Page 106 of The Explorer
“Can’t you just ignore it?” I asked.
He shrugged. “It’s not that. I’m in a cabin with Zola and Oliver.”
“Yeah?”
“I can’t figure out if the French set her up to it, but she crawled into my bed last night.”
My eyes blinked in quick succession. “Who, Zola?”
He nodded. “I’ve had offers from the French in the past, but I woke up with a woman literally lifting my cover and cuddling up to me.”
I could tell Thor was shocked and placed my hand on his elbow. “What did you do?”
Scratching his neck, he moved his hand with the cup enough that coffee spilled over the top. “I did nothing.”
“You did nothing?”
“I was so baffled by her being there that I froze.” He met my gaze. “It was so fucking awkward.”
“What did Zola do then?”
“I think she was hoping for me to participate but when I didn’t, she simply went back to her own bed.”
Looking past Thor’s right shoulder, I scanned for Zola and saw her talking with Celeste and Victor.
“Do you want me to talk to her?”
“Nooo.” Thor looked horrified. “Why would you?”
“Just to tell her to stay in her own bed… unless, of course, you changed your mind and want a French adventure.”
Thor lowered his brow and muttered, “I’ll deal with her myself.”
I shoved his shoulder playfully. “You sure you don’t want your badass cousin to protect you? I promise to scare the crap out of her.”
“No, Aubri. Just forget that I told you.”
“Ohh, come on. You would do it for me.”
Thor was just about to drink from the cup but stopped the movement in midair. With his brow raised, he scoffed. “If you came and told me that one of the men here had crawled into your bed, I would tear his limbs off.”
“I appreciate it, cousin, but we both know you wouldn’t have to do anything because if someone crawled into my bed without an invitation, I’d deal with them myself.” With a pat on his chest, I leaned in. “I actually wanted to talk to you and the others about a brilliant idea I had.”
It took Thor three minutes to call our delegation together and when I explained my idea to them, they were excited.
“It’s brilliant, but do you think we could get Khan and Magni on board?” Indiana asked.
I turned to Thor, who was chewing on his lip with a thoughtful expression. “Hmm… I get why you want to use your expertise and obviously it could help a lot of people, but a project like that is expensive. For Khan to put Exploration work on the budget, he would need a good reason.”
“Leave that to me. I know just how to sell this to him,” Freya said.
All eyes looked to her as I asked, “How? Are you going to explain how many people would benefit from this?”
Freya smiled at me. “Nope. I’ll present it as an opportunity for the Northlands to show our superiority and gain influence. And to close the deal fast, I’ll sprinkle it with the allure of my mother seeing Dad as altruistic and visionary. Their twenty-ninth wedding anniversary is coming up on Friday and he’s stressed about what to get her. Cleaning the world would be the perfect gift.”
I chuckled. “You’re bloody brilliant, Freya, do you know that?”
Indiana rubbed my back and laughed with me while talking to Freya. “Your parents are so funny. There’s nothing your dad wouldn’t do for your mom, is there?”
