Page 74 of Forgotten Arcane

Fortunately for us, the aunties and uncles that Evander and I were worrying about were too happy to see us to scold us properly, and we both let out a relieved breath when all they did was give us great big hugs.

As I sit between Van and River, enjoying my food, it becomes increasingly clear that not everyone is happy to see me. I’m trying really hard not to showmy amusement as one of the girls who always had a massive thing for Van glares at me from across the table.

Unsurprisingly, she has her best friends sitting on either side of her, and they’re giving me dirty looks too.

It’s absolutely ridiculous. It would appear that some people never left high school. I am even less bothered by their glares than I was when I was younger.

River nudges me, and I glance up at him, shoving another bite of food in my mouth as I do, because this really fucking good. I can hardly believe that we helped to make it.

“Why are those women staring at you like you kicked their puppy?” he asks curiously.

I burst out laughing.

Not bothering to keep my voice down, I reply, “Because the middle one has a thing for Van, and I’m best friends with Van, so they all have a problem with me. It appears some people never grew the fuck up.”

I smile sweetly as River’s eyes dance with amusement.

“Still a bitch, I see, Neith,” Salikeen finally speaks to me, a sneer on her lips.

I smirk, “Still a desperate whore, I see, Salikeen.”

River chokes on his drink and then bursts out laughing as I hear a quiet chuckle from Evander.

“Whoa, hold up,” Van says.

Sellikeen’s expression turns into a pleased smile as she assumes that he’s going to tell me off for calling her a desperate whore.

I raise my eyebrows as I glance at him, “Yes?”

He grips my chin, “I rather thought that you were a lot more than just my best friend.”

My smile widens as I hear gasps from across the table.

Leaning forward, I kiss Van, “Yep. Way more.”

His eyes are twinkling, as he releases my chin and leans back, “Good, just checking, you may resume your fight.”

I laugh again and turn back, pretending to pout I add, “Oh boo, where did they go?”

River chuckles again, “Ruthless.”

I shrug, “What can I say? Those three tend to bring out my inner bitch.” Frowning, I add, “Apparently, I resort to being a teenager again too.”

Evander chuckles, “Don’t worry about it, she started it.”

I shrug, “Fair point.”

The rest of the dinner is pretty uneventful. Everyone is smiling and talking, catching up on things that they’ve missed since the last time that there was a banquet. The thrum of voices is so familiar to me that I find myself smiling constantly.

“It’s about time that you two got together,” Auntie Fleur comments, and has everyone around her nodding in agreement.

“Right?” Reese adds, another aunty of course.

“Even I could see that they liked each other,” Uncle Ruesh adds, making me laugh.

“It just took us a moment to sort it out ourselves,” Evander replies.

The conversation then quickly turns to how we got back in contact, and that presents a minefield that I’m quite happy to let Van deal with, while I eat as much as I possibly can. Finally satisfied with the line of questioning, the aunts and uncles then switch to the Choosing and ask every possible question that they can think of.

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