Page 212 of Season Warriors & Wolves

Thora almost jumped from her seat when Cai plopped heavily on her other side. The two finally separated and straightened on their seats.

“Did you not bring Neo?” he asked.

Mal’s hand tightened around the water glass he had before him.

My sister shrugged, scrunching her nose. “Don’t want him anymore.”

Eren’s head snapped to her. “Rora.”

“But he is so vain, brother. Nice, polite, sweet, but vain.”

“I see you’ve been taking Snow’s lessons,” Cai said, and Leanna laughed a little louder than normal from the table conjoined to ours, the little demon on her lap laughed along for no reason at all.

I sneered. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing,” the woman said, handing her daughter some fruit.

“Ma used to think you would die a spinstress queen,” Lila screeched.

Leanna put a hand over her daughter’s mouth a little late, her eyes wide. “I did not say that.”

“You did, mama,” Lila said, nodding and chewing at the same time.

She glared at her daughter. “Fine, I did, but I was proven wrong. Happy?”

I sneered. “Will be, when I weave myself a knitting bobbin with your yellow hair for a nice winter hat.”

“Please do not threaten my hair,” the tribe leader said, touching her hair. “I’ve started to develop a complex after you choked that poor witch in Fernfoss with her own hair.”

“The complex will go away, Leanna, when I pluck it all off.”

“Auntie,” Lila started, rolling her deceitful eyes up at me. “Lila wants to play in the snow like uncle Cai. He gave me a ball of snow yesterday, but it disappeared. Must have lost it in the room when I went to play with Pelin.”

“Aren’t you your mother’s child,” I said, kissing her cheek and Leanna shot me a look. “I’ll take you to play with snow.”

“After the battle.” She put her hand up, counting along as she said, “Lila has school tomorrow and the day after and the day after and the day after.”

I heaved a heavy sigh. “You’ve got to learn the days of the week, kid.”

She sighed, too, devastated. “They’re so hard, auntie. But will you take me?”

Mal stood from his seat and headed to leave, bumping hard on everybody he came across.

Seeing him like that returned that empty pit in my heart that only sank and sank. “Yes. I’ll take you, Lila.”

“I’m frightened for your child’s life,” Moriko calmly said, lifting the mug to her mouth, all while shooting me a smug look. “Death by snowball.”

Before I could launch the most perfect verbal attack on the woman, Kilian wrapped an arm around my waist and faded us outside the tavern.

He cupped my face while I angrily panted. “Before you violently obliterate me, listen first.”

“You have ten seconds,” I said, looking around. “Where have you brought us?” It looked like the Taren River under caves where we held our monthly rituals.

He took my hand, guiding me towards the path I’d snuck through when I was younger a million times. There was an Olympian priest waiting at the little peninsula created in the middle of the cave lake, formed by the river flowing under the rock and down to Moor Sea.

“Remember when I said I wanted to put you in a big dress and marry you again?”

I looked down at my pretty grey silk dress. “Yes?”