Page 9 of Dark & Dreadful Brutes

Gora and Jern exchanged looks that I didn’t have to read to know they were wondering where Jirev was.

“It’s another fae city. Ravv is needed there for the next few weeks,” Gleam said smoothly. “You’ll be reunited soon.”

Veil, I hoped she was right.

And I really hoped she didn’t intend for me to share a room with Gora and Jern when I got to Loire. Honestly, I’d share with Ravv before them.

It had been way too many years.

“Thank you,” Jern said, as he gave Gleam a small smile. He pulled me in for a hug and squeezed me tightly, murmuring, “Do whatever you have to, to protect yourself from him.”

“I’ll be fine,” I whispered back.

Gora wrapped her arms around both of us, squeezing tightly. “We’ll see you soon.”

My eyes didn’t water.

They would later, when everything set in… but for now, I was still in shock that I was outside the cellar and sitting in the forest. The suns were still shining down through the trees, and it felt surreal.

It took them a few minutes to get up on Coarse’s back, and Ravv finally had to haul them up by their clothes. Ravv then scratched Coarse behind the ears, and the big, grumpy idorr rubbed up against Gleam one last time before he gave her a warning growl. He looked at me, and his vibrant eyes lingered for a long, long moment before he turned and took off into the forest.

Coarse moved just as fast as Ravv, if not faster.

As soon as he was gone, Ravv shot me a look that said I was about to get threatened.

I raised my hands in surrender. “I’m ready.”

His hands landed on my hips when I reached him and Gleam—but instead of lifting me, he gave me an irritated rumble and said through a clenched jaw, “You reek.”

“I’ve been in prison for years,” I shot back, my defenses rising. “Dirt and sweat are inevitable.”

“I don’t mind dirt and sweat.” He swept me off my feet, hauling me back to the river.

“Then what’s your problem?”

“The smell of your male.”

My eyebrows lifted. “Jern is not mine.”

He muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, “he’d already be dead if he was,” before he tossed me back into the river.

I came up sputtering and angry. “What is wrong with you?”

A bar of soap came sailing toward me, and I barely managed to dodge the damn thing.

It disappeared into the river with a soft plunk, and I stared after it in disbelief.

There was a splash as Ravv dove in after it.

I groaned, staring up at the sky and asking the veil why my life always went this way.

Would it really be so bad if things worked in my favor just one time?

I’d traded a cellar for an angry fae man, and…

Well, fine.

Ravv was much better than the cellar.

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