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As he came, I found myself powerless against the image of him, the picture he created. His broad, confident steps. The strong lines of his shoulders and biceps and the tension of his forearm as he held the reins. That brutal jaw, thick neck. The eyes like orange flames and hair like silver-dusted snow.

“Good morning,” I said, feeling suddenly shy after not being with him all night.

“Good morning. Are you ready?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

Tenn tipped his hat towards me. Then, he released the reins and clasped my waist, lifting me up the way he’d done before with Rabbit.

I’d gotten so used to leaning forward and holding onto him on the slicer that having him behind me now was intoxicating. His arms caged me in. His frame cast a shadow over me as he bent at the waist, hist front flush against my back.

“Follow me,” Warden Hallum said, mounting his massive black shuldu and turning it towards the path we’d travelled yesterday.

On our shuldu, we exited the forest at a solid clip. There were a few times that I worried I might get bounced right out of the saddle, but Tenn’s tail was there, fastened tightly around my waist, keeping me secure like a shuttle seatbelt.

Once we were clear of the trees, we followed a broad dirt road through rolling hills dotted with swaying golden-greengrass. Eventually, a large wooden building came into view in the distance.

“That is Rivven’s saloon,” Warden Hallum called over to us. “They should all be gathered now.”

As we approached, I could see that he was right. Three figures stood outside the saloon, appearing to wait for us by the road. I was surprised to see that, unlike what I’d seen of men like Fallon, Oaken, and Silar, they were all fully dressed. They were even matching, wearing the same outfits of black and white and….

Holy fucking Terra. Were those tuxedos?!

Yup. There was no way I was wrong about that. As Tenn brought our shuldu to a stop and I got a better look at the three Zabrian males before me, I could see that they were absolutely wearing tuxedos, complete with bowties and cummerbunds.

And cowboy hats. Couldn’t forget the cowboy hats.

Interestingly, they removed their hats after Tenn helped me down and I got closer. I hadn’t really noticed any of the others do that before. Had I written that in the book somewhere? That it was polite to remove your hat?

I must have. Where else would they have gotten the idea?

And why else would they be wearing tuxedos?!

“Tasha, these are my men,” Warden Hallum said after dismounting. He aimed his tail at each of them in turn. “Dorn. Xennet. And Rivven.”

I looked at the three men.

Three pairs of very white eyes stared back.

“Hello. I’m glad to meet you,” I said. I approached the small group, aware the entire time of how close Tenn followed at my back. I held out my hand to the first man. “Dorn?”

The largest of the three men, both in width and height, took my hand in his rust-red one.

They definitely read the book.

We were off to a good start.

“I’m Dorn,” he confirmed, giving my hand a hesitant wobble before letting go. His reddish-brown hair was shorter than any other Zabrian male I’d encountered thus far. It appeared to have been cut messily, and was tied back in a low ponytail that was only a few inches long.

“And you’re Xennet?” I held out my hand to the next one.

“Yes!” He grabbed my hand tightly and shook it a lot harder than Dorn had. Glossy, pale purple hair was pulled back from a regal, almost elfin-looking face with light green hide.

“Um. Great,” I said. My hand was beginning to go numb.

“That’s enough, Xennet,” Warden Hallum said.

He dropped my hand. I let blood flow return to my fingers before I finally came to Rivven. Like the others, Rivven’s hair was pulled back. It was a deep midnight blue in colour. His hide was blue, too, but paler. The colour of clear winter skies.