32. So, you like a little pain, do you?
SO, YOU LIKE A LITTLE PAIN, DO YOU?
ENORA
Goddess, I needed to celebrate like a bird needed air under its wings.
And for probably the first celebratory event of my adult life, there wasn’t even a thimble of liquor in my system—though the sweet mead had been hard to turn down as trays brimming with it circled the tavern.
Not a pinch of Frost coursing through my body, either, but it would’ve been a waste anyway. My entire being hadn’t felt so alive in ages, from the tips of my fingers right down to my soul—a true feat, considering the events of my afternoon.
Leave it to the terrifying old Umbrite witch, an entire loaf of buttered bread, and a three-hour nap to see me right as rain after two goddess-damned trials stacked on top of each other.
Between the bawdy excitement rolling off the crowd of city folks and other successful prospects packed into The Busty Wench and the fiddlers tucked into the corner, playing eagerly for their coin, my near-drowning experience was a thing of the distant past.
I danced poorly to the upbeat folk rhythms, sang to them even worse, and had to be taught a bit of both by an exceptionally stunning Umbrite barmaid. I also lost a touch too much of Gallan’s money at cards, but somehow, I won it all back twofold in a sweeping final hand.
I ended up perched comfortably on a few dark fae laps amongst all that revelry, offering my judgements on who could take who in an arm wrestle, or who assuredly couldn’t down a whole pint of ale in one go.
The golden Odessan in their midst was quite the novelty, and while the odd hand slipped a little lower or squeezed a little tighter than it ought to, I’d never felt so at home in Grimmoria.
Gallan was always close too, never straying more than a table or two away. Keeping an eye turned in my direction just in case I needed him, but giving me the freedom and space to breathe I’d craved so damn badly.
If it hadn’t been for the Umbrite and how he’d inserted himself into the terrifying, downward spiral I was set on, I wouldn’t have made it through my preparation for the Agōn Ferr, or those first two tasks.
All I ever felt around Maksym and Jasper was the overwhelming urge to scream or cry—neither of which lent itself to being in a prime state of mind or body.
But the moment I started training with Gallan, the shift was momentous. I felt like a healthy fraction of my old self again—the Enora from before an endless cycle of defeat—and I’d never dreamed that would be possible.
I probably owed him some pretty healthy thanks.
Good thing I had him in my sights.
“Still nothin’ for you, love?” came the sultry drawl of the Umbrite woman tending the entire damned counter by herself as I worked my way up.
How she breezed through it all without looking like she had so much as a hair out of place, I couldn’t fathom, but those fiery locks—and her ample cleavage—left me unabashedly staring more than once.
I chewed my lip and shook my head. “I’m still good.”
The barmaid gave me a coy smile and dipped her head before ambling over to another patron.
Gallan wasted little time draping his arm across my shoulders and settling his head against mine. “Now, on a scale of one to the best night of your rather short life so far…” he murmured with an unmistakable slur to his words. “How do you fare, fair lady?”
“Gallan Nightwing, are you inebriated?” I feigned a scandalized tone.
He stood taller, cast me a sidelong, partially glazed glance, and huffed. “I’m right fucking hammered, princess. Why aren’t you?”
I gave him a half-hearted shrug. “I’m enjoying having my wits about me. Couldn’t tell you why, though.”
Gallan cocked a white eyebrow and chuckled as he raised his glass to his lips. “I’m sure it has nothing to do with the six feet of pure-blooded Umbrite woman who’s been eyeing you down, right?”
He shot back the rest of his drink, and my jaw went slack.
“What?” he chuckled. “I’ve got eyes, Miss Wynn. She looks like she wants to devour you, and you look like you might thoroughly enjoy that.”
A piece of parchment would’ve held up better to a candle than I did to Gallan. I let out a wistful sigh as my entire body sagged against the counter in defeat. “Goddess, would I ever.”
There was no denying how damned touch-starved I was.
The only physical contact I’d had in weeks came from combat training, a couple of forced hugs from Gallan, and the failed night with Maksym I wasn’t keen to think back on.
Maybe it was just desperation, but it made me miss Theo so fucking badly, and that was not a trail of thought I wanted to dwell on for long.
