Bryn chuckled, nodding. He’d known Zayden long enough to know that. He would either get over what was bothering him or do something stupid enough to warrant a whack from someone. It was typical behavior at this point.
He went into the kitchen and started prepping a quick dinner for the family, including their live-in grouch. Zayden did most of the cooking now while Bryn helped, but Bryn tried to take the chances he could give their guest a night off. He was appreciative that Zayden stepped up, and the only way Bryn knew how to show it was by giving him a night off from cooking, even though he was the best at it.
He’s become part of our life. If he moves out, I’m goin to have cook every night again with Mat and Luykas, and neither of ‘em is any good at it. Not lookin’ forward to that day. Maybe I should start takin’ over more. It’s not fair to him to do everything for us when we’re not his family. Not in that sense, anyway.
Bryn rubbed down a hunk of meat someone had placed fresh in their pantry. He didn’t let it bother him that someone had been coming in and restocking food while they were away. They probably started when they got word the war group was close and wanted to make sure everything was ready for the returning warriors. He appreciated it, trusting the Andinna of their rebellion not to steal anything or break anything.
“What are you doing?” Zayden asked him.
“Preppin’ dinner to cook while we’re at the hot spring.”
“Oh. Do you need a hand?”
“Nah. Why don’t you go ahead and start walkin’ up and get cleaned off?” Bryn smiled over his shoulder, hoping Zayden took him up on the offer. Zayden’s face turned red, but the male nodded, walking out. Bryn didn’t think about what he had done until he had the roast in a pot over the cooking fire.
He’d invited Zayden to bathe with the family.
Ah. Mave probably won’t mind. I hope. She won’t let Mat and I play, though. Fuck.
Mave never came in, so Bryn wondered if she had already headed up for the hot spring. He grabbed Mat out of their bedroom and pulled him outside. Together, they flew the short distance to the hot spring to find Mave already there.
“Zayden hasn’t made it yet?” Bryn asked as he landed.
“He has, but he doesn’t feel comfortable being naked and alone with me,” she answered, rolling her eyes. “Zayden, they’re here. You can get in now.”
“I tried telling you it wasn’t that,” Zayden grumbled. “But if I slipped and hit my fucking head, Mat can carry me, you can’t.”
“Bullshit, but okay.” She gave Bryn and Mat a look, making them laugh. Bryn loved it, the weird relationship between Zayden and Mave, the strangely antagonistic relationship between them fascinating and funny. He knew Mat was the same way, ducking his head to hide a grin as he got into the hot spring once they were naked. Bryn got in last and moved to sit next to Mave and Mat as Mat moved her onto his lap.
“This is heaven,” Mat growled. “I’ve missed our hot spring.”
“Me too,” Mave agreed, leaning back on him. “Zayden? Glad to be home?”
Bryn looked over at the grouch again and wondered if the red face was from the hot water or the accidental show Mave was putting on, leaning back on Matesh the way she was. Her entire chest was on display, just above the water. Mat must have noticed because he moved a little and lowered her, helping get them back out of sight.
“Yeah. Glad to be home,” Zayden mumbled, looking away. Bryn realized then exactly why Zayden’s face was red.
When did you start getting hard for our wife? And why haven’t you told any of us?
He looked at Mave, who seemed totally oblivious.
Maybe that’s for the best.
Bryn decided to stop thinking about it for the evening. He was definitely going to tell Luykas and Matesh, though, the moment Zayden wasn’t within earshot. Maybe they could figure out the situation together. It changed things if their house guest was checking out their wife.
Tomorrow, he knew they were all going to have to get back to the rebellion. Tonight, he just wanted to enjoy home as his perfect wife asked him to.
16
Mave
Mave was the first out of the house the next morning. She was feeling good, feeling ready for the next step of the rebellion now that Kerit was secure, and she was back in the mountains. Lothen was coming, and he was coming fast by their reports, which meant soon, she would be able to meet him on the battlefield.
