Chapter 4 #2
“So, Hektor. How’d you think today went?” Elian leaned forward. “Productive? Cringe? A little of both?”
Beside him, Zara tensed, just slightly. He felt it before he saw it.
Hektor folded his arms. “I can’t wait to get out in the field.”
Liora snorted. “So, you’re not a nine-to-five NPC, then?”
He blinked. “I’m guessing that means…I can’t wait to get out of the office?”
Liora wiggled her eyebrows. “Exactly. Totally not NPC energy.”
“Yeah,” Elian perked up instantly, clearly delighted to join the bit. “Like—‘side quest accepted,’ you know?” He made a vague gesture, as if pulling up a holographic mission screen. “Zero rizz. Just grinding until the next cutscene.”
Hektor stared at him. “…I have absolutely no idea what any of that means.”
Zara groaned and thunked her forehead lightly against her palm. “Can you two stop? You don’t even talk like that. You’re being rude.”
“Rude?” Liora pressed a hand to her chest. “Us? Never.”
Elian added, “We’re just being relatable to the youth.”
“Neither of you are the youth,” Zara said flatly.
Hektor didn’t understand half of it, but he definitely understood Zara’s frustration. And the faint pink in her cheeks that said she knew exactly why they were doing it.
All of it aimed at her.
He frowned slightly as Zara scolded her siblings.
He couldn’t make sense of why they kept poking at her on purpose, why needle someone you clearly cared about?
It wasn’t malicious, just…relentless. He supposed that was a sibling thing.
He wouldn’t know. He’d grown up without that kind of built-in chaos.
Before he could dwell on it, movement across the bar caught his eye. A familiar face. He muttered a quick, “Excuse me,” and pushed back from the table.
The Drakkon who approached him grinned widely, clasping Hektor’s forearm in the traditional handshake: tight, forearm to forearm, the brief flare of warm scales brushing warm scales.
“Did I hear right?” Talen said, eyes bright with disbelief.
Hektor groaned. “That was fast.”
“You know how it is,” the other Drakkon laughed. “News travels quicker than flame. I can’t believe you’re working here in Alindale. Never thought you’d leave.”
“Couldn’t pass up the opportunity,” Hektor said with a shrug.
“Right, right. You’re working for Lord Eros and a gorgon?” Talen drawled, eyes bright with mischief.
Hektor narrowed his eyes. “Where are you getting your news from?”
“If I told you, I wouldn’t be the best at what I do,” Talen replied breezily.
“You mean keeping on top of gossip?” Hektor shot back.
Talen clutched his chest in mock offense. “Information, Hektor. Intelligence. Not everyone likes spending their life punching people.”
Hektor snorted, and they both laughed, loud enough that a few monsters turned.
Then Talen’s gaze shifted over Hektor’s shoulder.
His brows lifted. “So…who’s that cute girl? Does she have a mate?”
Hektor blinked, genuinely confused, then followed Talen’s line of sight.
Zara, tiny, expressive, pink-cheeked Zara, was watching the two of them talk, chin propped on her hand, as if trying to guess what they were saying. Her siblings were arguing quietly beside her.
A sharp, unexpected stab went through his chest. Jealousy. Irrational, immediate, and absolutely unwelcome.
“Oh. No,” Hektor said quickly. “I’m working with them too.”
Talen raised an eyebrow, unconvinced but amused. “Uh-huh. Sure. Working.”
They talked a bit longer, updates, a few jokes, a half-serious promise to grab dinner sometime soon, before Hektor finally said, “I should get back. They’ll start speculating.”
Talen smirked. “Pretty sure they already have,” he said, then clapped Hektor on the shoulder and disappeared into the crowd.
When Hektor returned to the table, Liora and Elian were already getting to their feet.
“We’ll leave you two to…strategize,” Liora said with a suspiciously sweet smile.
Elian added, “Yeah, lots of planning to do, I’m sure,” wiggling his brows.
Hektor didn’t understand a word of whatever subtext they were implying, but Zara’s mortified “Please go away” told him enough. The siblings scampered off, snickering.
He sat in the seat across from her. Zara lifted her drink.
“I actually like this. Should we get another one?”
He nodded, and they did.
After a small sip, she leaned forward. “So…who were you talking to?”
“Talen,” Hektor said. “A friend. He works here in Alindale too—but for our leader.”
Zara nodded, curiosity flickering in her eyes as she took another drink. “So…what’s Drakkoria like? Is it anything like Alindale?”
Hektor huffed a quiet breath. “No. Not at all.”
He searched for the right words; humans always seemed to need more of them. “Drakkoria is in the mountains. Our homes are carved into them, built along ridges and cliffs. Everything is structured into the landscape. Not like here, where houses sit out in the open on flat ground.”
Zara’s eyes lit with interest. “So it looks like nature…but Drakkons live there?”
He blinked, slightly taken aback, most asked if it was dangerous, or cold, or some other obvious, boring question. Hers wasn’t like that.
“It looks like a town,” he said slowly, “just not the kind you’re used to. The stone, the carvings, the terraces…They blend with the mountain, not fight it.”
She smiled. “I guess I’ll just have to see it myself,” she said, taking another sip of her drink.
Hektor shook his head immediately. “That wouldn’t be a good idea.”
Zara blinked. “Why not?”
“A young woman going there alone?” He leaned back in his seat, arms crossing without thinking about it. “You’d be swarmed by every unwed male in the stronghold.”
Her brows shot up. “Swarmed?”
