Page 20 of By the Horns (Royal Artifactual Guild #2)

I traipse through the bustling city with Gwenna at my side.

Vastwarren is always crowded, but there’s a bit of order to things in the heart of the city, where the guild holds full rein.

As we get deeper into the bowels of the city itself, the streets become narrower, the congestion of people thicker.

I’m lucky in that as a Taurian, my big frame and menacing horns make most people avoid me.

Gwenna isn’t quite so lucky—she’s nudged and pushed around and has to constantly squeeze past people who won’t give way to a mere woman, even one in a guild uniform.

I put up with it for a while, because it’s clear she’s determined to manage on her own, but when a man shoves her and she staggers into my side, my temper flares. “You want me to carry your pack for you?” I ask, helping her right herself. “Might let you move a little easier.”

“You’re not supposed to.”

“I won’t tell if you won’t.” My urging is a test in many ways. If she’s open to breaking the rules in this small way, what else is she open to?

“I can manage, thank you.” Her tone is prim as she pushes me away. “Do I look helpless or something?”

I can’t help but approve of her answer. “You look soft and sweet.”

She scowls, and I grin to myself.

The types of buildings lining the busy streets grow less appealing the closer we get to the river and the docks there.

The outskirts of Vastwarren are full of slums and run-down businesses squeezed together as tightly as possible, carving space out for themselves when there’s little space to be had.

Along this dirty, congested strip are several brothels, many of which I’ve frequented in the past when I couldn’t acquire potions to handle the endless rut that’s upon me thanks to my ever-present knot.

It’s early in the day, so the women aren’t hanging out the doors trying to pull in passersby. All is quiet.

I should stop in and ask about Sarya. See if anyone here recognizes her by the description or the name. I should…and yet I don’t want to leave Gwenna alone. Not in this part of town. I’ll just have to return later when Gwenna is safe and back at the nest.

Part of it is probably that I’m currently full of my knot-alleviating potion, and so I’m not feeling particularly sexual at the moment.

Flirty, yes, but I’m always flirty. Yet my thoughts turn to Sarya most when I’m aroused, and I feel guilty that I haven’t looked for her more.

If I’m in love, shouldn’t I be thinking of her constantly, instead of only when my knot is full?

Then again, it’s not like there’s been anything between the two of us but sex.

It’s hard to imagine what books Sarya might like, or what her favorite food is, when all I can think about is her throaty laugh and the way she touched me.

Probably mucking good that I’m full of potion right now. I’ll look for Sarya in a day or two, when I’m less potion-drunk.

The river comes into view, and with it, the barges that line the docks, dumping cargo. Cats skitter past as crates are loaded onto the streets and men busily stack them or place them on carts. There’s a stink of sewage and dead fish in the air, and it makes my nostrils flare with distaste.

Gwenna eyes all of this and then pulls out a piece of parchment and a charcoal stick to write. “I’m to find the building behind the fishmonger. Have you seen it?”

“All I’ve seen is your winning smile,” I tease. In fact, we passed the building she needs a few moments ago, but if she’s determined to do this on her own, I’ll let her.

She stops in the street, turns to fully regard me, and there’s a scowl on her face. “Quit flirting with me. I don’t like it.”

“Is it me that you don’t like, or the flirting?”

Her eyes narrow. “If I say I don’t like the flirting, then you’ll say I like you. If I say it’s you, you’ll try even harder to win me over. There’s no right answer to that question.”

The astute response makes me throw my head back and laugh. “What if I’m not flirting but telling the truth? Does that change anything?”

“I’d just tell you that I’m not going to fuck you, because we’re in a Five together. Same thing I told Arrod.”

My laughter immediately dies, replaced by a hot fury. “When did he proposition you? What did he say?”

“Forget I brought it up.” She seems more annoyed by my question than ever and scans the buildings around us.

I’m not letting this go. How did I not see this?

I rack my brain, trying to think of times that he’s been hovering a little too close to Gwenna or spending too much time with her.

I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary, but I’m also not always around her.

Is there something happening that I need to be concerned with?

I’ve seen him flirting with her in the past, but she’s always shut him down as neatly as she’s shut me down.

But I know I won’t push harder…I don’t know that about him.

“Is he bothering you? Do I need to gut him?”

Her mouth twitches in a faint smile. “I can take care of myself.”

