Page 55 of Dark & Dreadful Brutes

“You don’t.”

He was right.

I didn’t want to admit it, but I also didn’t want to go to the fights.

“Alright, I’ll stay with Elwynne.”

“Thank you.” I could tell the words were foreign to him. He wasn’t someone who thanked people often, but he was trying for me.

And damn, I liked that.

Elwynne sat down across from me, and someone put a plate in front of her a moment later. She thanked them, which warmed me up to her pretty quickly.

Something about the way they’d spoken to each other irked me, though. Her leaning in… it made me curious. And irritated. And… well, I still refused to call it possessive.

“You’re not interested in Ravv romantically, right?” I asked her, deciding not to let my resentment build when I might have seen incorrectly.

Her eyebrows shot upward. “Veil, no.”

I waited for an explanation.

Her lips slowly stretched in a smile. “You’re possessive of him already.”

“I’m choosing not to call it that.” I took a bite of my food.

She laughed. “I’m not interested in him as anything but a friend. Ravv, Orvay, and I have been friends for so long that Ravv’s nearly a brother to me. Orv and I are somewhere between lovers and life partners, anyway. We’ve spent every eclipse together over the past few centuries.”

That made me feel slightly better. “Orvay is Ravv’s left-hand man?”

She grinned. “Yes. Say that to his face when you meet him.”

Her expression was so contagious that I found myself grinning too.

Maybe Elwynne wasn’t so bad.

We headed out as soon as we were done eating, and spent the day wandering the city. Jirev was massive, with a huge marketplace full of shops.

We chatted as we walked around trying a ton of different foods, and Elwynne told me stories about the battles she, Ravv, and Orvay had fought. She bought me three dresses that fit and some more undergarments too, thankfully. I shared stories about my time in the cellar, laughing about Jern and Gora’s antics, and didn’t touch on anything before that time in my life.

Ravv ended up staying at the events for most of the day to keep the peace, and though the handprint on my shoulder throbbed a bit at our distance, I ignored the pain. He checked in a few times to make sure I was doing alright, and met up with us for lunch, but otherwise gave me the space I requested.

By the time we finally retreated back to the castle, I was exhausted. I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow, barely stirring when Ravv slipped into bed with me and pulled my body to his.

The next day went the same, with Elwynne and I chatting and exploring.

But after lunch, Ravv’s mind touched mine and asked me to find him. Elwynne led me to the location he named—a building not far from the castle—and when we got there, we found all three of the kings waiting, along with the other humans.

All three men were equally tall and intimidating, though they looked different. Vayme had brown hair and tan skin, was the only one with a beard (though it was trimmed short), and his hair was longer than the other two men’s, falling all the way to his shoulders. I had to agree with Kaelle that he did look the scariest, though not by much.

“What are you angry about?” I asked Ravv, noticing the rage in his eyes.

“You’re going to start training.” Even in our minds, his jaw sounded clenched.

“And that makes you mad because…”

“Because I don’t like the idea of other humans swinging swords at you.”

Right.

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