She was ready.
But first, Zayden needs to get his ass down here for his morning training.
She stretched and checked her blades, making sure they were clean and unchipped. Traveling made blade care and other small things more precarious. It was easy to fall behind. She was grateful for her males, who would pick up a duty if she found she didn’t have time for it.
Mat and Bryn left as she did that, taking off from the front porch. As she waited on Zayden, Dave wandered out of his new home, and she chuckled as he nearly walked off the platform outside his front door.
“Use the stairs!” she called out, pointing at them. Dave’s face flushed, but he looked at the stairs and nodded, walking down them slowly. He’d been the same way going up, and she knew he was wondering if they would hold. They were built by Andinna, for Andinna, so she knew they would, but it was comical to see a human trying to traverse a world not built for him.
He walked over, carrying a small book and a bag over his shoulder. She knew he had several jars of ink and even more quills inside, ready to take notes at any point for her to reference later. He was committed, and she was endlessly glad to have him back in her life.
“How was your first night in a cliffside home?” she asked, smiling.
“Um. Rough. There’re no beds. I didn’t know what to do. There were beds in Kerit.”
“You can talk to Allaina about it when you meet her. I’m sure she’ll work something out for you.” Mave patted his shoulder, his face turning an even brighter shade of red. “Where are the other two?”
“Eating breakfast, but I figured I could get out here and watch your training with Zayden and talk to you about—”
“Go back inside. I’ll come get you when I plan to attend any meetings. Zayden doesn’t like being watched while he trains right now, and I’m not going to intrude on that.”
“Of course. Well, see you later, then,” Dave said with a wobbly smile.
“Are you okay?” she asked, frowning at his strange demeanor.
“It’s good to see you like this, giving orders and taking care of people. It’s good. I like it.”
Her face heated as he turned away and went back to his shared home with Emerian and Trevan. She was changed from their long years in the pits. She was changed from the Andinna his distant predecessor had known. And for some reason, his acknowledgment of it felt like a compliment.
Shortly after he disappeared, Zayden came out, trotting down the stairs with more ease than Dave. He walked into the field without any sign something had ever been wrong, which was exactly what everyone was hoping for.
“Two more weeks and the healers are going to let you fly,” she said brightly, smiling at him. He smiled back, and she felt her pulse jump. Zayden smiling was rare and wonderful, capturing the youth everyone seemed to forget he had.
“Two more weeks,” he repeated, the smile not fading. She knew he was excited about getting into the air again. It wasn’t just that, though. Something else was different about him when he trained with her, something more relaxed than his usual demeanor. “It feels good. Thank you for pressuring me to train, and thank you for not putting me in the position to embarrass myself again. That’s helped.”
“I’m glad. Did you stretch?”
When he confirmed he had, she drew out a circle in the mud of their tiny clearing by the cliff. The snow was melting, and spring was nearly on them. The festival and the Hunt were only a week away. She knew the celebrations would happen, but she didn’t think she was going to perform this year, not after all the traveling
she had done.
“So, I’ve been meaning to ask but haven’t found a good time, but…” Zayden swung his morok in his hand, a good way to relax and ready the wrist. “How is being with Luykas? You know the Company…we all know about his mother now.”
“You’ve probably been wanting to ask that for weeks, haven’t you?” Mave chuckled. “He’s not hers. He’s Alchan’s. He’s mine. That’s really all that matters.”
And he wants me to go visit him dressed in jewelry. Only Luykas could ever think of that request.
Zayden shrugged. “All right then.”
She wondered what he was really curious about but didn’t press. The Company received the news, and no one spoke to her about it. It was like a passing moment, and everyone went back to their business.
They started sparring without counting down, used to the routine. She watched his feet and his tail more than his sword, knowing they were the trouble. He was good with the morok, as good as Matesh and Brynec. He was better than Rain in some ways, not others. Mave felt her arm shake, and her elbow nearly gave as she blocked one of his harder hits. He wasn’t deceptively strong. He was a massively broad male, and that strength came through in every movement.
