"Okay," I said, deciding to just get this out in the open, "so are you more worried that he's spending time with a Mole, or that he isn't spending it with you?"

The look Lessa gave me would've terrified a lesser man. Okay, in truth, it scared me a little too. But Kanik had his face turned down to his beer and was struggling not to smile. No, maybe he wasn't helping me out with this, but Lessa wasn't his problem.

She'd been friends with Zasen and me growing up. We were the ones who'd spent time in her bed. Kanik? He'd been a year younger than us in school, and while he may have known who Lessa was, the pair of them had never meshed well. So I didn't blame him for leaving this for me to deal with, but I also wouldn't have complained if he'd jumped in to help.

"Well?" I pressed, overly aware that she hadn't answered my question.

Lessa finally pulled up one of the chairs at the bar, then dropped into it. "You know how many times I've tried to give Zasen a token?" she asked. "I never even asked for one in return. I just wanted him to wear mine, at least for a little bit. I wanted him to figure out that I saw him as more than some kind of casual fuck. And now this? He moves a Mole woman into his room?!"

"A room he's not using at the moment," I assured her. "Lately, Zasen's either been sleeping on the couch or the floor upstairs."

But Kanik couldn't leave well enough alone. "I didn't think that was the kind of relationship you and Zasen had. Last I heard, you were the one who wanted to keep things casual."

Lessa grumbled and rolled her eyes. "It could have been the kind of relationship we had."

"Really?" I asked her. "Was that before or after you seduced me? Then him, then me, then Tasult, then him, then a few other guys, and then him and me again."

The glare she gave me was almost worse than her screaming. Normally, this woman wasn't the overly dramatic type. Sure, she had no problem speaking her mind, but that was true for most Dragons. Typically, though, Lessa was smart, sensible, and professional - until it came to Zasen.

"But why did it have to be a Mole?" she asked. "You know, I was honestly okay with him turning me down. We've been friends for so long, and while I think we would make a great couple, we all know Zasen can be a little stubborn. I figured I could get my screwing around done before I hit thirty, then worry about settling down. He all but said the same."

"Pretty sure that hasn't changed," I told her.

"But now he's moved a Mole woman in?" she hissed. "A fucking Mole. You know that asshole just offered to pay me double if I'd even come measure her? Oh, and I'm making him pay too. If he thinks he can lead me on - "

"He hasn't led you on," I assured her. "Not any more than I have."

She huffed and waved that away. "You'll screw anyone, Rymar. Pretty sure where you stand on things."

"Oh, but because Zasen doesn't fuck everything that walks, you're worried about him buying clothes for a girl?" Kanik asked.

I wanted to bang my head on the counter. The man had to be intentionally taunting her. "Kanik..." I begged.

He lifted his hands in surrender, but Lessa was already on her next tirade. "Zasen has always been so obsessed with defeating the Moles that he sometimes forgets to live. His entire purpose in life is destroying them. That's why I don't understand any of this. Besides, he knows how I feel about those shits!"

"Lessa, he's just buying clothes for her," I pointed out. "You know, so she won't need to run around the house naked."

And those words made her growl in the back of her throat. "No, killing us isn't enough. Now they're sending their women up here to seduce our men away? I'll fucking kill her first!"

"No," I said, catching her chin in my hands, "you will not. Calm the fuck down, pull your head out of your ass, and we can talk about this. But that girl is my friend. She's under my protection, Lessa - and Kanik's, and Zasen's. You're just jealous, and this is not a good look for you."

Fifty-TwoRymar

Lessa flicked a finger towards the cask of beer at the back. "I think I need one of those, Rymar."

Well, it wasn't an apology, but it was about as good as I could expect, so I turned to pull up a beer for her. A large one, because this was definitely something she needed to work through. I'd much rather she did it here than in Ayla's face.

But Lessa kept going. "See, I just don't understand how Zasen can walk away from his career, completely change his life - and even move into the house beside the south entrance - all because he's worried about Moles, and then this? He says he wants to kill them. He talks about how he's going to figure out a way to keep us safe from them. But the first Mole woman who shows up in Lorsa, he moves into his room?"

