Page 24 of By the Horns (Royal Artifactual Guild #2)

Fifteen

Raptor

Gwenna goes silent, and I hate that I’ve ruined the mood.

Not that I should care, but I feel it all the same.

It’s right that I tell her. She deserves to know that my heart is Sarya’s, and that our flirting can’t go anywhere.

Even as I think it, I wonder if I’m a fool.

If I’m far too hung up on a woman I met for only a brief moment in time and didn’t even get to look at.

And yet…I can’t stop thinking about her.

Being with her just felt so right. Like I’d met the perfect woman, the one I’d always been meant to find.

Perhaps that’s what makes it difficult to be around Gwenna.

I get the same feeling when I’m around her.

That if I’d let myself, I’d be utterly besotted by her tart tongue and her sparkling smile.

That if I’d only met her first, it’d be a very different story.

I hate that realization.

Almost as much as I hate hurting her. She might be the thief, but she’s still a person I’m wildly attracted to, a person I like being around.

A person who impresses me with her wit and intelligence.

I change the subject, handing over the bowl of fruit I’ve brought along with me from the refreshment table.

“Any more observations to share with me, my sharp-eyed female?”

She sets the bowl down between us to share, then pulls apart her roll with delicate fingers. Gwenna arches an eyebrow at me. “Why do you want to know?”

“Because I like hearing all the juicy details.” I shrug and pop a slice of peach into my mouth. “But more than that, I just like learning what you’ve observed.”

“Mmm.” She eats a fluffy bit of roll, her gaze moving to the dance floor and avoiding me. “Hemmen has bad dreams and talks in his sleep.”

“Interesting. I didn’t notice that.”

She shoots me a sharp look. “That’s because you sleep like the dead.”

Another observation, and a true one. I steal another slice of peach, because I love fruit. “Can I help it if I need my beauty rest?”

“I’m just saying, if we get robbed in the middle of the night, I’m not trying to wake you to save us. That’s all.”

Chuckling, I eye the roll she’s mangling. Is she imagining it as my neck? “I’ve noticed you never mention Kipp in your observations.”

“That’s because I like Kipp, and I’m not selling him out to you.”

“Is that what you think you’re doing? Selling them out to me?”

The side-eye she gives me is magnificent. “If Kipp has secrets, I’m keeping them. He’s earned my trust, and I’ve earned his.”

I prop an elbow on the table and lean in, my hand on my face. “And how do I earn your trust?”

“Didn’t know you wanted it.”

“I do. I like you.”

“Not enough to tell me that you’re married.”

“Oh, I’m not married. I wouldn’t be here at a wedding with another woman if I was.

But I met a lady not too long ago who charmed me, and I’ve been looking for her ever since.

And I thought we were friendly enough for me to point that out without hurting your feelings.

Obviously, I was wrong, and I apologize.

I wasn’t trying to make you feel foolish by withholding information. ”

“I don’t feel foolish.” Her shoulders go up, her back straightening again. “I was just…surprised. You’re allowed to love whoever you like, and I shall be more than happy to come to the wedding.”

It’s my turn to feel awkward. “A wonderful thought, but I’m not certain that will happen anytime soon. I haven’t seen her in a while and…well, I doubt she thinks about me at all.”

Her expression turns sympathetic. Gwenna nudges the bowl of fruit toward me, as if I need comfort. “I’m sorry. It’s her loss if she doesn’t want you. You’re a good male.”

“Flatterer.”

“And a better one when you shut up and take a compliment.”

I laugh, pleased at her tart rejoinders. She’s such fun to chat with.

She smiles and pops a finger into her mouth, sucking it clean of the honey on the roll, her gaze on the dance floor. If I watch her sucking on things, I’m really going to have a hard time keeping my focus on Sarya, so I stare out at the dancers, too.

“They look good, don’t they?” Gwenna asks. “Sparrow and Hawk?”

“They do.” There’s nothing but berries left in the bowl, so I dump them all into my mouth, since they’re too tiny for my big hands to fuss with.

I watch my friend smiling down at his owlish wife, her glasses hanging off her small nose, and I feel a stab of pure, unadulterated envy.

They get to spend every mucking day in each other’s arms, and I haven’t seen Sarya in weeks. Might not ever see her again.

Might be nothing but endless potions in my mucking future.

“Oh, look. There’s Mereden and Lark. I’m going to go say hello.” Gwenna pops out of her seat and moves along the edges of the dance floor to greet her friends, and I’m left with nothing but berries and some sour thoughts about the woman I can’t seem to forget.

A woman I’m also starting to resent for just how difficult she is to find.