Page 64 of Tailwind

Theo bit his lip to hold back a smile.

‘What?’ Colly’s voice cracked, a reminder that he was still very much a teenager.

Quinn shrugged. ‘It’s only from the balls. It’s not like they die for it like regular meat.’

I took a long drink to distract myself, but nearly choked when I locked eyes with Theo. I had many strengths and talents, but keeping a straight face wasn’t on the list. Holding in a laugh was hard enough without Theo attempting to do the same. There had been plenty of times when the kitchen table had ended up a mess from us snorting out our drinks from laughter as kids.

I swallowed my drink and stared anywhere but him, hating that nothing had changed.

My gaze landed on Quinn instead. His usual serious face had been replaced with a wry smile, making his freckles shift. His green eyes creased at the corners with mischief. Poor Colly had started sweating. Despite being part of Prevere for several months, it seemed that he hadn’t acclimatized to the culture of the Kuramines yet.

‘Relax, Col. It’s dried yak.’ Theo put him out of his misery and clapped him on the shoulder as he glanced over at my side of the table.

No one would eat dragon meat and the rest of us at the table knew that. Turns out Quinn had a sense of humour when it came to teasing his younger teammate.

‘Thank god you said something.’ Josie visibly relaxed. ‘Colly, you look like you’re going to be sick. You okay?’

This did the trick. The uneasy look was replaced with a bashful one, the tops of his ears flushing. His mouth opened a couple of times in an attempt to speak, but words failed him.

I bit my lip with a mixture of surprise and amusement. Quinn’s brows rose, catching my eye as we avoided embarrassing Colly further.

‘Paldon,’ Theo interrupted. ‘Pass the bread, would you?’ He leaned forward and reached out, putting his face in my line of sight.

‘Sure.’ I slid the seeded loaf slices down towards him.

He picked the biggest, thickest slice.

I rolled my eyes. ‘Of course.’

‘What?’ He seemed both offended and confused. He knew I was making a jab, but not why. He’d got rusty.

‘Taking the best bit as usual,’ I said, selecting the second-largest piece.

‘Yeah, because it’s the biggest one. I’m hungry.’ He topped it with butter and dipped it into his soup, then stuffed it into his mouth.

‘So am I.’ I did the same, enjoying the food even more now that I was making a point.

He gave me a grimacing smile, the food making his cheeks round. Then, without breaking eye contact, he reached for another and got it ready to eat. ‘Not as hungry as me.’

I gathered more food on to my plate, stacking it ready so I wouldn’t be wasting time while eating. ‘Try me, Vaspre.’

Josie put her head in her hands. ‘Why are you like this?’

Theo gathered the same food, matching my plate item for item. ‘Quinn, set us off.’

‘What?’ He sounded confused. I didn’t know why – this was an easy game to understand.

‘It’s a race. You need to count us in and then call it when the first plate clears,’ I explained.

‘No,’ Theo corrected. ‘When the last bit of food goes down. No stuffing your cheeks, Paldon.’

I glared at him. ‘Oh, like it wasn’t you who came up with that cheat?’

‘Still jealous you’ve never gotten away with it?’

‘Still mad you had to cheat to beat me?’

The rest of the table had fallen quiet. Theo and I were half-leaning over the table, eyes locked on each other and hands flat either side of our plates. That had been an addendum to the rules years ago: no hover hands for a head start.