"First," Kanik told her, "Ayla didn't simply 'show up in Lorsa.' The Moles hung her out to die aboveground because she wouldn't follow their rules. When we found her, that girl had to walk all the way back, barefoot, unable to understand a word anyone said around her, and get used to the heat up here. Lessa, that's days where we got to see she isn't like a normal Mole. And when we figured out how to talk to her? We got to hear all her horror stories."

"And she's terrified of men," I added. "I'm not talking about tailed men, or brightly-colored men. I think that if she had to choose between a strange Dragon and a Mole - if both were men - she would run straight for the Dragon."

"You should also know Adoet tried to attack her right outside our house a while back," Kanik said. "Well, you know what Ayla did? She fucking apologized."

Lessa's head was jumping back and forth between us, trying to keep up. I couldn't quite read the expression on her face, but it felt like her previous temper tantrum had just evaporated. Or maybe it was merely that she was actually listening?

Because this woman had more reasons than most to hate Moles. As a child, she'd lost everyone she loved to them. Her brother, her father, his partner, and even her mother. They'd been systematically picked off, and more than once she'd watched from hiding as a loved one was killed.

That took a toll on a person. I'd seen it time and time again, even if the only person I'd ever lost to them had been Tasult. I'd also been an adult when that happened, but it made it easy to imagine how damaging the grief would be to a child. And for Lessa, it had altered the course of her life.

Carefully, I set the overly large beer in front of her. "That girl ran away because she didn't want to be a Mole, Les. She's scared. She's confused."

"Yeah," she breathed, wrapping her hands around the large glass.

So I kept going, refusing to give up my advantage with her. "And yes, Zasen is buying clothes for her. The girl is cute, but that's not why. It's because she has literally nothing."

Lessa lifted her beer and took a long, slow sip. I took the chance to top up both mine and Kanik's glasses, because it sounded like this conversation wasn't going to be a short one. My employees had everything covered right now, so there was no reason I couldn't stop and actually handle this.

"I just thought that when Zasen was finally ready to settle down," Lessa finally said, "it would be the three of us together. I mean, we'd make a good family, right? It'd be just like old times."

I simply pointed over at Kanik. "And what, we just throw him on the street?"

That earned me a soft, subtle laugh from Kanik, but it didn't even slow Lessa down. "No, but it's always been us, Ry. I mean, when we were growing up, we did everything together. All of our firsts? I don't care if that was the first time skinny dipping, the first time having sex, or even the first time staying in the woods all night. When we learned how to live, the three of us did it together."

"It wasn't just us three," I reminded her. "Kanik became part of our little herd of hellions in high school. Don't rewrite history. You hung out with me, Zasen, Kanik, and Tasult."

"And Tasult's dead!" she snapped. "A Mole killed him. The rest fucking ate him! And now here comes Zasen, just as nice as you please, with a fucking orin girl who's sleeping in his fucking bed!"

"And you think he brought her back on his own?" I snapped.

Her eyes turned to Kanik. "Was this your idea or something?"

"Maybe it was mine," I said before Kanik had the chance to answer. "Did you ever think of that, Les? Maybe Zasen hated the idea. Maybe Kanik tried to talk me out of it. But if we're bringing up history, then fine. Let's do that. I'm the lucky one here. I'm the pampered little bitch who lived north of the market. I'm the one who wasn't hurt at all by the Mole attacks, but the first fucking thing you do is get pissed off at Zasen?"

"Because she knows he's the holdout," Kanik said softly. "He's the one who always agreed with her about Moles - until now."

"No, I don't think that's what this is really about," I said, keeping my eyes on the woman. Pushing my own beer to the side, I leaned over next to it and put our faces even closer together. "Lessa, would you honestly be happy spending the rest of your life with the two of us? Knowing we'd get jealous if you screwed someone else? Dealing with us always worrying about where you went in case something bad happened? Refusing to back down when you tell us how something's gonna go?"

"But relationships take work," she told me.

I simply stared at her for a little too long. "They also aren't guaranteed to succeed," I pointed out. "Just because we've always been friends doesn't mean we're guaranteed to turn into the perfect little family with exactly three-point-four children."

"Plus, it would be pretty hard to have children with just the three of you," Kanik grumbled. "You'd need a tailless woman."

"There's that," I agreed. "Lessa, let's be honest with each other. Are you more upset that Zasen is buying clothes for an orin woman, or is it merely the fact that you finally realized we're not going to happen?"

"Rymar..." she said softly.