Page 91 of Tears of Gold

“A good vantage point,” Erritt muses before sinking down beside me, sweat darkening his pale hair.

I watch him from under my lashes, not wanting him to catch me ‘nursing’ him. Seeing him struggling with pain, even if he won’t admit it, has me aching to ask why things are so bad with his brother. Even though my brother Ryan is a pain, I’d never wish him harm, let alone hurt him myself. But there’s a lot of things about his life as a royal Erritt avoids talking about. I don’t want to push, but I’d like to be able to understand what he’s going through. I can’t bring myself to ask today though.

“Turn your royal training off for at least a day, Erritt,” Skye laughs, planting his hands on his hips. We share a laugh and when I’ve caught my breath, I go lean on Harper, looking out over the hundreds of miles of forest spreading in every direction.

“You could be fooled into thinking we’re on the Appalachian Trail out here.”

“Yeah,” Harper pulses with a laugh, then looks over his shoulder. “Well, except for the presence of two shifters behind us, including a big ass dragon.”

“Except for shifters,” I agree with a chuckle. “A camera wouldn’t go astray.” I frame my hands up in front of me as if I was searching for the perfect angle to capture the landscape.

Harper nods in agreeance, draping his arm over my shoulder. “But you’re right. It’s peaceful, as if there’s no war happening on the rest of the planet.”

“Yeah.” Although the scene’s beautiful, Harper’s reminder of the war makes me feel a little hollow, especially considering how small we are in the midst of this vast world, and a lot of what’s out there, past the hills, is hostile, especially to me.

Skye and Erritt have their heads together whispering, and at first I think they’re arguing about Erritt pushing himself, but then I hear one of them say ‘her’ and my neck hairs prickle.

I tug on Harper’s hand, pulling him back under the tree, and after he sits cross-legged on a flat rock, he pulls me down to sprawl in his lap.

“Hey!” I cry in mock anger as he nuzzles into my neck.

“I still can’t believe I can do this,” he says with a happy laugh.

I kiss him, enjoying the gentle scratch of his short beard against my chin, before leaning against his chest and looking at my other two boyfriends. “I can’t believe the three of you are getting along so well.” I reach across to rest a hand on Erritt’s knee. “Thank you for making this work.”

Erritt looks away as if he’s intent on the view. “The rogue’s not so bad, I guess.”

I share a smirk with Skye, who lifts his brows conspiratorially. “No, I guess he’s not.”

“I’m right here, you know,” Harper grumbles,

“That makes it more fun to talk about you,” Skye says, throwing a twig at Harper, and we all laugh as he rolls his eyes.

“Speaking of fun—” Harper tightens his arms around my waist. “With the time differences between here and Earth, we’ve missed your birthday, or maybe two of them. March, isn’t it?”

My mouth falls open in surprise and I count back on my fingers, calculating the time difference. “Yeah, I missed my twentieth and twenty-first birthdays.”

“Humans celebrate every year?” Skye asks, leaning forward with interest.

“Well, duh,” Harper replies. “We don’t live forever like you beasts.”

Erritt snorts softly, quickly suppressing the sound.

“You don’t celebrate birthdays?” I ask.

Skye looks sheepish as he lifts his hands and shrugs. “Most Exerin-Mi citizens celebrate decades instead of years.” He glances at me. “Is it true humans only live to one hundred?”

“If we’re very lucky,” I answer. “I think the average is closer to seventy or eighty.

“And that’s Earth years,” Harper adds. “We’ve no idea how the time exchange might affect a lifespan here on Exerin-Mi. It could be one-sixth of that here—ten or twelve of your years.”

Skye and Erritt exchange a horrified look.

“I can’t believe this never came up, but how old are you?” I ask, tilting my head toward the two shifters. “You both look early twenties.” Since we fit together and accepted each other so well, age never felt like an issue, although I think Harper may have raised it once or twice during an argument. They don’t look any older than me.

Skye snorts. “Eleven decades for me.”

My eyes fly wide open.