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He sighed. "You turned me down for..." He looked at Talin. "Were you even in our class?"
"One ahead. Went through the Choosing at the same time." Talin clenched his jaw. "How do you like the ring?"
"Doesn't really bother me. Ask Nari about it. I'm sure she has stories."
I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. "Ok. How about we try this again, huh? Talin, this is my old friend Anver. He used to be the fourth in our group, until he got distracted by a damsel in distress. Anver, this is Talin, and he loves the idea of me being tied up. We good? Great."
And I turned to walk away, but it was never that easy. Tishlie came out of nowhere, jumping right in my face.
"Tell your meathead to back off," she snapped.
I lifted a brow. "When did you grow a spine?"
"When I realized I wasn't always going to be second to you." She smiled. "Zeal put Anver and me together, which means you can't tear us apart."
"See?" Talin said without looking away from Anver. "Told you that you're the most beautiful woman in the room. Seems even the other priestesses want you."
"Ugh, no," Tishlie said. "She's a narcissistic bitch who thinks she's better than everyone."
I leaned right into her face. "I am."
The idiot squealed in frustration and then shoved at me. Thanks to a few years of combat training with my guys, I did little more than step back, but Talin was having none of it. He stepped in, grabbed Tishlie's arm, and jerked her out of the way. Anver immediately puffed up, closing the distance between them.
"Letgoof my ward," he growled.
Talin did, but only to lean closer. "Seems the puppy has teeth. You want to fight over her? I'm ready. I also won't promise that you'll get back up when I'm done."
Tishlie had moved around to let Anver shield her, but I wasn't that kind of girl. I walked right into the middle of them and pushed both men back with a hand on their chests. Talin moved easily. Anver tried to resist, but only for a moment.
"Look," I told Anver, "I don't like her. I'm never going to like her. She's spineless, usually brainless, and completely shallow." Then I looked at Talin. "I do not need you to start shit because that bimbo says mean things. My skin is thicker than that."
"Sorry, beautiful," Talin said.
Anver huffed at that. "You trained him fast."
I ignored that, knowing he was only lashing out because he was trying to save his pride. Instead, I wrapped my arms around him in the kind of hug he used to love.
"I miss you, Anver. I think I always will. I also think I needed Talin, and it seems Zeal agrees. Please don't make me choose, because I promise that the shards of our childhood friendship are not as strong as what I feel for him."
He finally gave in and hugged me back. "I was sure you'd gotten the Path of the Word until Tish told me she saw you in here. I've checked all the rooms, but I haven't figured out which is yours. Itried, Nariana. I've been trying, but you move too fast for me to keep up."
"We're in the disciple wing. Eladehl and I declared as partners, and Saval approved it. We'll still be in the classes, but things got... complicated."
He leaned back to look at me. "Give me just a second, ok? Please don't leave this time, Nari?"
"A second," I agreed, and Anver turned to Tishlie, grabbing her by the shoulders to steer her towards the food table.
Talin stepped up behind me. "That's the asexual guy?"
"Yep."
"Yeah, then I crossed a few lines. I really am sorry. I just saw that you got tense, and he started talking trash, and I made a bad call." He slipped his arms around my waist, then leaned in to my ear. "But I caught the part about somefeelingsfor me. Maybe we can talk about that sometime? I figure another week or so would be good."
I leaned back into him. "You're sexy, but if you piss on me to mark your territory, I will take a page from Eladehl."
And his mouth lifted to the spot just beneath my ear. "Ever wonder why I recovered faster than Wraythe? Because I don't mind if it hurts."
But Anver was heading toward us, and close enough that I didn't want him to hear the wrong thing. I was just about to pull away when Anver offered his hand to Talin.
