Page 36 of A Hunger Soft and Wild

And when Selis’s eyes linger on Roan a beat too long, I recognize it for what it is.

Jealousy.

Roan shifts beside me, jaw tight as if she’s grinding her teeth behind closed lips. Her hesitation is a hair too long before she finally speaks.

“This is Aria," Roan offers. Nothing more.

“Aria.” Selis repeats my name, slowly, like she’s sizing up an opponent rather than greeting someone new.

I lift my chin, meeting her gaze, and decide immediately that I don’t like her.

Still, I keep my voice polite, as I say, "It's nice to meet you."

Selis smirks, eyes gleaming with something unreadable, then flicks her attention back to Roan. “Well, this is unexpected.”

Roan’s expression hardens, but before she can snap out a response, Selis tilts her head toward the dark sky. “I was planning to make camp not far from here. But since fate’s thrown us together again, why don’t we make it easy? One fire’s better than two.”

I glance at Roan, trying to gauge her reaction. Idon’twant her to say yes. I don’t want this woman inourspace.

She hesitates. I canfeelit, see the small crease between her brows. But then Selis grins, nudging Roan’s boot with the tip of hers.

“Come on, Talrik. It'll be like old times.”

Something flickers in Roan’s face—something tight and unreadable. Then, she exhales sharply, shoulders dropping the smallest fraction. “Fine. Just for the night.”

A triumphant spark dances through Selis’s eyes as Roan jerks her head toward the trees, leading the way back to camp.

I trail behind them, my stomach twisting.Like old times.I don’t know what those old times entailed, but I don’t like how easily Selis fits into Roan’s world. The space we carved out in this vast wilderness—the small world of justus—suddenly feels too open. Too exposed.

Selis is a reminder that the world is still turning. That we can’t stay hidden here forever. Or rather…thatIcan’t stay here forever…

By the time we reach the clearing, the fire is little more than glowing embers. Roan kneels to stir it back to life while Selis drops her pack beside a tree, stretching with a lazy roll of her shoulders.

“Still traveling light, I see,” Selis muses, watching Roan work. “Good to know some things don’t change.”

Roan doesn’t look up. “Aria, sit. Relax.”

The words are gruff, but there’s something beneath them, something softer. Maybe she senses my unease. Maybe she just wants to keep me out of Selis’s path. Either way, I don’t like how easy she is with Selis, even if she’s not warm.

I lower myself onto my usual spot near the fire, but Idon’trelax.

Selis follows suit, settling across from me with a smirk that feels like she’s enjoying a joke I don’t understand. “She listens well. That must be new for you.”

Roan’s head snaps up, eyes sharp and dark in the firelight. “Watch your mouth, Selis, or it will be two fires instead of one.”

The weight of her voice silences the space between them. Selis holds up her hands in mock surrender, though the smirk lingers at the edges of her lips. “Easy, Talrik. Just making conversation.”

Roan doesn’t answer, doesn’t look away until Selis does.

Finally, Selis exhales through her nose and tosses a twig into the fire, her expression smoothing into something more neutral. “Fine, fine. No need to bare your teeth.” She stretches her legs out, reclining like she owns the damn ground beneath her. “It’s been a while since I’ve had decent company. You should be flattered.”

Roan mutters something under her breath and goes back to tending the fire, but I don’t miss the way her shoulders remain tense, the way her jaw is still locked tight.

Selis settles, but the air between us doesn’t. The tension lingers, stretching thin between the three of us.

Ireallydon’t like her.

The flames catch, growing taller, throwing flickering shadows along the trees.

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