“I’m sure you can, but I still don’t like that you have to.” Mentally, I’m composing the note I’m going to send to Hawk. Arrod needs to be watched more closely. What if he’s the problem after all and I’ve been dismissing him as uninteresting? What if he’s got a dark side to him?

What if he mucking dares to touch Gwenna? I’ll flay the skin from him.

“I appreciate the concern, but like I’ve told you before, I was a maid. Men think we’re easy pickings all the time. I know how to shut them down. I also know better than to end up alone with the worrying ones.”

“You’re alone with me right now,” I point out.

“Am I?” She gestures at the bustling streets around us, even as another person shoves past her and glares at the two of us for standing still. “And for all your very obvious flirting, you’re not one of the more worrying ones.”

“But there are worrying ones?” I ask as she walks away. “What about Hemmen? Has he been bothering you?”

“Let it go,” she says, voice light as she scans the streets. “Like I said, I appreciate the gesture, but it isn’t necessary. I can take care of myself. I don’t need you or your help.”

I decide I’m going to add Hemmen to my list of possible lechers that I’m sending to Hawk.

If a man is bothering a woman, he doesn’t deserve to be in the guild, working alongside her.

I don’t care if it means they both flunk and thus our Five fails.

As far as I’m concerned, it’d be worth it, especially if they try to touch her.

Just the thought makes me utterly fucking furious, and I clench my fists to keep from snarling at the skies.

Is this why there aren’t more women in the guild? The thought has never crossed my mind before, but now I’m starting to wonder.

And that idiot Jay put us all in the same room together. I think of Arrod sneaking over to Gwenna’s bed in the middle of the night and him touching her…My blood boils.

I stomp over to her side. “I’m saying something to Master Jay before he leaves tonight.”

“I don’t want to be a bother. In fact, I’d prefer you keep to yourself and just leave me alone.” Gwenna doesn’t look at me as she addresses me, her gaze intent upon the buildings nearby as she looks for the one in question.

I’m wounded at her dismissal. “You know, you don’t like me and I’m trying to figure out what I did.”

“It’s not that I don’t like you.” She pauses to look over at me, her expression one of exasperation. “But I need to pass this year, and you’re not taking being a fledgling very seriously.”

I’ve been deliberately encouraging this line of thought so no one will suspect that I’m watching them. Even so, I don’t like that Gwenna thinks I’m not serious about any of this. “What makes you think I’m not?”

“Because…well, you’re you.” She gestures at me.

I don’t even know what that means. “What, because I like to have fun? Nothing in the rules says I need to spend my days frowning at the world around us.”

“That’s not it at all.” Gwenna pauses again, clasping the sheet of parchment to her breasts so it doesn’t flutter away.

“You’re good at everything without even having to try hard.

You know plenty about Old Prell. You can handle yourself in a fight.

You’re excellent on the obstacle courses.

Heck, you probably already have the city memorized and came just to bother me. ”

Her answer’s a little too close for comfort and reminds me how very astute she is.

“Me,” she continues, “I’m not good at anything. I’m not athletic. I’m out of my depth in all of this, and I’m a woman. I need to push harder than everyone else so I can catch up.”

Oh. Is that the reason she frowns at me so when I try to flirt? “You want me to help you?”

“Help me with what?”

I shrug. “Whatever you like. I can teach you the basics of Old Prellian glyphs. I don’t know many, mind you, but most artificers don’t.

You just need to know some of the more common ones that you might run across scribed onto old buildings or on walls.

I can assist you with training. Whatever you feel you need to brush up on, I can work with you. I don’t mind.”

She pauses, blinking up at me. “You’d help me with all of that?”

“Of course. It’d probably be on the weekends, since that’s our only free time.” I rub my chin, thinking. “Well, not this weekend, of course. There’s the wedding for Master Siskin and his partner, Tern. Everyone’s going…well, except Master Jay, but that’s just how Master Jay is.”

“Not everyone. I wasn’t invited to a wedding.”

Ah. I suppose I was the only fledgling who was invited. Tern is friendly with the Taurians in town, and I’ve worked with him several times on a variety of rescue missions. He probably didn’t think about my status when he invited me. “You can come with me. No one will think twice if I bring a date.”

Gwenna’s expression changes to a withering look. “Is this another bout of you flirting?”