Page 57 of By the Horns
And she winks at me.
Even though it’s just her baiting Arrod, I’m filled with a strange sense of pleasure at her response. Like she’s going out of her way to make sure I’m aware it doesn’t bother her. Like she’s got my back. I appreciate that.
Kipp hands his onion to me. It’s no more than a sliver, but I eat it all the same.
“Why are we here?” Hemmen asks, slouching on his stool on the other side of Gwenna. “What sort of training can we possibly get in a tavern?”
Master Jay gets up from his seat and puts a handful of gold crowns down on the bar. “This should cover my students. Get them as much as they want today. Make sure they have a good time.” He turns to us. “Some of my best memories with my Five were getting drunk together. Bonding doesn’t always come in a tunnel or on a job. Sometimes it comes in a place like this.”
Arrod grins. “Now, this is the kind of schooling that’s more my speed.”
“I thought you might enjoy this.” Jay’s expression turns stern, and he eyes each one of us in turn. “I don’t want to see you back before sunset, and I expect everyone to be ready to go again first thing in the morning for Prellian glyph lessons.”
Old Softy’s going easy on us. Glyph lessons in the morning? He’s practically inviting us all to show up hungover.
Jay walks away, patting me on the shoulder. It’s a subtle reminder that even though we’re given free rein today, I’m the most senior on the team and expected to look after the others. It’s fine. I’m not in the mood to get sloppy anyhow. I’m distracted with other things, like watching Gwenna lick a drop of beer from the side of her mug.
“That’s it? We just get drunk today?” Hemmen gives us a confused look. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s about us becoming friends,” I say. “Getting to know one another. Like he said, we need to start thinking like a Five at some point.” At least until I determine if one of these fledglings is the thief. If they are, it means they’re fucking over the chances of the others, but it’s a risk we all take when we sign on. Can’t be helped.
Today should give me a good chance to watch everyone, especially if tongues get loose from too much beer.
“Well?” Arrod asks. “What do we do now? Share stories? Arm- wrestle?”
“I know a drinking game,” Gwenna says.
It’s my turn to be surprised. “You do?”
“Don’t act so astonished.” Her nose goes in the air. “Learned it while I was a maid. The staff gets bored and likes to kick back just as much as anyone else.”
Kipp puts his empty shot glass back on the counter and gives the world’s tiniest belch.
Naiah is there right away. “Another, sir?”
Kipp knocks on the bar, and she immediately fills his drink. She moves on to Gwenna’s mug, and then Hemmen’s barely drunk beer, and Arrod drains his mug before handing it back to her.
Then Naiah gives me a look, moving down the bar. “Refill for you?”
I gesture at my beer. “I’m good, thanks.” I’m also declining a refill on my potion. It’s a gamble, but I want to see where things lead with Gwenna, and if I take a dose of potion, it’s going to kill my dick dead for most of a week straight.
She just arches a brow at me. “Light drinker today.”
“I’m interested in keeping all my senses sharp.”
“Smart male.” She grins and heads down the bar, checking in with her other clients.
Am I? I might be an idiot when it comes to Gwenna. I haven’t been spending my time watching to see if she’s the thief. I haven’t been spending my timeteam buildingwith her. I’ve been spending my time wondering when I can get her alone so I can finger her delightful cunt again. If Rooster and Hawk know just what I’m doing with her, they’ll take me off the case.
I can’t let them know that I’m fooling around with her, because I sure don’t intend on stopping.
I need to find this thief, and I need it to not be Gwenna. I turn to the object of my fascination. “What’s this game?”
“We need an extra mug of beer,” she says. “And a coin.”
Hemmen starts to pull one out of his pocket and then hesitates. “I get it back, right?”
Kipp rolls his eyes and slaps a coin down on the bar and gestures at all of us, indicating that he doesn’t need it back.
