Page 207 of Season Warriors & Wolves

“Eren?”

“Yes?”

“Snow, she used to tell me stories you had told her—Isline stories. Big monsters and stuff of the sort,” I carefully said. “What…monsters did you really see up there?”

The crackling of the fire grew a little louder, or maybe it didn’t, it could have been because of the silence that ricocheted between us.

“I only ever saw one monster, Nia, and I am sure it would not enrich your knowledge of the place much.”

“Why?”

His hand slipped away from me. “Because the monster was me. Father sent me there once to hunt one. Except that I only found strange animals trying to protect themselves.” He laughed a little. “Sure, they were ugly, but they were peaceful.” He tilted his head to me, looking a little too much like Snow when he said, “But you should've seen me. Whatever was in that air, it wanted to draw the worst out of me. Except that it did. No mirror could have told me better what monster I was than the eyes of the people I killed.”

“You’re not a monster, Eren.”

He shook his head. “I’d sworn, Nia. To die before drawing a breath of magic that would harm innocents. What I did that day in those mountains made me deserving of death.”

“You lied to Snow and Thora about what you saw there.”

“My little sisters are hot headed, were even worse back then. They were so curious of the Islines, they saw how their father loathed that place and wanted it even more.” He toasted his drink to mine. “Good thing they were little scaredy cats back then and are still now.”

I snorted. “Them, scaredy cats?”

“Thora would cry at the sight of a snail, so I used to tell her that the beasts in the mountains left a big trail of slime and muck. Snow had a thing about livers. She hated how much they bled, so I told her that they ate livers.”

“Yeah, Snow still hates livers.”

“And Thora still cries at the sight of snails.”

I hadn’t laughed this much in a while, but it looked like neither had he. Eren was like calm waters, I always found myself drawn to his side every time I felt storms overhead.

“You can laugh,” Cai said, plopping down next to Eren, looking smug and ready to say something he shouldn’t by the look he had on his face. “Why do you so rarely?”

Ugh. I’d witnessed him flirting too many times to consider it his best shot. Especially from how Eren reacted.

Eren took a big chug of his drink. “You’ve never been remotely funny.”

“Thought you liked it better when my mouth was busy with other things than telling jokes.”

My nose burned from the ale I’d inhaled.

“The more I think about it,” Eren replied, leaning back. “The less you say, the better we get along, so I suppose I do like your mouth occupied with other things.”

Oh, no.

When Cai’s eyes dropped to Eren’s mouth, I stood up and left. Perusing the camp until I found another loner doing lone people stuff. Visha had curled into a ball and was drawing something on the ground with a crane.

“Don’t creep on people, Helenia,” she said boredly. “You were released from your duties as a spy.”

Observing and watching was ingrained in me, it was no longer about a duty. “Who are you hiding from?” I asked, kneeling beside her. “Six feet two, blond?”

She stopped drawing with the crane and turned to me. “Must you taunt me?”

“Must you not tell me though you let your shadows freely encircle you in my presence. Isn’t it for me to see?”

“I trust you, that is why I allow you to see. It doesn’t necessarily mean I want to acknowledge anything. But yes, if I see him, I might sacrifice myself to the seven hells and let them burn me ever so slowly just so I can escape the torture of hearing him speak.”

“Hearing him flirt with you,” I corrected.