Page 84 of The Gathering

The Council was already seated upon their arrivals. They both retreated to the corners where the Honest and Blackhands had gathered. Draven squeezed Aydra’s hand once before parting from her to talk to Hagen.

“Tell me this meeting won’t be a long one, mate,” Hagen grunted, a glass of whiskey already in his hand.

“Why? Do you have plans?” Draven asked.

Hagen’s eyes darted to one of the Council Member’s daughters. “Something like that,” he winked.

Draven raised a brow, not surprised that Hagen had found someone to have fun with while he was there, but it didn’t stop him from giving the Elder a hard time about it.

“Aye, what happens here, stays here,” Hagen smirked, and Draven laughed.

“Have her mail me your cock so I can feed it to the Ulfram,” Draven bantered.

Hagen grinned, but he didn’t argue. “What’s that about?” he said, pointing across the room.

Draven looked up just in time to see Aydra grab a stack of napkins from the table and start swatting Nadir with them.

“Shit.”

He grabbed Hagen’s drink from his hand and shot it back before heading over in the direction of Aydra as she obviously tried not to shout at Nadir.

“—enough with the hitting!”

“You’re lucky my King asked me not to castrate you,” Aydra was saying through clenched teeth.

Draven cleared his throat as he reached them, and he slipped his hand around her to the small of her back. Aydra inhaled deeply to calm herself.

“I’m fine,” she forced out.

Draven looked up to Nadir while Aydra was looking the other way. “What the Infi, Naddi?” he said, and he knew Nadir would catch the show.

“What? You’re mad at me too?”

Nadir was shit at keeping a straight face, and Draven had to fight his laughter.

“It’s not my fault,” Nadir kept going. “I was avoiding her, doing as I’d been told. She—She—I was weak—“

Draven nearly lost it.

“We spent most of the night talking anyway—“

Aydra’s head snapped at him, and Nadir dodged back before she could hit him again.

“Not that that’s any better!” he said quickly. He pushed the dread that had fallen and tucked it behind his ear. A heavy sigh left him, and he shook his head. “I’m not apologizing,” he said. “I know what you said… but… it was nice. Talking to her.”

Aydra hugged her arms over her chest. “Break her heart, and I’ll break your neck.”

The doors opened then, and two lines of Belwarks filed together inside, the one at the front announcing Rhaif’s arrival.

Draven, Nadir, and Aydra exchanged a few glances, and Nadir clapped her shoulder, giving Draven a nod as he moved to his seat. Draven squeezed Aydra’s hand.

“Ready?” he asked her a final time.

Aydra took an open-mouth breath, and he reached up to cup her face, hoping it would help calm her.

“Ready,” she answered.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT