Page 28 of Fly to Fury (War of the Alliance #3)

Ellie would probably burst into tears if he had to confess that he’d gotten her beloved books signed, only for them to get ruined in the continuing downpour.

Dacha nodded, glancing around one more time, before he beat a quick retreat out of the room with Uncle Iyrinder at his heels.

When Fieran turned back to the others, Merrik was hefting a stack of books as large as Fieran’s. If Dacha wasn’t going to wait in line, then Uncle Iyrinder wouldn’t either.

Behind Fieran, Pip was still frozen, wide-eyed.

He leaned over to bump her shoulder with his stack of books. “Breathe, Pip.”

She shuddered as her body unlocked from her paralysis. After a moment, she hid her face with her book. “Ugh. You’d think repeated proximity would make things better, but nope. I still can’t think of a single word when your dacha is nearby.”

“Don’t let Tenian Daefiel hear you say that. He seems like he’s used to being the center of hero worship in the room.” Fieran tilted his head in that direction since he didn’t dare let go of Ellie’s stack of books and risk dropping one.

The elf actor sprawled in his chair at the table at the front of the room, his posture languid, his smile almost arrogantly practiced-perfect.

His golden hair flowed elegantly around his shoulders and down his back.

The laces on his shirt were left undone, giving a view of his chest to complete the effect.

After all, shirtlessness was basically his brand.

The line crawled forward slowly. Fieran’s arms hurt worse the longer he had to wait. Ellie had better appreciate his effort. She would owe him for this.

Just as Fieran was debating whether Ellie would get mad at him if he set her books on the floor to rest his arms, the line crept forward until his group reached the table.

Margaret Grey, the authoress of the Star Forest novels, was a petite human woman with straight light brown hair and brown eyes.

At the other end of the table, Tenian Daefiel flashed the smile that had made him a moving picture star as he flourished his signature on a photograph print of himself in his Star Forest costume.

Pip set her book on the table and smiled at Margaret Grey. “I really love the books.”

“Thank you.” The authoress reached for the book and opened it to the title page, her pen poised. “Who would you like it signed to?”

“Pip.” Pip was fidgeting, but at least she seemed able to talk to the authoress rather than completely freezing.

Margaret Grey wrote Pip’s name, then signed her signature beneath it. She held the book out to Pip. “Thank you for coming.”

Once Pip’s book was signed, she stepped to one side out of the way.

With a sigh at the sheer relief to his arm muscles, Fieran set the stack of books on the table.

Margaret Grey’s eyes widened for a moment before she smiled up at him. “A big fan, I see.”

“My sister is. These are her books.” Fieran shook out his arm, his bicep aching. He had enough sense to cut off his words before he blurted out that he preferred the moving pictures.

“Tell her I’m glad she enjoys the books so much.” The authoress picked up the first one from the stack. “What’s her name?”

“Ellie.” That would be easier for the author to write in all the books than Elliana.

Tenian Daefiel lounged in his chair, glancing over at the large stack of books. He grinned and rested an arm along the back of Margaret Grey’s chair. “You have quite the fan there.”

She stiffened, glared at the actor, and poked his arm with her finger. “Because the books are always superior.”

Tenian dropped his arm at her nudge, though he kept grinning at her. “Come now. I brought your hero to life.”

The authoress snorted and gestured at him. “Star Forest isn’t…this.”

“Oh, really?” Tenian Daefiel whipped a worn copy of the book from under the table, opened it to a page marked with a slip of paper, then read out loud, “His muscles rippled, taut and defined beneath the light material of his shirt—”

“Stop, stop.” The authoress blushed nearly as red as Fieran’s hair. “It sounds so much worse when you read it out of context like that.”

Tenian Daefiel snapped the book closed, as if satisfied he’d made his point. Facing forward again, the elf actor took the photograph from the next person in line and flashed that smile again. “I apologize for the delay.”

The authoress bent over Ellie’s books, signing each of them rapidly before she shoved the whole stack toward Fieran. “Thank you. I hope your sister enjoys the latest book.”

“I’m sure she will.” Fieran claimed the books and joined Pip to one side as they waited for Merrik and Lije to get their books signed.

As they waited, Fieran watched Margaret Grey and Tenian Daefiel. It must be an interesting tour, indeed, with the two of them stuck together so long.

