Page 9 of Wanted: Rogues and Bards

“Good, good. We were lucky to get a house with indoor plumbing.”

Without another word, Fenric closed the door behind Maxie and trudged back to the first floor with light footsteps. When he reached the main room, Rain and Hapi had the dishes washed and the last of the bread wrapped in a cloth. Fenric was already considering how to possibly use that bread for breakfast tomorrow morning.

“Such an interesting little thing the cat dragged home this time,” Hapi taunted.

Fenric made a rude gesture as he started opening cabinets, searching for the bottle of whiskey he’d tucked away, praying Rain hadn’t already found it. After a couple of minutes, he pulled out the dark bottle and held it up to the lamplight to make sure the amber liquid inside was still at the line he’d drawn on the outside.

“What?! Have you been holding out on me? Yer best mate?” Rain gasped. He grabbed for the bottle, but Fenric jerked it out of his reach.

“If you’d known I had it, you would have downed the contents without me.”

Rain slapped his hand to his chest and shook his head. His eyes were bleary, and he swayed slightly, proving he’d had plenty to drink with dinner already and the alcohol was now hitting him. “Never without me best mate.” As he spoke, a wooden tankard appeared as if by magic, and Rain shook it in front of Fenric as if begging for alms. Fenric poured him a splash and then grabbed a tankard for himself. He held up the bottle to Hapi, but the elf simply shook his head.

“You’re not the type to bring home strays,” Hapi continued as if they hadn’t been interrupted. “You’re more likely to bring home their bloody purses.”

“Let it go,” Fenric snapped. Hapi’s insidious words struck far too close to his own worries. Was he going fucking soft? No, it was fine. “The kid got buried in a graveyard by his family. Tell me that isn’t some cold shit. No, I wasn’t going to leave him. Besides, it’s just one night.”

“Except Malfas’s talking club⁠—”

“To hell with Malfas’s constellation. It doesn’t know everything.” Alcohol burned its way down Fenric’s throat, saving him from having to explain anything else to Hapi. So far, Rain was content to go with the flow so long as it got more alcohol in his cup.

After a couple more swallows, Fenric shuffled into the sitting area in front of the long table and flopped onto the sofa. Rain and Hapi followed him, pausing to arrange the chairs so there would be enough room for Malfas to join them.

The warlock descended from the attic while Fenric was telling them about his adventure in the tavern. As soon as he spotted the bottle of whiskey, he raced to the kitchen to grab a cup. Fenric shared his bounty with his friends—his brothers—with ease. Rain pounded on the roof and more thunder rolled across the heavens, but it sounded as if the storm was already moving away from Pomor, promising them a damp but quiet night.

By the time Belstrom finally joined them, the bottle was half empty and the last of the day’s woes were a fuzzy memory. “Maxie was asleep before he finished pulling the blanket over himself,” the barbarian stated as he poured some whiskey into his cup. He sank into the largest chair they had, and the poor thing still creaked and groaned under his massive girth.

“Fine. We’re all here.” Hapi smacked Fenric’s shoulder, jolting him from his indolent lounge into a somewhat upright position. “Who the hell is he?”

Fenric shrugged as he repositioned himself and splashed a bit of alcohol into his tankard before passing it on. “No clue.”

“And you thought it wise to bring him along with you at the end of the night?” Rain taunted with a lopsided grin.

“He really seems like a good, polite, knowledgeable young man,” Malfas said. “While he might not have had a loving family, they saw to it he was thoroughly educated—and not just the surface-level stuff that would enable him to pass himself off at a party, but the deep learning that comes from years of study and dedication to the classics. I wouldn’t be⁠—”

“Yeah, he’s a good kid.” Hapi cut Malfas off because the warlock was just getting rolling. Hapi spoke as if he were grinding the words between his teeth as he glared at Fenric.

“Honestly, I don’t know who he is. I was crossing by that old graveyard on the south side of town close to the slums. You know, the one with the crumbling chapel. He was fucking nailed into a half-buried coffin. He wouldn’t admit too much, other than the fact that one day he woke up and his family had him chucked into a carriage and brought here from Haugesand. They drugged him and then had him buried alive.”

Fenric’s gaze drifted around their circle to find a lot of furrowed brows and puffed cheeks as they considered what he’d said.

“If he’s from the capital, then it’s likely he was born to a noble’s family,” Rain ventured. He thrust his mug forward into the circle as if to punctuate his point. The alcohol sloshed, and he quickly drew his mug back, seemingly to protect it from hitting the floor.

“He doesn’t have to be a nobleman’s son,” Malfas said. He tapped a finger on his lips. “You know, I’ve heard there are a number of successful merchants who are now hiring loads of tutors and experts to train their children in the same knowledge and skills as the nobility, intending to pass their children off as nobles. At the very least they wished to garner a favorable marriage alliance with a noble family. Maxie could very well be a merchant’s son who refused to honor an arranged marriage with a noble family, and rather than allow him to disgrace his family, Maxie’s father ordered he be taken out of the capital and killed.”

Fenric lifted an eyebrow at the warlock. “Is that your idea or your constellation’s?”

“Oh, that is all my idea. Ezlan has offered no insight into Maxie’s past, only his future, and his future is with us.”

“I don’t think he’s a merchant’s son,” Hapi declared.

“What’s your theory, Oh Wise Elf?” Fenric teased.

Hapi kicked Fenric in the leg but otherwise showed no sign of annoyance. “I feel he’s a noble’s son who likely slept with one of the housemaids and got her pregnant. The girl and the child have already been murdered, her body burned, buried, or sunk in a swamp. When Maxie kicked up a fuss, his father did the same to him.”

Rain rocked back in his chair, nearly tipping it over as great belly laughs tumbled from him. “Are you daft? You think that wet-behind-the-ears boy has actually had sex?”

Fenric had to bite the inside of his mouth to keep from asking the same thing. Maxie had virgin written all over him in big bold letters. Not that there was anything wrong with it. Only, every member of E.V.I.L. had fucked and sucked their way through plenty of adventures over the years. Hapi should really be able to spot a virgin easily.