“Oh, Enora,” he chuckled. “I knew there had to be a lengthy list of reasons I liked you so much. A little wild, horny soul after my own heart. And I might just know—”
There was clearly something else he wanted to add that had my interest piqued, but Gallan went stiff as a fucking post and glanced back over his shoulder into the writhing mass of the tavern.
“Oh, fuck us both.” He sighed. “Well, it’s been nice while it lasted, love. Hope you weren’t too committed to any grand plans tonight.” Gallan slunk away with urgency, like a cat who’d just been caught in the larder.
When I spun back, scouring for whatever had scared my new partner in crime sober, I came up empty, despite being prepared to find Maksym standing behind us.
The same sea of broad shoulders and heads higher than mine stretched out as far as I could see, but the mystery didn’t wait long to solve itself.
A hand grasped my upper arm and dragged me from the counter with such force that I had little say in stopping, despite how I dug my heels into the pitted floorboards.
The bit of dark veining and scars that decorated the fingers gripping me with near-bruising force left little room to question who’d come to ruin my night.
“Come to celebrate with the rabble, have you?” I quipped as Jasper hauled me straight through the packed service hall of the tavern.
“I never pictured this new version of you to be the type for that, you know? All this brooding, mysterious nonsense. You seem more likely to be holed up with some depressing poetry, fisting your—”
“Shut up, Enora,” he growled as we passed through a back door and out into the alley.
“Ooh, did I hit a nerve there, mage?”
Clearly, he had no interest in letting me rile him up any further.
“How drunk are you?” he hissed when I wrenched free of his grip.
I stared at Jasper and all the audacity he kept under those layers. “I’m not drunk. But why the fuck are you asking like it’s any of your business? Actually, before you answer that, why the hell are you here?”
He threw back his shadow-drenched hood and stared right back at me, as if I’d spoken in tongues. “So, you’re just letting city swine get their hands all over you for what? Sober fun? Or are you going to feign innocence and tell me you had no idea you’ve spent all night getting groped by scum?”
And there it was. Oh, my fuse was officially lit.
Few things accomplished stoking my rage as fast as a heaping amount of judgment doled out about how I spent my time, especially by someone who truly didn’t know a thing about me anymore.
“You think I’ve never been groped at a tavern before, Jasper?
” I scoffed as my shoulders drew back of their own volition.
“I’m a woman, for fuck’s sake. Sure, I don’t have much for tits, but I’ve got plenty to the rest of me.
Doesn’t matter what land you stick me in; most of the men and half the women are bound to think they’re entitled to my body, and I assure you, I can handle myself in those situations. ”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a slow, exasperated sigh.
“It’s not a matter of you handling yourself.
It’s a matter of these people treating you like you’re nothing but flesh to be had when you are betrothed to their king.
They clearly don’t respect you, and they never will if you entertain whatever sick fantasies they’ve conjured up about a princess from another land.
I assure you, Max would not be pleased to see this either. ”
How steam wasn’t rolling off my body was an utter feat.
“Oh, right.” I tossed my hands out to either side.
“Because it’s too much to ask to go a single fucking day without being reminded of the asinine fae I’m shackled to for the rest of my goddess-damned life?
He clearly does not care an ounce about me other than seeing I’m pacified and fit enough to fulfill this fucking bargain, so let me have my fun before it’s all taken away from me again. ”
Jasper’s eyebrows climbed, and he scoffed. “So that’s why he sent me here to make sure you were okay?” he shot back. “Because he doesn’t care about you?”
“To make sure I was okay,” I muttered before I laughed. “It sounds an awful lot like he just wanted you to make sure his little prisoner was behaving to his standards. Try to keep me polished like I’m anything but a tarnished piece of cheap silver.”
Clearly, Jasper was out to see my wonderful night brought to a well and truly miserable end. “Your initiation, then? He gave you that tonic because, what, he didn’t care?”
I tensed. “He gave me that because he thought I wouldn’t be able to handle it. He didn’t want me embarrassing him before the Agōn Ferr had even started.”
A smile spread across Jasper’s infuriating face.
“Ah, of course. That must be why he paced a hole in the atrium floor that night. How about when he brought you to the cove, then, hmm? The one place that is a sanctuary to him. Was that because he doesn’t care about you, too?
Or how about all the goods he keeps getting Eilir to bring you?
The clothing? The books? The baubles? Are those because he doesn’t care about you either? ”