Page 72 of Fate and Flame
“Well, I thought we could go check out the training arena Sabra was talking about after our chore, whatever that is, and then we could see if we can find Murtad.”
“Murtad will find us, trust me. I wonder if kitchen duty is a chore.”
“Oh, for gods’ sake,” Nadra said, standing and marching across the room to the female.
Rhogan gasped and turned away, hiding his face.
“Holy shit, Rhogan. I think you’re blushing.”
“Did you just cuss, Temir?” he asked, flashing his infamous smile.
“I think I’m spending too much time with you. Don’t look now, but here they come.”
Nadra brought the female over to us and gestured to Rhogan. “Wren, this is Rhogan. Rhogan, this is Wren.”
“Wait a minute,” she said, finally taking her eyes off my larger-than-life friend to notice me. “I know you. You’re that rebel we helped near Volos.”I nearly choked.“Your horns are shorter, but it’s you, isn’t it?”
“Yes. It’s me.”
“I’m so glad you’re here. You have to come see Fen and Ara. They’ll be so happy you’ve come.”
“Wait, you can get us to Ara?” Nadra asked, grabbing her arm. “We seriously need to see her. She’s my friend.”
“Huh, I didn’t know she had friends,” she answered.
“Yep, that sounds like her.” Nadra giggled.
Wren laughed. “I can take you to see her.”
“That would be really great. We’ve just got to do a chore and we could go.”
“Fen was crowned king only a few days ago, so they are super busy. I’ll need to set up a meeting first. But I could take you somewhere else in the meantime?”
“I’d like to see the training area.” Rhogan subtly flexed his muscles like an animal trying to impress a female.
Nadra rolled her eyes. “Sorry about him. Where can we find the list of chores?”
“I’d take kitchen duty.” Rhogan wiggled his eyebrows until Wren blushed.
“Deal,” she chuckled and walked back to her station.
“What are the odds?” Nadra asked, shaking her head.
“About once in a lifetime,” Rhogan answered, forgetting to blink.
We worked as a group, cleaning the kitchen and wiping down the tables, until Wren deemed it clean enough and we followed her through the city and to the lists.“Sometimes Ara comes down here to kick everyone’s asses. If you’re lucky, you might catch her here. She and Gaea put on a pretty good show.”
I tried not to react to that, but the excitement from Nadra jolted me. “Thank you so much. I hope we see you soon,” she told Wren.
“Some of us sooner than others,” Rhogan followed up.
Wren pursed her lips. “Do you always try this hard?”
“I don’t know. This is my first time.”
This time she rolled her eyes and walked away.Rhogan opened his wings just for show, and she looked back over her shoulder and nearly tripped.
“If the king refuses an audience with us, I’m blaming you,” I said, slugging him in the forearm.