“Not like they’d hurt you,” he clarified, though the thought clearly irritated him. “They’d just want to know how they could be matched with you. Asking questions. Following you. Making offers.” He remembered how Talen had asked about her. “It wouldn’t be pleasant.”
She stared at him, wide-eyed. “…Seriously?”
“Yes,” he said flatly. “Drakkoria doesn’t get many outsiders. And an unmarried halfling with strong power?” He gave her a pointed look. “You’d cause a riot.”
Zara’s lips parted in surprise, half amusement, half something else he couldn’t name. “Huh,” she murmured. “Didn’t know I’d be such a hazard.”
Hektor did not let himself react to that. He caught the glint in her eyes, bright, playful, a little dangerous. Mischief. She leaned in just slightly, elbows on the table, lips curling.
“So,” Zara said lightly, “if I cause riots just by existing…should I be flattered?”
He froze.
“That’s not—don’t say things like that.” His voice came out sharper than intended.
She blinked, startled. “Like what?”
“Flirty things.” He frowned, heat prickling beneath his collar. “Girls shouldn’t act like that.”
Her eyebrows shot up so fast he thought they might fly off her face. “Girls?”
He knew instantly he’d said the wrong thing.
Zara sat up straighter, chin tilting. “I shouldn’t have to remind you,” she said pointedly, “that I’m not a girl. I’m twenty-one. A woman.”
“That’s not what I meant,” he said, scowling. “I meant—young. Reckless. You shouldn’t tease men like that.”
She scoffed. “I wasn’t teasing. I was making a joke.”
“That wasn’t a joke,” he muttered.
“How would you even know? You barely know me.”
“I know enough to tell when someone’s being inappropriate.”
“Inappropriate?” she echoed, incredulous. “For what, talking? Existing? Having a sense of humor?”
“You were being suggestive.”
“I was being sarcastic!”
They stared each other down across the small table, the air between them charged—annoyance tangled with something else neither admitted aloud.
“Unbelievable,” she huffed, crossing her arms.
“Drekhar,” Hektor muttered.
“What did you say?” she snapped, eyes narrowing.
“Drekhar,” he repeated, slower this time. “It’s…a Drakkonic curse. Mild. More like saying ‘for the gods’ sake’ than anything serious.”
“Well,” Zara huffed, “I should be the one saying that to you.”
His mouth twitched, barely a smile, but for Hektor, it was practically a grin. She was annoyed, flustered, bristling at him. And he found it…weirdly entertaining.
She crossed her arms. “Tell me the truth. What’s the real reason you joined this team? You don’t just…leave your home for something simple. So what is it? Why are you really here?”
He leaned back, studying this small human with a sharp tongue and a talent for getting under his skin.
“Why did you leave yours?” he countered.
Her lips pressed together. He could see it hit her, unexpected, maybe a little too close. But he didn’t look away.
“People don’t leave home without a good reason, Zara,” he added quietly. “Not humans. Not geryons. Not Drakkons. So if you ask me that question…you should be ready to answer it yourself.”
Her breath caught, and suddenly the air between them felt different, charged with something no drink could cause.
“You already know my reason. Once Cyncus’s power is released, I might get my wings. It’s really that simple.”
Hektor set his glass down, the amber liquid catching the dim light of the bar.
He leaned back slightly, careful not to show how much her words had unsettled him.
Her finger traced the rim of her glass, slow and deliberate, and he could feel the pull of her power probing for cracks, for anything he wasn’t shielding.
Zara’s gaze was sharp, inquisitive, dangerous, almost, in the way it could pierce through his defenses.
“You think everyone has a reason for leaving,” he said finally, his voice low and steady. “Maybe some of us just…move forward, without looking back.”
Zara tilted her head, studying him. “Moving forward doesn’t mean running away. But you’re doing it anyway. I can see it.”
He blinked, just slightly, almost imperceptibly. That little flicker of awareness was all she got. Damn it, he thought. Not here. Not now. He tightened the mental barriers he’d learned to build, keeping his thoughts and memories locked behind layers of discipline.
He shifted, keeping his shoulders squared, forcing his face into a neutral mask. Thank Khrona, for the training that keeps Zara from reading everything. Even so, the hum of Zara’s power in the air was like a warning bell, and he felt it tugging at the edges of his thoughts.
“What would make me leave?” he echoed, letting a hint of humor creep into his tone to deflect. “A thousand things. Or maybe nothing. Depends on who’s asking.”
“I’m asking,” she said simply. Her eyes didn’t waver, and for a moment, the noise of the bar, the laughter from other tables, even the hum of the lights faded out. It was just her and him, two beings measuring each other across the table.
Hektor took another sip, slower this time, letting the heat settle in his chest. He didn’t flinch when she leaned just slightly forward, narrowing the distance. “You want a story?” he asked carefully. “It’s not one for a drink. Not yet.”
Zara smirked faintly, a trace of challenge in her eyes. “Then why are you here, if not to tell me?”
He considered her, noting the fire in her gaze, the way she didn’t look away, how small she seemed yet somehow entirely unafraid. He allowed himself a quiet acknowledgment: she’s too perceptive.
“Because someone has to keep moving, even when it’s messy,” he said finally, leaning back just enough to regain some control. “Even when it’s inconvenient. Even when it’s…personal.”
Her smirk softened into a small, knowing smile. “Convenient and personal,” she murmured, almost to herself. “Sounds like a story I’d like to hear someday.”
Hektor allowed a fleeting glance, almost a nod of respect. Someday. Maybe. But not tonight.
The conversation lingered between them, electric and unspoken, and he didn’t mind the probing eyes or the tension in the air. It was…different. And unsettling. In a good way.