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“Our dick,” I correct. “If mine falls off, you can kiss yours goodbye too. Good luck courting Calamity, or any woman for that matter, without it.” I discard as the others stare at me.
It’s Brenn who breaks the silence, chuckling into his drink. One good thing about spending the night below an ownerless bar is the drinks are free and plentiful. “The both of you have some serious problems…”
“Me? What did I do but offer help?” Jesper's eyes light up as he scans the table, searching for someone to give him an answer. “It’s your mate that called my pride into consideration.”
“It’ll be your problem soon enough.” I grit my teeth as my dragon, once again, tries to break through my mental door, forcing a jerk of my knee, bumping it into the table ledge. I hiss out a curse. “If her creature just came out of dormancy, you know what’s coming. Soon, too. Luckily for you…” I trail off, gesturing to the cave. Mira and Brenn howl, and Jesper nearly chokes on his drink.
Catching his breath, Jesper’s face falls as he lets out a guttural groan, stealing a look over his shoulder at Calamity’s door. “No… Lor, I can’t go through that again.”
Mira snorts, no doubt remembering the day we caught Jesper going at it with a boulder. In his defense, Vik didn’t want to sleep with someone to curb her heat. She’d just gotten serious with Ellie, so she thought if she sustained, it’d go away. And maybe it did for her, but not for everyone else around her. Brenn and Mira were the only sane souls around for weeks.
“Have any twos?” Mira asks, casting a glance at each of us.
Jesper drops his wrist letting it hit the table as he slowly turns toward her. “You asshole.” Tearing three cards from his hand, he passes them to her, holding on a bit too long when she grabs them from him. “I just fucking asked you for twos.”
“Well, I just picked one up.” She sorts her cards, laying down her four of a kind set. “This was fun, girls, but I think I’m donefor the night.” Mira pushes up from the table, Brenn following her, his hand rests gently on her back and they both start toward the rooms, leaving Jesper and me to our devices.
“So… Want to play again or talk about your beast issues?” Jesper says, shuffling the cards.
“Neither.” I stand up, grabbing my bow and quiver off the table to our right.
Faelor brought in everything we had strapped to the horses, since they’ll be alone for the night. It got colder than even I anticipated, and even with their beasts to help keep them warm, Brenn and Faelor were freezing.
We managed to rearrange the bar enough to allow the horses to roam around inside. It’s the best we could do since there’s no way to bring them down here, but I’m not sure they’re bothered much by the cold anyway.
Padding through the cavern, I make way for the spring, beyond ready to get the blood off my skin. There’s only so much I could do with a washcloth while I waited for the others to clean up.
Faelor is already inside, shoving his boots on, but he stops mid-tie, sitting up to acknowledge my presence. “Sorry, it took me so long. I nodded off.”
I take a seat on one of the carved out ledges, starting to remove my boots, the dried blood on them flaking off, and fluttering to the ground. “Not your fault. I think everyone is pretty worn-out. We haven’t stopped much to rest since we left the Luminaries.” Setting my boots next to where I’ve propped my bow and quiver against the wall, I shrug off my shirt, turning to figure out why Faelor hasn’t left yet.
“Calamity left your cloak in here.” He weeds through his things, pulling it out of the stack in his hands and giving it to me. “I was going to bring it to you.”
“Thanks,” I say, dropping it next to my boots. Still, Faelor doesn’t move an inch. “Is there something else?”
“Vik is worried.” His nostrils flare as he exhales. “What are you going to do about Brenn?”
It’s her twin. Of course she’s worried about him.
“Nothing. He has a right to be upset. Am I pissed he did it? Yes, but what’s done is done and I don’t think he’ll try it again.”
“He tried to kill her, Loric. Vik doesn’t know what’s going on with him, but he’s not in the right mind and he won’t let her use her gift to help.” Faelor picks at the fabric of his soiled clothes. “Even if you don’t think he’ll try again, she thinks differently. Someone should stay with Calamity tonight.”
“You should listen to him.”My dragon’s all too excited about that–shocker. As much as I know he’s not wrong, I’m not sure I can keep my other half in line. Not while I sleep. He won’t force himself on her, but it doesn’t mean he can’t charm her into making mistakes she’ll regret–that I’ll regret.
“Why are you worried about her? Before we came here, all of you wanted to trade her to Valtrol for a ship.” My other half roils at the thought of it. A part of me does too.
I never felt comfortable with the idea, but we need the ship. The two we have in the Luminaries aren’t bringing back enough food and goods to keep everyone fed. When we left, they were cutting rations. Valtrol intended to marry Calamity for her namesake, and marrying an elf man she’s never met seemed like an improvement from the dungeons. A fair exchange. Or so I had convinced myself before I saw her.
Valtrol is a lord, reigning over the docks we’re heading toward. He helps the rebels on occasion, but he’s still a king’s man, and in Solaria, the king chooses who marries his daughters. He hosts a gauntlet, a fight to the death for anyone brave enough to enter, but Valtrol isn’t a warrior. He’s a weasel, and trading us forCalamity was the only way he’d ever get into the royal family. It worked for everyone, until it didn’t.
“You know why I agreed. And I’m glad you changed your mind. I’m not sure I would’ve slept at night if you hadn’t.” Faelor paces before me. Clearly, I hit a nerve. “Still, you chose to keep her. It makes her your responsibility.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Giving up on waiting for him to leave, I start undoing the buttons of my pants.
“Brenn or Calamity.” He averts his eyes, staring up at the ceiling.
“Both. I’ll sleep outside her door if I have to or stay up, but I’m not going to punish Brenn. He shouldn’t have been here. I needed Mira to use her gift so we could get here on time. I should’ve known Brenn wouldn’t let her go without him, but you have to understand his position. If the king found out about us, he’s screwed. We can all fly. He doesn’t have wings. He thinks this is all a trap. That Asmodeus or the king is using Calamity to find out if the dragons are still in the realm.”
