“I did that,” Ryan said to Ruv, sounding smug.
“Congratulations,” Ruv said slowly. “You must be so proud. A word, Sam. If you don’t mind.” He glanced at Ryan, then looked back at me. “Alone.”
“Anything you can say to me, you can say in front of Ryan,” I said. “I’ll just tell him later anyway.”
“Yes, I suppose you will. But I’d prefer not to get stabbed.”
“Stabbed? What the hell are you—Ryan, put your sword away.”
“What? I’m just holding it.”
“And posing.”
“It’s not posing. It’s the proper at-the-ready position.”
“You just flipped your hair.”
“It was in my eye.”
“You just flourished your sword.”
“It was slipping from my grasp due to the desert heat, and I wanted to make sure I had a good grip on it.”
“You’re flexing.”
“I am? Oh, I didn’t even notice. But thank you for pointing that out. I do look rather vascular today, don’t you think?”
He really, really did. “You’re not going to even be able to walk by the time I’m done with you. I’m going to fuck you so full of my—little girl, why do you always come at the worst possible times?”
She burst into tears again and ran away, dropping a garland of flowers.
I almost felt bad but then realized that little girls have the worst timing ever, so I couldn’t be blamed. Plus, I figured it was probably better she learned now that boys were gross rather than later. When she got older, I bet she’d think twice before she did something untoward. I had done my duty in protecting the children of Verania.
“You’re not going to go away, are you?” I said to Ruv, resigned.
“If you’re leaving tomorrow, it’s best if we talk now,” he said.
“Babe, can you give us a minute?”
“I’m not going to stab him!”
“Babe.”
“Okay, maybe just a little.”
“You can’t stab someone just a little bit.”
“Watch me,” he said, teeth bared.
“Just… give us a minute.”
He groaned. “Fine.” He sheathed his sword and shot a glare in my direction before he turned back to Ruv. He took a couple of steps until he was standing right in front of him, only inches separating them. My lizard brain screamed at them to just kiss, but then I realized my dirty little lizard brain was an asshole, and that I’d probably end up punching Ruv in the kidney, so I kept my mouth shut.
Ryan was intimidating as all fuck. He was a big guy, with muscles and scruff and the ability to have a wicked snarl on his face that usually scared the shit out of most people.
The problem was Ruv wasn’t most people. In fact, he looked bemused at the posturing
before him, like he was dealing with an irate puppy. Ruv obviously wasn’t as smart as I’d given him credit for. Or maybe Ryan wasn’t as daunting as I thought he was. Since one of those things threatened to change my view of the world, I decided that Ruv just had a death wish.