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)
“I know you haven’t.” I give her hand a friendly squeeze. “I’m just worried about this upcoming week. We’re going back into the tunnels again. Master Jay wants us to train in the practice tunnels, but every time I go down, I feel all the dead still in the Everbelow. There are so many voices down there….”
I rub my brow just thinking about it.
“You mentioned that the sensation takes you over,” she says. “Is there something you can do to dull it? To push it away so you can focus?”
“I’ve been distracting myself, aye.” That’s one way of putting it.
“And this distracting, it’s been working?” When I nod, she continues. “Keep doing that, then. Whatever it takes, make sure no one else knows your secret. I can’t imagine that whoever is killing people wants a mancer, but it never hurts to be safe.”
Keep distracting myself with Raptor? Now I’m thinking filthy thoughts all over again.
Thirty-Five
Raptor
Rooster to Raptor: Any updates on our situation?
Raptor to Rooster: How many times must we go over this? When there’s an update, you’ll know.
My chat with Hawk was unfulfilling. I can’t blame him. It’s hard to have a secretive conversation about the state of the guild’s thief hunt when he’s busy training his students. Nothing else has been stolen from the guild coffers in the last week, though. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, because it doesn’t rule Gwenna out.
And I’m becoming increasingly desperate to rule Gwenna out, because I’m growing obsessed with her.
It’s a problem. A Five is supposed to be friendly and loyal…but fooling around? Not supposed to happen. Yet when Gwenna emerges from Hawk’s dorm with cat hair all over her dress and a sunny smile on her face, I want to grab her and squeeze her tight. I’d much rather see her happy than crying.
“Feel better?” I ask, my voice gruff. She moves to stand beside me, and I put a hand on the small of her back—and this time, she doesn’t push me away. It feels like a victory.
“Some? I just didn’t realize how much I’d missed my friends until now. It was good to be on a team with them. I miss that.”
I feel a stab of jealousy. “You’re on a team with me. And Kipp.”
“And Hemmen and Arrod, neither of whom I trust all that much. Do you?”
I grunt.
“I know I just need to get over it.” Her voice is light, but there’s a hint of wistfulness in her tone. “Sparrow loves being an archivist. Lark and Mereden are talking about children. And I just…I want the best for them, but I guess I’m also selfish because I want them at my side, too.”
“I get it.”
“Do you?”
“Every Taurian does. We’d much rather be heading into the tunnels in a Five made of Taurians, but they always split us up. It’s just part of the job. I’ve learned to think of it as doing my duty to the less fortunate.”
She chuckles, and the sound goes straight to my cock. “That’s one way of looking at it.”
“You make family where you can, and you make the best of a bad hand every time. That’s all you can do.”
Gwenna glances up at me, her dark eyes full of emotion. “Like you are with being demoted?”
“Aye, I suppose so. I hate it. I hate how the others crack jokes about an embarrassing situation. But it’s not forever. You must remind yourself of that. And it’s not so terrible. You get to meet people you might not regularly sleep next to.”
Her cheeks color, and I could swear I pick up a hint of arousal in the breeze. “Oh?”
“Never would have met Hemmen otherwise,” I agree, and her wicked snort of surprised laughter makes me smile.
“So Hemmen is my competition? Good to know.”
Is she flirting with me? I lean closer as we turn onto a more crowded street. “Sweet little bantam, you should know you have no competition. In this world or the next.”
“Keep saying things like that and you’re going to get your knot bitten again.”
Mucking hell. Here’s hoping.
The walk back to the nest is a long one, and by the time we make it back my cock is throbbing. Do I head to the alley behind the tavern to get the potion Naiah promised to leave for me? Or do I hope that the promise in Gwenna’s voice is more than just flirting? I’m torn. The last thing I want is for her to reach for me and my cock to be as limp as wet laundry.
I might regret it, but I opt to skip the potion.
When we return to the nest, we’re the first ones back. The dorm is echoing and empty, and Gwenna hesitates in the hallway, her hands fisting in her skirts.
I wait next to her, like a lovesick calf. After a moment, I clear my throat. “You look nice today, in a dress. Not that you don’t normally look nice. You always look good.”