Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 540(@250wpm)___ 450(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 540(@250wpm)___ 450(@300wpm)
Kipp puts his empty shot glass back on the counter and gives the world’s tiniest belch.
Naiah is there right away. “Another, sir?”
Kipp knocks on the bar, and she immediately fills his drink. She moves on to Gwenna’s mug, and then Hemmen’s barely drunk beer, and Arrod drains his mug before handing it back to her.
Then Naiah gives me a look, moving down the bar. “Refill for you?”
I gesture at my beer. “I’m good, thanks.” I’m also declining a refill on my potion. It’s a gamble, but I want to see where things lead with Gwenna, and if I take a dose of potion, it’s going to kill my dick dead for most of a week straight.
She just arches a brow at me. “Light drinker today.”
“I’m interested in keeping all my senses sharp.”
“Smart male.” She grins and heads down the bar, checking in with her other clients.
Am I? I might be an idiot when it comes to Gwenna. I haven’t been spending my time watching to see if she’s the thief. I haven’t been spending my time team building with her. I’ve been spending my time wondering when I can get her alone so I can finger her delightful cunt again. If Rooster and Hawk know just what I’m doing with her, they’ll take me off the case.
I can’t let them know that I’m fooling around with her, because I sure don’t intend on stopping.
I need to find this thief, and I need it to not be Gwenna. I turn to the object of my fascination. “What’s this game?”
“We need an extra mug of beer,” she says. “And a coin.”
Hemmen starts to pull one out of his pocket and then hesitates. “I get it back, right?”
Kipp rolls his eyes and slaps a coin down on the bar and gestures at all of us, indicating that he doesn’t need it back.
I indicate to Naiah that we need another mug, and then Gwenna takes it and sets it at the far end of the bar. “All right. Now we need a table. And everyone sets their mugs down in front of them. The goal is to get the coin into the mug in the center. If you do, you pick who drinks next….”
* * *
For the next several hours, we enjoy drinking on Master Jay’s coin. I eat platter after platter of fried vegetables, onion and potato mash, and fresh bread slathered with an apple jam. I eat so much food that I’m certain this wasn’t part of the plan, but it helps me stay sober as I drink along with the others. I try to get some bread into Gwenna, too, but it doesn’t work. She’s absolutely sotted by the time the sun gets closer to going down.
The good news is, Master Jay was right—drinking together has definitely brought the team closer. As I look around our messy table full of old mugs, half-eaten plates, and splashes of beer, everyone seems to be happy. Kipp’s resting against Arrod’s shoulder, one eye closed, and I can practically smell the alcohol fumes coming off him. Gwenna has her face propped up by both her fists, and her eyelids are heavy. She watches Hemmen intently as he drunkenly goes on about an old master that kicked him out of the messenger corps.
“It worked out, though,” Gwenna says to him. “You’re here and you’re learning to be an artificer. They make loads more money than scribes. Looooads more.”
“Money isn’t everything.” Hemmen pouts. “I wanted to be a scribe.”
“Well, I wanted to be a princess,” Gwenna retorts. It’s cute, because she says it like prinshess. “My ma always said we wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which one fills up faster.”
Kipp makes a croaking sound that might be a laugh. Arrod laughs, too, but Hemmen still looks upset.
“More rolls for everyone,” I say, plucking a plate of them off Naiah’s tray as she passes by. I hand them out to the group. “If anyone vomits in the street, you’ll have to clean it up in the morning, and trust me, you will not feel like it.”
“S’that a guild rule?” Hemmen asks. He takes a bite out of his roll, though.
“It’s a Master Jay rule,” I lie. “Just eat.”
They all take bites, and Gwenna watches me, licking jam off her lips. My cock pricks as her pink tongue swipes over the corner of her mouth, and then she gives me another sensual smile. Ah, gods. If I have to fight her off tonight because she’s drunk, that’s going to be the cruelest irony ever. I want her touch, but I also want her to be aware of what she’s doing. I’m not interested in a partner who has regrets the next day. I drop a second roll in front of her.
“Master Jay’s strange,” Arrod complains. “Always leaving town all the time. S’like he’s hiding something.”