Pip clutched two massive paper bags of popcorn as she edged along the seats crowded with flyboys until she reached the empty seat Fieran had saved for her between himself and Mak.

Merrik had the seat on Fieran’s other side.

With a sigh of relief, Pip all but collapsed onto the hard metal chair. “It’s so crowded in here.”

And she hadn’t had her cluster of tall men to use as a shield this time. With all the lines so long during the intermission, they’d decided to split up to each wait for a different snack. Mak had retrieved the donuts, Fieran the drinks, Pip the popcorn, and Merrik had saved a section of seats.

“We were beginning to worry.” Mak took one of the paper bags of popcorn.

It seemed popcorn was a required snack while watching any kind of show here in Escarland. It hadn’t caught on in Tarenhiel or Kostaria yet, but Pip was looking forward to the snack now that she was in Escarland again.

“I was about to go looking for you to make sure you hadn’t gotten run over.” Fieran leaned down and retrieved a brown glass bottle from where it had been set beside the leg of his chair. “I got you a root beer.”

Her favorite. Perhaps the plant-base of the drink appealed to her elven side. Or the root to her dwarven side. Or maybe this was a preference that had nothing to do with her heritage at all, and she simply liked root beer.

“Linshi.” Pip claimed it, perching the bag of popcorn on her lap. “What did you get?”

“A new flavor. Berry blast.” Fieran held up the purple-colored soda in its glass bottle. He seemed to prefer the berry-flavored and ultra-sweet sodas. Although, this was Fieran. He pretty much liked everything and would try anything at least once.

“Is it any good?” Pip balanced the popcorn between her arms so she could use both hands to twist off the metal cap of her soda bottle.

“Yes. It’s more tart than I was expecting, but still sweet if that makes sense. Want to try it?” Fieran held out his soda bottle to her.

If it had been anyone else, she might have thought twice before just taking the bottle and sipping it. But this was Fieran, and somehow it didn’t feel weird to share a drink with him.

Holding her root beer in one hand, she took Fieran’s soda and sipped.

The sweet, bubbling drink flooded over her tongue with the taste of raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries, yet it had an undertone of a crisp tart flavor that prevented it from becoming too overwhelmingly sweet.

She nodded as she passed it back to him.

“I like that one. Better than that raspberry one you like so much.”

“The candy in a bottle?”

“That one.” How Fieran could stand something so sweet it made her teeth ache was beyond her.

She tilted the popcorn bag toward Fieran, and he grabbed a handful, popping some into his mouth.

In the row ahead of them, many of the elven pilots held bags of popcorn as well, though several of them were currently trying to eat the popcorn with spoons to avoid touching it with their fingers.

At the end of the row of elven pilots, Lt. Rothilion had given up on his spoon and instead primly picked up a single puffed kernel at a time with only his thumb and index finger. He popped each into his mouth with all the manners of someone having afternoon tea with the elf queen.

With a huff, Merrik leaned across Fieran and retrieved a handful of popcorn as well, though he directed his eyeroll at Fieran rather than Pip.

Oops. Pip had retrieved only two bags of popcorn since they were so huge they contained too much for one person to eat.

She’d figured they could share. She probably should be sharing with Mak and Fieran with Merrik, but…

well, she’d rather share with Fieran than with her brother.

That way her and Fieran’s fingers might accidentally brush, and they could lean a little closer together under the pretext of sharing.

Ridiculous, really. Especially since she hadn’t had that talk with Fieran yet about the status of their relationship. She shouldn’t be acting like they were in a relationship when they weren’t. And might never be, if Fieran didn’t respond well to her confronting him.

Mak heaved a sigh, gathered his drink and popcorn bag, then stood. “Shift down, Pip.”

Pip hesitated, not quite sure what Mak was going to do. Was he going to sit in between her and Fieran? She hadn’t thought he would go so overprotective big brother on her that he’d resort to separating them.

But instead, Mak kept going, edging past Fieran and Merrik before halting and waiting.

Pip slid over a seat, as did Fieran and Merrik. Mak sat in the seat Merrik had vacated. The two of them passed the popcorn bag back and forth between them, as if they’d rather go through that extra step than risk accidentally reaching for the popcorn at the same time.

Pip stuffed back her grin and tried to settle in more comfortably on the hard metal seat, resisting the urge to use her magic to make it more comfortable. This was even better. Now she could flirt with Fieran without her big brother looking over her shoulder as she did so.