He was even again, and that pleased her. She had no idea if the training would actually translate to flying, but she hoped it would ease the way for him.
“So, what do you have planned for today?” he asked after a long time, wiping down his face with a spare cloth. He tossed her one as well, and she threw it around the back of her neck to soak sweat.
“Senri wants to see me today,” she answered, sighing. “I know what it’s about.”
“She’s going to make a formal bid to adopt you. The entire Company knows.” He gave her a somewhat sheepish smile. “You looking forward to it?”
Mave wondered if she had really considered it. It had been brought up weeks before, just before they left for Kerit, and she hadn’t put much thought into it while she had been wrapped up in so many other problems.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I love Senri. She’s my closest friend, and she really is the closest woman I’ve had to a mother other than…Shadra.” Mave hated how that felt, confronting that small truth. Shadra had essentially raised her. There was no denying that. “I have a very small number of memories of my birth mother. You know, the great Kelsiana Lorren. I hear a lot of stories about her, but I never knew her.”
“Senri loves you. So does Kian,” Zayden said, sitting down on a new log in the clearing. Allaina must have had someone place it there.
“Kian is a good friend—”
“He threatened to out Luykas to you about his mother if he hadn’t already told you. He was willing to kill over it. He wasn’t mad about her being his mother. He was mad Luykas might have betrayed you and kept that secret. Male Andinna don’t do that for their friends because getting involved in another’s marriage isn’t our place. They do that for their children.”
“He did that?” She tried not to smile as she used the cloth to dab her face and chest. “You know, when Luykas upset me, Kian tried to go kill him.”
Zayden made some mixed sound between a cough and a laugh. “Yeah, that’s a father for you. They all give me shit, but they forget if they had a child, they would be the same way. It’s normal for us to be insanely overprotective. Males, that is. Females are more easygoing with their children.”
“Senri made him, Willem, and Gentrin stop,” she finished the story softly. “Does that mean they consider me their family?”
“Mave, if you haven’t picked up on that yet, I don’t know how to explain it to you,” Zayden said, his smile turning lopsided, not a smirk, but goofy. Watching him, she realized he often gave her advice about Andinna, from her fertile cycle and how to talk to her husbands to this. He seemed to know more than her other males. He had more experience in life than the rest of them. It was something she had relied on without realizing it, but now she saw it.
“Did you think of Matesh as your child when you were…” She did the mental math. “Two hundred?”
“No, more of a little brother. I couldn’t wait for him to reach adulthood to fulfill his potential and be more of a friend than a chore.” Zayden chuckled softly. “I wasn’t old enough to consider fatherhood. Most Andinna don’t have their first child until around a thousand years old, and sometimes, that’s considered a young parent, depending on the maturity of the Andinna. It was a long way off for me to even consider the idea of a son or daughter.”
“You have an amazing one,” she pointed out. He’d done really well with Rain, even though he was overprotective and somewhat overbearing.
“I do,” he agreed. “And I’m sure if you agree to Senri’s adoption, she’ll feel she has an amazing daughter. I’d have to agree with her on that.” He got off the log and began to head back to the house. “Would you like anything particular for lunch?”
“Something with substance. Road food is pitiful. Oh! But I might not be back for lunch,” she answered, smiling at him as he walked away, his bare back, all muscle and his wings a sight. His breeches were riding a little low, and she felt the need to turn away. She was checking him out.
“That’s fine,” he called back. “You can have leftovers later.”
She watched those broad shoulders and firm ass walk all the way back to her home and stared as the door closed on him. Letting out a slow breath, she accepted the attraction was becoming unavoidable. She could live with it and ignore it well enough, but he was getting under her skin. She recognized the feeling for what it was and was almost resigned.
I should tell Mat. Maybe he would have something to say about it because Zayden is his oldest friend. Would Zayden want to join the mayara? Or maybe this is just a physical thing. Maybe I just want to fuck him because I like his muscles, and he has a nice smile when he finally does smile.
