Epilogue Lirion
Aria offered to host them for dinner, which they were all happy to attend.
She booked a large private room in the Dancing Dwarf Tavern—one of the nicest taverns in all of Bjornkill—and ordered nearly everything they offered on their menu to fill the long table that just barely held the eight of them.
There were platters of roasted meat, steaming piles of vegetables, fresh loaves of bread, and bowls of freshly churned butter.
It was a decadence Lirion had rarely known in his life, and he was more than happy to share it with his new family.
Lirion had wanted to check on his sister after their big job, to make sure she was settling into her home. She’d taken a temporary position with a brothel while she worked on setting up her own, allowing her to remain fed and independent.
With Aria tucked against his left side in a flirty pink dress that matched her artfully styled hair and Fenric on the right looking roguishly handsome in leather, he couldn’t be happier.
Everyone gathered around the table with tankards in hand, and he was glad for the private room.
This was already shaping up to be a rowdy party.
Aria leaned in to put her head against his shoulder with a happy sigh. “Lir, you spoil me.”
“I gave you a jewelry set, nothing fancy.”
“Ha, but it’s a beautiful set.”
Well, it was. It had been the lady of the manor’s before Lirion stole it.
It looked better on his sister anyway; those emeralds did amazing things with her eyes.
Lirion had just been snagging things they could offload on the black market or through a fence, but the emerald set he’d known must be Aria’s.
She wore the necklace and matching earrings even now, showing them off to glitter in the candlelight, and giving them to her had absolutely been the right choice.
She whispered near his ear, “You really are lovers now with Fenric?”
He nodded and watched her reaction from the corner of his eye.
It was odd what he was doing, he knew that.
Aria had accused him of living a fantasy before.
She had been supportive but fearful while on the Dark Lady, but now that things had worked out so nicely, she smiled up at him, seeming to bubble over with joy for him.
She surprised him with a soft, almost wistful smile. “I can’t blame you. Not with how he looks at you.”
Oh? “And how does he look at me?”
“Like you don’t know.”
“Tell me anyway.”
“He looks at you like your words are music and your heart is the sweetest melody he’s ever heard.”
Well. Lirion had no idea how to respond. His sister was waxing poetic tonight, but who was he to argue? Rather, he liked the idea of Fenric’s feelings for him being so obvious, everyone could read them on his face.
A glass chimed, and he turned to see Maxie at the head of the table, a glass lifted.
“A toast!” Maxie declared, exuberant and happy as he normally was. “First, to our inevitable rise in the villainy rankings!”
Lirion laughed. For some reason, this group was fixated on being the worst villains in all the kingdom.
How they’d manage that with such soft hearts was anyone’s guess because Lirion didn’t see it happening.
Still, taking down Lord Mire and his family was considered an evil deed, so they had a very good chance of climbing in the rankings.
A cheer went around the table, and Fenric grinned—a rare sight.
Maxie was not done, however. “And a toast to being able to purchase a lair!”
Everyone lifted their glasses and toasted to this success.
With all the loot they’d gotten at Lord Mire’s manor, the Dunley job, the raid of Count Pierres’s, and the savings already compiled over the years, they had a nice sum to buy some property with.
Actually, come to think of it, they had never mentioned where this mythical lair should be. Lirion cleared his throat and asked the table at large, “So, do you have a place picked out?”
“Well, no,” Fenric admitted. “We have talked about it—”
“It has to be near the water,” Rain maintained. “I refuse to leave my ship at some random dock.”
Fair. Plus, it would make it easier to leave and come home again.
“There are nice places near the Ringager Mountains,” Hapi opined.
Both Malfas and Belstrom put up both arms in an X shape.
“Absolutely not going back to my hometown, thank you,” Malfas said.
“I moved from there because I grew weary of freezing,” Belstrom tacked on, just as firmly. “No, thank you.”
Lirion privately agreed. No northern climates, please and thank you. “What about farther south, like Warón?”
“The mosquitoes are horrendous down there; it’s basically swamp!” Fenric objected.
Aria leaned forward to see around Lirion and asked, “Do you want to be close to a city or out in the boonies?”
“City.”
“Boonies.”
Hapi and Rain glared at each other.
Oh dear. Lirion understood now why they didn’t have a place in mind. The group couldn’t agree on anything. He had a feeling they’d be living on the ship and out of rentals for a while longer, at least until they could sort out the basics of a location.
As he watched the argument of where to go unfold, he mentally shook his head. No amount of money in the world could tell them what decision to make.
Maxie somehow managed to be heard over the bedlam. “Um, I’ve been wondering this for a while, but if we’re villains, why are we buying land? Shouldn’t we steal it from someone instead?”
There was a pause. People looked at each other, confusion and realization in a heady mix. Lirion started laughing. Truly, Maxie had a point. If they were such terrible villains, why were they doing this the legal way?
“I feel stupid,” Fenric muttered and grimaced before taking a sip of his wine. “He’s got an excellent point. Why did we fixate so hard on buying land?”
Lirion wasn’t about to step into that potential quagmire. He instead changed the question. “So, is there a lair you all like? Something we should conquer instead?”
“Well,” Rain started, “I like the one outside Arenker—”
Malfas groaned. “Gods, not that again. I keep telling you, that’s a terrible location, the tropical storms batter the place at least a dozen times a year!
We don’t want to be constantly in danger because of storms. Before anyone asks, Talmae is also off-limits and for the same damn reason.
Now, if we’re talking places to take over, we could always go toward Mavem—”
“After what we just did in Baza? That’s within spitting distance!” Fenric objected.
The argument started all over again, and Lirion sat back, shaking his head.