Page 125 of The Seducer
“Come in,” I called and Finn opened the door.
“Is everything all right in here?” he asked giving me a concerned look.
“Yes, everything is fine,” I said and smiled at Nero. “Do you feel better now?”
He nodded.
“Think of Raven as a mental trainer. Her job is to provoke you, and you have to grow your muscle of tolerance. The only way to beat her is to not be provoked. Do you think you can do that?”
He nodded.
“If you lose your temper, she wins. If you keep calm and kind, you win.”
“Don’t worry, I’m a born winner,” Nero said with a confident smile and left the kitchen.
“What did you talk to him about?” Finn asked.
“About humor. He thinks you’re funny.”
“That’s a given,” Finn said and snaked his arm around me. “You talked about humor all this time?”
“More or less, and a little about him and Raven.”
Kya came toward us. “What happened?” she asked.
“Would you give me a minute?” I asked Finn and raised myself on my toes to kiss him. “Kya and I are just going to go for a stroll.”
Finn didn’t object because at that moment, Archer called for him and he was distracted.
“Did he tell you anything?” Kya asked when we were alone outside. “Nero is a hard nut to crack. I’ve tried but he’s hard on the Motlanders and he often gets in fights with Raven.”
I told Kya about everything that had happened in the kitchen, and she listened with her full attention.
“Now I feel awful,” she said and rubbed her nose, which was turning red from the cold. “I’ve never pushed myself on the boys because they seem to prefer that I don’t touch them.”
“That’s because they’re afraid of getting in trouble with the men. How could you think that boys didn’t have the same need for connection as girls?”
“Because they make fun of us for hugging and touching too much.”
I stopped walking, angled my head, and just looked at her.
“Oh, you’re right, that should have been an indicator.” She sighed. “I’ll talk to Archer about it. Maybe we can figure something out.”
“Be smart about it; you’ll have to find a way to give them what they don’t think they need without hurting their pride.”
Kya looked thoughtful. “Maybe Shelly has a way. The girl is brilliant at coming up with simple solutions to complicated problems.”
“Good, but maybe you should mention to her that provoking the boys isn’t the way of a Motlander.”
Kya nodded. “Shelly isn’t like other Motlanders. It’s funny, because she’s extremely observant and sees things that others don’t, but when she interacts with other people she often lacks a filter. That’s why Marco loves to mess with her. She’s easy to antagonize compared to the rest of us.”
“I like Shelly,” I said. “Underneath all those sharp replies, she’s got a good heart. I’ve seen her with her sister and the other kids. Shelly is an old soul.”
Kya nodded. “Yeah, I’m going to miss her when she leaves.”
Walking back to the house, I ended our conversation with a request. “Do you by any chance have a wedding dress that I can borrow?”
“No.” Kya looked apologetic. “I’m afraid my wedding was very informal and spontaneous. There was no time to get a dress.”
