass.

Chuckling, Finnian leaned back in his seat, placing his hands behind his head. “It’s nice to see Tavish serving others. When we get back to the castle, maybe he can cut down on his servants since he now has such capable hands.”

As soon as Tavish placed the glass back in front of me, Finnian yawned and said, “Can you hand me another piece of bread?”

“Go fly in a volcano,” Tavish sneered. “The only person I tend to is my mate.”

My heart skipped a beat. I loved when Tavish made it clear that he did certain things only for me. He made me feel special.

When I took a bite of cold bread, a sweet honey taste hit my tongue. “Where did you find this?”

“It was in the ice chambers here.” Tavish smiled. “My parents ensured that our food would survive here for hundreds of years if necessary.”

Eiric scowled, chomping on her bread.

“I’m just glad to see our little featherling has healed.” Finnian winked. “I’ve missed all the trouble she causes.”

I snorted. “We just escaped a castle and were chased by guards. I think we can all use a rest before the next adventure.”

“Amen to that.” Eiric lifted her water up at me.

“A men?” Tavish tilted his head. “That doesn’t make any sense. A is singular and men are plural.”

“Unless the man has multiple penises.” Finnian stroked the beard that had grown during his time in captivity. “Would that work to make it plural? Does the penis make a man singular or the actual head?”

Tavish rubbed his temple. “Is that a relevant question?”

“Wait.” Eiric inhaled sharply. “There are men here who have more than one penis?”

I didn’t know if I was exhausted or just having a hard time following the conversation. Either way, I wanted it over. “She just meant she agreed with me. Amen is something humans sometimes say when they agree with someone. It has religious ties that don’t translate here in Ardanos.”

“That’s a strange word for people to use, then.” Finnian pursed his lips. “And, sunscorched, if men could have multiple penises, I’d definitely be one of them. Alas, we only have one here. Do some humans have more than one?”

Eiric crossed her arms. “With how arrogant you are, you have to be compensating for something. I bet it’s rather small.”

Finnian’s jaw dropped. “It is quite large.” He stood and readied to drop his pants.

Tavish snarled, “You’d better not do what I suspect you’re doing. Friend or not, I will kill you if you expose yourself to my mate.”

“It would’ve been nice if you’d threatened him like that when he killed the three Seelie guards.” Eiric wrinkled her nose.

“They were trying tokillme.” Finnian rocked back on his heels. “What would you do if an Unseelie guard attacked you?”

She bared her teeth. “Kill them like I want to do you.”

Wow. I figured there was tension, but nothing like this. I should’ve known better, and they were putting me in the middle, even if they didn’t mean to. “Which is why allthreeof you are in the wrong.”

“What?” Eiric dropped her hands into her lap as her eyes widened. “How am I wrong when theykilledsome of our people?”

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