I’m allowed to do that, right?
Mave thought she remembered hearing that somewhere. It was strange Zayden was the focus of the thoughts, but he was a strange male. He had two sides to him—a good friend with wonderful advice who loved to help and a grouch who didn’t know how to handle his emotions. She saw both of those sides on a regular basis, and the divide was only becoming more apparent to her as she lived and spent so much time with him.
She wondered if maybe she should ask another female about it before asking her males.
Knowing Mat, he’ll just drag Zayden into our bed, but I’m not sure that’s what I want.
She pondered it further as she walked inside and found a change of clothes. She wore a set of her official garments the day before while riding in the village, but she wanted something more comfortable for her time with Senri.
It was a short trip, and the door opened the moment her feet touched Senri’s landing.
“Mave!” Willem greeted, smiling. “How are you? Come in.”
She smiled in return, a little shocked by the quiet male’s greeting. He practically ushered her to the main room and onto a cushion.
“Mave is here!” he called out. Quieter, he continued. “Let me get you some tea, and you can fill in some of the gaps Kian hasn’t told us yet.”
“Where are they?” Mave asked, looking around.
“Right here,” Senri said, still working on putting on a wrap for her chest. “We’ve been enjoying a late morning. I didn’t think you would get here so early.”
“I had nowhere else to be,” Mave said, swallowing as Kian and Gentrin came out tying on breeches. “I can go. Come back later—”
“Stay,” Senri ordered. “We need to talk, and we didn’t have a chance before you left.”
“About the…” Mave wasn’t sure where to even begin.
“It was supposed to be easier than this, but Nevyn ratted me out,” Senri said with a sigh. “We were already getting up, just moving slow. You didn’t interrupt anything.”
“Sure.” Mave looked between Senri and her males, not believing that at all. Senri sat down across
from her, a cautious look on her face that made Mave realize she wasn’t the only one out of her depth here. “You want to adopt me, but I don’t know what that means. And I’ve done a very good job not thinking about it since I found out.”
“Nevyn wasn’t supposed to say anything. Kian was supposed to approach you while you were in Kerit with him and have a long talk. But after everything…Seanev and Leria.” Senri sighed again. “I told him to hold off. I didn’t want to add more to your plate.”
“Senri, I just don’t understand.” Mave searched her memory for everything Nevyn and Kian had said on Al Moro Nat. Her mind had been on other things that day. “This has something to do with you about to try to get pregnant again, right?”
“Okay. Maybe we should pretend like Nevyn didn’t tell you anything,” Senri said with a chuckle. “Mave, I want to adopt you as my formally recognized daughter. I want to do this because I see you and I love you as if you’re mine. I know we’re amazing friends, but there’s something…I want to teach you everything your mother should have taught you.”
“You already have been,” Mave reminded her.
“I know, and I love it.” Senri’s smile was emotional, and her eyes were watering. “And you teach me things about having an adult daughter who has gone through so much, and all I can do is support you and help guide you. I also trust you. So, let me explain what being formally adopted means.” Senri stopped, looking up to accept a cup from Willem. Kian finally settled beside her, and Gentrin took the opposite side. Willem gave Mave a cup, then walked back out. Mave sipped the drink, wondering if he was coming back, eyeing the way to Senri’s kitchen.
“Mave, you in there?” Kian asked, humor in his words.
“Yeah. Please, explain.” She swallowed something uncomfortable, but it wasn’t the tea. The tea was delicious. She didn’t like not knowing, and here she was, about to learn yet another new facet of Andinna life.
“You know about informal adoption. It’s generally unrecognized. You loosely consider someone a brother or an aunt or uncle, but there’s nothing legal, no word from the leader of the community about it. It can be ended as easily as it’s started and has room to change. It denotes more feeling than it does a responsibility,” Senri said, turning her cup around in her hands. “You consider Rain a younger brother.”
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