“That’s right,” Kace replies, shaking his finger with a wince. “Immortals and fae are usually only Gifted by the primary gods, but occasionally they can receive an additional Gift from one of the lesser deities. The Sight, Wards, Healing, and so on, but those are rare.”
“Quite educational,” Tristan says dryly, nursing his pint.
The fool preens at the “compliment” before returning his attention to Lena. “Well?”
She shrugs. “We’re people.”
Squeezing his eyes shut, Kace pinches his nose. “We’re all people. I mean-”
“Leave it be, Kace,” Griffin cuts him off, shaking his head.
“But…” Kace begins to argue, but then his words trail off as he finally takes notice of the foreigners’ glares and the warning hidden beneath.
Kace pastes a smile on his face and slaps a palm on the table hard enough to rattle our tankards. “Mysterious. I like it! I bet that works wonders with the females.” Mumbling, he adds, “I should try to be more mysterious.”
“You'd have to stop wagging your tongue to become mysterious,” Griffin states dryly.
Kace peers upward, tapping his chin. “That would be a lost cause then, wouldn’t it?” Sighing, he slumps in his chair. His dour mood saps away all the jovial energy, leaving us with no escape from the tense air still radiating from them.
I don't believe this exchange could possibly get any more awkward.
Readjusting in my seat, I clear my throat. “How long will you be visiting?”
Lena watches Kace for another long moment before returning her gaze to mine. “We don't have a set timeframe, but not too long,” she answers vaguely, her amethyst orbs leisurely trailing me from head to toe. “What do you do?”
“I'm Captain of the Guards,” I reply, grateful for the change of topic. “Griffin is my second, and Kace is my third.”
She stiffens, her face hardening with a cold glare of which my mother would be envious. “Is that so?”
Brow furrowed, I look to the other members of her party, all leering in my direction. The menacing silence thickens with each moment that passes as I gauge their reaction.
I stand corrected. It can become more awkward. Excruciatingly so.
Amara folds her arms over the table and ducks toward me, a demented smile stretching her cheeks. “Tell me, Captain, are your recruits trained to molest weaponless females? Or is that just common practice?”
I stiffen. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“It seems your guards enjoy taking liberties without permission,” Tristan says with an air of nonchalance, but his eyes flash with a promise of violence.
It takes a moment to process what he said, then another to wrap my head around the thought that my guards, the guards I trained, the guards I recruited, would do something so vile. So repulsive. When I finally do, rage whips through me. Blazing a path down my arms, my legs, billowing within my chest, it surges into a wildfire and douses me in its flames.
Baring my teeth, I slap shimmering orange palms down onto the table and stand, hovering above Lena. “Did they touch you?” I ask her, wrath hoarsening my voice.
“One of them squeezed my ass,” Amara says, disgust evident in her tone.
My anger spikes with her admission, strong enough that my trembling arms vibrate the table. But I refuse to remove my gaze from Lena’s as she searches my eyes, saying nothing as the flames within me heighten with each moment that passes.
“Did. They. Touch. You?”
Black smoke curls between us and she glances down at the scorched wood beneath my palms.
“I'm pretty sure he was touching me when he was rubbing near my cunt.”
Kace snickers. “A woman said cunt.”
She breaks my gaze to scowl at the dumbass. “I have one, don't I? I should be able to use the word.”
They touched her! They fucking touched her!
My vision turns hazy, my world becomes red, and the ringing in my ears is deafening as I think of the males who dared to touch her, imagining how I’ll burn the fuckers to ash after I rip them apart with my bare hands.
They touched her! They touched her!
Kicking back with a snarl, I barely comprehend the sound of cracking wood with the fury whooshing through my blood, only able to focus on avenging Lena as I whip away from the table and charge towards the door. But I've barely taken a step when I feel a warm shock from the delicate, vambraced hand wrapped around my forearm, reining me in from my murderous rage in an instant.
Similar to the feeling of electrically charged air the instant before lightning strikes, a mild shock radiates down my arm with a pleasant warmth. Stalling my steps, I follow Lena’s hand back up to her face and find her heart-shaped mouth tilted in a small smile.
“No, he didn't touch me,” Lena says softly.
“You said he touched your cunt.”
She walks her fingers down my arm to clasp our hands together, her touch humming beneath my skin long after it’s gone. “He didn't make it that far. Come.” She tugs on my hand. “Sit back down.”
As I stare down at her, my anger conflicts with this new, foreign need to please her. But as I recall the reasoning behind my rage, I squeeze her hand in apology. “I have to handle them. My guards can't be assaulting women.”
She shrugs one shoulder. “I'd wager they’re already off duty by now. You can maim them all tomorrow. I promise.” Unwilling to cede, she circles her thumb on the top of my hand. “Sit. I'll buy you another drink.”
Reluctant to deny this woman anything, I allow her to pull me down to an unbroken chair someone has already replaced, my gaze boring into hers the entire path down.
