CHAPTER SEVENTEEN #2
I took a long drink to distract myself, but nearly choked when I locked eyes with Theo.
I had many strengths and talents, but keeping a straight face wasn’t on the list. Holding in a laugh was hard enough without Theo attempting to do the same.
There had been plenty of times when the kitchen table had ended up a mess from us snorting out our drinks from laughter as kids.
I swallowed my drink and stared anywhere but him, hating that nothing had changed.
My gaze landed on Quinn instead. His usual serious face had been replaced with a wry smile, making his freckles shift.
His green eyes creased at the corners with mischief.
Poor Colly had started sweating. Despite being part of Prevere for several months, it seemed that he hadn’t acclimatized to the culture of the Kuramines yet.
‘Relax, Col. It’s dried yak.’ Theo put him out of his misery and clapped him on the shoulder as he glanced over at my side of the table.
No one would eat dragon meat and the rest of us at the table knew that. Turns out Quinn had a sense of humour when it came to teasing his younger teammate.
‘Thank god you said something.’ Josie visibly relaxed. ‘Colly, you look like you’re going to be sick. You okay?’
This did the trick. The uneasy look was replaced with a bashful one, the tops of his ears flushing. His mouth opened a couple of times in an attempt to speak, but words failed him.
I bit my lip with a mixture of surprise and amusement. Quinn’s brows rose, catching my eye as we avoided embarrassing Colly further.
‘Paldon,’ Theo interrupted. ‘Pass the bread, would you?’ He leaned forward and reached out, putting his face in my line of sight.
‘Sure.’ I slid the seeded loaf slices down towards him.
He picked the biggest, thickest slice.
I rolled my eyes. ‘Of course.’
‘What?’ He seemed both offended and confused. He knew I was making a jab, but not why. He’d got rusty.
‘Taking the best bit as usual,’ I said, selecting the second-largest piece.
‘Yeah, because it’s the biggest one. I’m hungry.’ He topped it with butter and dipped it into his soup, then stuffed it into his mouth.
‘So am I.’ I did the same, enjoying the food even more now that I was making a point.
He gave me a grimacing smile, the food making his cheeks round. Then, without breaking eye contact, he reached for another and got it ready to eat. ‘Not as hungry as me.’
I gathered more food on to my plate, stacking it ready so I wouldn’t be wasting time while eating. ‘Try me, Vaspre.’
Josie put her head in her hands. ‘Why are you like this?’
Theo gathered the same food, matching my plate item for item. ‘Quinn, set us off.’
‘What?’ He sounded confused. I didn’t know why – this was an easy game to understand.
‘It’s a race. You need to count us in and then call it when the first plate clears,’ I explained.
‘No,’ Theo corrected. ‘When the last bit of food goes down. No stuffing your cheeks, Paldon.’
I glared at him. ‘Oh, like it wasn’t you who came up with that cheat?’
‘Still jealous you’ve never gotten away with it?’
‘Still mad you had to cheat to beat me?’
The rest of the table had fallen quiet. Theo and I were half-leaning over the table, eyes locked on each other and hands flat either side of our plates. That had been an addendum to the rules years ago: no hover hands for a head start.
‘Just do it, Quinn. Get it over with.’ Josie wasn’t impressed. At least not yet. I was sure she’d turn around on the whole idea when she saw me win.
‘Okay …’ Quinn was still unsure. ‘Go?’
We launched into our food. Theo liked to go for everything immediately, shovelling in as much as he could. I preferred to match the food together, the way I would usually eat it, but increase the speed as much as possible. Theo’s strategy was quantity, mine was quality.
‘Okay, this explains why you two are friends.’ Omar laughed from down the table. I was too wrapped up in beating Theo to correct him. We weren’t friends.
‘You should have seen them race,’ said Quinn. ‘I was lucky they were so wrapped up in beating each other that I escaped them. Honestly the only thing scarier than them competing against each other was them being on the same team.’
I guzzled some water to help wash the food down. Quinn was right. Being on the same team as Theo was scary. We’d spent two years alongside each other in the Wyvern Cup. Despite the awful end to it all, the time beforehand … well, Josie had the numbers to prove just how good we’d been.
I swallowed the last bit of yak jerky and slammed my hands down on the table.
‘Clear!’ Both Theo and I yelled at the same time. Then, in unison once more, ‘Who won?’
Quinn looked between us and took a long and slow sip from his drink. He placed it down gently on the table, the glass nearly silent against the soft wood. He cleared his throat.
My knuckles were white as I gripped the edge of the table.
‘Lena wins.’
‘No!’
‘Yes!’ I stood up in celebration, hands in the air. My knee cracked against the table – I’d forgotten our seats were fixed underneath it. I sat back down, trying not to clutch my leg as my eyes watered.
‘That’s what you get for gloating,’ Theo said, gloating.
I flipped him off.
‘Hey, Quinn, want to race?’ Colly held up a whole bowl of soup in challenge.
Smiling, Quinn shook his head. ‘Let’s leave that to the professionals.’
We may have gorged on plenty already, but something about the cold outside and being with the group made me want to keep eating. The kitchen kept a constant stream of food coming and landed it right in front of Jas and the two Prevere riders. The alcohol, however, was kept away from them.
‘Not for you!’ The host told the Prevere boys, but happily served the rest of us.
Theo handed Colly a bottle under the table like the bad influence he was, as Quinn chuckled into his soft drink, content to stay completely sober ahead of the upcoming race.
It was a sensible choice. The food may have done a good job at soaking it up, but I could feel myself relaxing more and more as the spiced rum sank in.
Not enough to be hungover the next day, but enough that when I met Theo’s eyes across the table my heart didn’t twist with hatred, but instead rang hollow with nostalgia for a time I couldn’t go back to.
We gathered our shoes, coats and hats and bundled out into the night.
Omar, Jas and Josie went ahead, followed by Theo and Colly, leaving myself and Quinn to bring up the rear. Contrary to the dread I’d felt when seeing the group at the start of the evening, I felt comfortable. Walking back to the aviary after a meal out with friends … it was something I’d missed.
Quinn and I walked in silence for a few moments before the urge to break it became too much.
‘Does it at least get warmer here in summer?’ If in doubt, fall back on the weather.
Quinn played with the collar of his blue coat, folding the signature Prevere white fur back away from his ears. I was close enough to see that freckles were speckled over those too.
‘This is summer,’ he answered, walking slowly beside me.
‘Right.’ It was easy to forget that the Kuramines ran along the entire eastern border of Gedeinia. Their snow-capped peaks felt so unfamiliar. Still, I at least knew the basics about the long narrow country. Specifically for the three race locations visited by Volitant Chroma.
‘It’s not so bad.’ His voice wasn’t as quiet as it had been a few days ago. He seemed more relaxed. ‘I’ve spent seven years up here now and it just feels normal. The winters though …’ He shuddered.
‘You’re here in the off-season?’ Most riders had a home they went back to between the end of one season and the beginning of another, like Bach Lotiere and his rumoured secret mansion on the northern continent.
Or they travelled, spending all the money they’d earned, like Huwin Thorne and his rumoured multiple families in each country.
He nodded. ‘I have a lot of work to do. Prevere’s put a lot of trust in me and I want to make sure I can show up for them on race day. It all starts months before the opening ceremony.’ He got a little sheepish. ‘You know that though.’