Page 138 of Wanted: Rogues and Bards

“Never.”

Fen was all he needed in the world.

Aria offered to host them for dinner, which they were all happy to attend. She booked a large private room in the Dancing Dwarf Tavern—one of the nicest taverns in all of Björnkill—and ordered nearly everything they offered on their menu to fill the long table that just barely held the eight of them. There were platters of roasted meat, steaming piles of vegetables, fresh loaves of bread, and bowls of freshly churned butter. It was a decadence Lirion had rarely known in his life, and he was more than happy to share it with his new family.

Lirion had wanted to check on his sister after their big job, to make sure she was settling into her home. She’d taken a temporary position with a brothel while she worked on setting up her own, allowing her to remain fed and independent.

With Aria tucked against his left side in a flirty pink dress that matched her artfully styled hair and Fenric on the right looking roguishly handsome in leather, he couldn’t be happier. Everyone gathered around the table with tankards in hand, and he was glad for the private room. This was already shaping up to be a rowdy party.

Aria leaned in to put her head against his shoulder with a happy sigh. “Lir, you spoil me.”

“I gave you a jewelry set, nothing fancy.”

“Ha, but it’s a beautiful set.”

Well, it was. It had been the lady of the manor’s before Lirion stole it. It looked better on his sister anyway; those emeralds did amazing things with her eyes. Lirion had just been snagging things they could offload on the black market or through a fence, but the emerald set he’d known must be Aria’s. She wore the necklace and matching earrings even now, showing them off to glitter in the candlelight, and giving them to her had absolutely been the right choice.

She whispered near his ear, “You really are lovers now with Fenric?”

He nodded and watched her reaction from the corner of his eye. It was odd what he was doing, he knew that. Aria had accused him of living a fantasy before. She had been supportive but fearful while on the Dark Lady, but now that things had worked out so nicely, she smiled up at him, seeming to bubble over with joy for him.

She surprised him with a soft, almost wistful smile. “I can’t blame you. Not with how he looks at you.”

Oh? “And how does he look at me?”

“Like you don’t know.”

“Tell me anyway.”

“He looks at you like your words are music and your heart is the sweetest melody he’s ever heard.”

Well. Lirion had no idea how to respond. His sister was waxing poetic tonight, but who was he to argue? Rather, he liked the idea of Fenric’s feelings for him being so obvious, everyone could read them on his face.

A glass chimed, and he turned to see Maxie at the head of the table, a glass lifted.

“A toast!” Maxie declared, exuberant and happy as he normally was. “First, to our inevitable rise in the villainy rankings!”

Lirion laughed. For some reason, this group was fixated on being the worst villains in all the kingdom. How they’d manage that with such soft hearts was anyone’s guess because Lirion didn’t see it happening. Still, taking down Lord Mire and his family was considered an evil deed, so they had a very good chance of climbing in the rankings.

A cheer went around the table, and Fenric grinned—a rare sight.

Maxie was not done, however. “And a toast to being able to purchase a lair!”

Everyone lifted their glasses and toasted to this success.

With all the loot they’d gotten at Lord Mire’s manor, the Dunley job, the raid of Count Pierres’s, and the savings already compiled over the years, they had a nice sum to buy some property with.

Actually, come to think of it, they had never mentioned where this mythical lair should be. Lirion cleared his throat and asked the table at large, “So, do you have a place picked out?”

“Well, no,” Fenric admitted. “We have talked about it⁠—”

“It has to be near the water,” Rain maintained. “I refuse to leave my ship at some random dock.”

Fair. Plus, it would make it easier to leave and come home again.

“There are nice places near the Ringager Mountains,” Hapi opined.

Both Malfas and Belstrom put up both arms in an X shape.