CHAPTER 14 #3
“W-wait!” Lenore cut in. “I don’t mean to be a drag, but... the chickens?” Her lips parted, teeth clamped tightly together.
A pause followed. Ryker groaned loudly. Brynn’s shoulders sagged.
“This is what I get for yapping!” Ryker looked at Brynn. “Ya won’t be getting your chance to be the first to look at the prize.”
“What?!” Brynn tried her hardest not to frown. She frantically waved her hands at Lenore after. “Not that I have anything against this but—”
“Ya? Seems like you do!” Ryker cut in.
“I don’t!” Brynn snapped. Her cheeks flushed hot. “You’re the one making this way more annoying, Ry!”
In response, Ryker shrugged, sticking his tongue out with a mock-innocent glance to the side. A tight crease formed between Brynn’s brows. Lenore braced herself for the lightning to come.
“Why do you have to—”
“Do what? I’m not the one who tried to leave without thinking!”
Their voices blended into a discordant back and forth, drowning out the howling from outside.
Lenore’s eyes closed, resigned to trying to stay calm within the storm. “Guys... please...” she murmured amid their arguing. She let out a little sigh, letting her head fall downward to the side.
Thick heels clacked across the floor. Lenore’s eyes opened, catching sight of black boots dirtied with clinging blades of grass.
A tall woman, nearly six feet, stood next to Lenore.
Her braided light-gray hair, color faded by time, hung over her left shoulder.
Scars littered her exposed, muscular arms. Though her light tan complexion was marked with wrinkles, her bright blue eyes carried the essence of vitality.
Power was forged into even her smallest movements.
Lenore nearly gaped at the enormous bear that hung over the old woman’s shoulder.
Thick shaggy brown fur covered the giant beast, with a jagged collar of blood around its matted neck.
Though thick, stocky muscles bulged beneath its fur, the way the old woman handled it made the bear look like a stuffed toy.
Lenore’s gaze caught on something white.
Around her neck was a necklace: a small ceramic white raven attached to a thin silver chain.
Underneath the light, Lenore could’ve sworn she saw veins of light shimmer across the raven, like moonlight in the glaze, but when she blinked, it was ordinary again.
The old woman stared them down, raising an eyebrow as she opened her mouth to speak.
“Is there ever a time when you both aren’t barking up a damn storm?”
It went silent—Ryker and Brynn froze.
“Astra Fia,” Brynn greeted quickly after. Both Ryker and she dipped their heads down, a gesture that Lenore hastily followed suit.
Brynn followed up with a question. “You didn’t join the mithrial hunt?”
Fia grunted, acknowledging their bows. As the three of them stood properly once more, she answered.
“Wasn’t interested in hunting for a sparkly deer tonight.
” She glanced at Lenore, observing her from head to toe with one sweeping scan.
Lenore gripped the fabric of her dress, nervous for the flicker of disapproval to come. Surprisingly, it never did.
“The new Nyven,” she remarked. “You managed to survive.”
“I—I did,” Lenore said. “Longer than my own prediction, even.”
The corner of Fia’s mouth barely twitched, a brief flicker before disappearing behind her hardened exterior.
“Thought Edmund would’ve made minced meat outta ya, but I guess mercy can strike even the hardest of hearts sometimes.
” She looked back at Ryker and Brynn. “Now, was there an actual reason for all the noise, or was it all a brainless pissing contest?”
An instant commotion flared up again as Ryker and Brynn spoke up, loudly trying to talk over the other.
Fia’s brow twitched. She raised her free hand, silencing them immediately. “By the moon’s crescent, shut up and talk properly. Ryker, speak.”
“Well, I was just about to head off, being the chosen butcher for the mithrial. Then all of a sudden, without a thought in her carefree head, Brynn was running off and leaving poor Lenore here without any guidance on how to process chickens—”
“I was just excited, you doofus—”
The massive bear that once hung over Fia’s shoulder fell to the ground unceremoniously, silencing them effectively. She rolled one of her shoulders back and forth. She then cracked her knuckles, tilting her head from side to side.
“I’ll help her,” she announced calmly.
The inner corners of Lenore’s eyebrows knitted upwards, her head subtly turning back and forth in a disquieted fashion. She lifted a hand, meekly reaching out toward Fia as she spoke up. “As—Astra Fia, if it’s too much trouble—”
“Listen, girl,” Fia interrupted gruffly.
“The only trouble will be you if you don’t listen to me.
” Her brow lowered as her eyes met Lenore’s.
There was a fire burning in the depths of her vibrant blue eyes, challenging her to speak up against her.
When no words escaped Lenore, the intensity of her gaze softened.
She turned a step and made a beckoning gesture.
“Let’s get you an apron.”