Page 2 of The Wolf's Prince
Chuckling, he slowed down their pace.
“I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself.”
“Come, let us get a drink. I'll introduce you to some of my friends.”
Mirra turned out to be her name and true to her word, she walked me around the party, introducing me to the other elves.
Aside from Mirra, they all appeared to be like the worst parts of the human aristocracy. Extremely formal, uptight, cunning,boring. Andrey would probably love them.
After speaking to a dull green-haired elf by the name of Seneca for far too long, Nikolai tugged Mirra away the moment he was distracted by someone else.
“Let’s get that drink,” he said as an excuse.
“Are you theonlyinteresting elf?” he asked the moment they were out of earshot.
She laughed.
“In our defense, this is our first time mingling with humans like this. I think everyone is on edge, deciphering what is to come next.”
“Tell me, how did you all come to be invited? I must ask Prince Allard what the reasoning for this was.”
“You know him?”
“Oh yes, he's a friend. Us royals of the area have a way of sticking together.” Nikolai snorted. “It can be quite annoying, but Allard isn't bad. A bit closed-minded, perhaps, but kind, really.”
“Oh, you know Prince Allard too?”
At the sound of a deep, masculine voice, he turned and looked up—and then up some more—at the extremely tall and handsomeoafwho stood behind him. He had vibrant red hair and was muscular with beautiful, tanned skin, almost all of it on display under thin strips of what Nikolai gathered to be a garment.
“Well, hello,” he managed.
Nikolai wasn't exactly tall, to begin with. Most of the time he was lucky to stand higher than the average woman, but he more than made up for that with his face and body. In this case, it would have made no difference. He was sure that everyone looked quite the same from the oaf’s vantage.
Suddenly, an identical oaf slid up next to the first.
Like the elves, the oves had long silky hair that they styled with braids. Where the elves favored jewels, the oves seemed to favor stones and bones. That didn't take away from their striking beauty though.
“I am Nikolai,” he said, and then, because he didn't know what else to do, offered a hand.
“I am Tuboy, this is my twin brother Memet.”
They took turns shaking Nikolai’s hand, seeming to take effort not to squeeze too tightly. Mirra received a nod and a smile but did not return it.
“Excuse me,” she muttered.
Nikolai watched her go, surprised. He’d once heard that elves didn’t care for their half-brethren. The oves were half-ogre and apparently that was enough reason to disassociate. He didn’t see the problem though. Aside from being large, they didn’t appear much different from the elves.
And he’d thought Mirra would be a fun new friend…
Shaking the disappointment away, he turned back to the oaf twins who seemed unbothered by her reaction to them.
“So, you're friends of Prince Allard's?”
“Oh yes,” Memet said warmly. “We got to know each other quite well when our brother Soluc first bonded with Prince Nemir.”
Nikolai remembered finding that particularly hilarious at the time. The prince from Suvahl had accidentally entered into an unbreakable marriage union with a male oaf. Even now that made him grin with glee. Suvahl and Tasnia were both known for being closed-minded countries. They frowned upon same-sex partners. Add to that the non-human mate and it was downright ironic.
“I had never seen an oaf before, so I found that story hard to wrap my head around,” Nikolai admitted, grinning.
