"Capeesh," Torian muttered miserably. "Wait, what does capeesh an?"
Roxy tossed him a glare, and he whimpered from the look.
"Loud and clear," Syris sighed. Roxy disappeared into the room, slamming the door with a thud.
As soon as she was gone, Kaelen stood up from the sofa, stretching. He walked over to Torian and slapped him on the back.
"Don’t worry, Tiger," Kaelen grinned. "I’m sure you look very handso holding a hamr."
"Go away, Wolf," Torian grumbled. "Or I will build the table out of you."
Later that afternoon, the two primitive beasts were busy trying to finish their punishnt, so they could finally go whine in front of Roxy so she could let them sleep with her.
That’s if she wasn’t still angry with them,
"Ow! What kind of weapon is this?!!"
Torian, the King of the Golden Citadel, threw the hamr into the snow. He gripped his thumb, dancing a little jig of pain in his ruined silk boots.
"It is a hamr, Torian," Kaelen drawled from his perch on a tree stump. "It hits things. Ideally, the nail. Occasionally, the idiot holding it."
Kaelen took a bite of a crisp apple, chewing loudly. He was enjoying this imnsely. As the only one, aside from Zarek, not banned from Roxy’s bed, and the only one who actually knew how to build a cabin, he had appointed himself the "Instructor."
"You are enjoying this a little too much, Wolf," Torian hissed, picking the hamr back up with a scowl.
"I am rely supervising," Kaelen grinned, leaning back. "Roxy said you two have to fix the wall. If I help, I undermine her authority. I am simply being a supportive mate by letting you suffer."
"I hate you," Torian muttered. He turned back to the massive iron-wood log they were trying to shape into a replacent beam for the cabin wall.
"Less whining, more lifting," Syris commanded.
The Basilisk was on the other end of the log. Unlike Torian, who was sweating and struggling, Syris seed perfectly at ease. He had tied his long seaweed hair back with a strip of leather, and his bare torso glistened with a light sheen of exertion that made him look like a statue carved from marble.
Syris lifted his end of the six-hundred-pound log effortlessly.
"Ready, Cat?" Syris asked. "On three. One. Two. Lift."
Torian gritted his teeth and heaved. The weight was nothing to them, but they just wanted to show Roxy, who they thought would be watching them, how hard they were trying. Torian refused to look weak in front of the snake. They hoisted the log onto the sawhorses.
Torian leaned against the wood, fake panting heavily. "This is... barbaric. In the Citadel, I have builders. I have architects. I point, and things are built."
"In the Iron-Wood, you work," Syris said calmly, picking up a large saw. "Or you sleep in the snow."
He handed the other end of the saw to Torian. It was a two-man saw, requiring rhythm and cooperation.
"Push when I pull," Syris instructed.
"I know how a saw works," Torian snapped.
They began to cut.
At first, the rhythm was jagged. Torian pushed too hard; Syris pulled too fast. The blade stuck. They glared at each other.
"You are forcing it," Syris said. "Relax your grip."
"Do not tell to relax," Torian growled. "You are the reason we are out here. If you hadn’t taunted ..."
"If you hadn’t been so easily provoked," Syris countered, but his voice lacked its usual venom. He looked at the Tiger, watching the way Torian’s knuckles were white on the handle.
"You are desperate," Syris observed quietly.
Torian didn’t look up. He kept sawing. "Shut up."
"You feel insecure because you have no mark," Syris continued, the saw moving smoothly now as they found a rhythm. "You feel that because you haven’t claid her physically, she does not belong to you."
"I said shut up," Torian’s voice cracked slightly.
Syris paused. He held the blade still.
"Roxy is soft-hearted," the Basilisk said.
Torian looked up, confused. "What?"
"She punishes us because she has to maintain order," Syris explained, his neon eyes uncharacteristically serious. "But she does not enjoy it. She hates seeing you in pain, Torian. Why do you think she makes us work together?"
They got her wrong. Roxy just wanted to see them pay for destroying her house. She doesn’t have anything to do with seeing them in pain.
Torian blinked. "To torture ?"
"To give you a path back," Syris corrected. "She wants you to earn your place. She wants to see you contribute. Not with gold. Not with gifts. With effort."
Roxy was busy yawning inside the room, while this was being said about her.
Syris nodded toward the cabin, where the hole in the wall gaped open.
"We fix this wall perfectly. We built her a table that is better than the one we broke. We show her that we can function as a unit."
Syris leaned in over the log.
"And I will help you."
Torian narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why? You hate . You mocked an hour ago."
"I do not hate you. I find you loud and dramatic," Syris clarified. "But Roxy loves you. And if you are miserable, she is stressed. And if she is stressed, she will not be healthy for the... developnt."
He touched his own stomach briefly, a subtle reference to the seed he hoped he had planted.
"So," Syris offered. "We finish this quickly. I will tell her that you did the heavy lifting. I will tell her that you designed the table. I will paint you as the repentant, hardworking King."
Torian stared at him. "You would lie for ?"
"I would manipulate the truth for the greater good of the family," Syris smirked. "It will win her favor. She will forgive you. And then..."
Syris leaned closer, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.
"I will take the night watch with the children. Leaving the bed empty for you."
Torian’s eyes widened. "You... you would give up your ti?"
"I have had five days, Torian," Syris said, a look of smug satisfaction crossing his face. "I am satisfied. You are starving. A starving tiger is dangerous to the pack. I need you fed."
Torian stood up straight. He liked what the snake was telling him.
For the first ti, he didn’t see an enemy. He saw an ally. A smug, annoying ally, but an ally nonetheless.
"Fine," Torian grunted. He gripped the saw handle tighter. "We will build the table and fix the wall."
He glared at Syris.
"But if you are playing a ga... if you back out halfway or try to trick ..."
Torian’s eyes flashed with a predatory blue light.
"I will not just punch you, Snake. I will skin you and use you as a rug for the nursery. Do you understand?"
Syris chuckled, pulling the saw toward him. "Loud and clear, Cat. Now, push."
From the tree stump, Kaelen watched them fall into a synchronized rhythm. The sawing beca smooth. The bickering stopped.
"Well, I’ll be damned," Kaelen muttered, wherever he learned that word from, taking another bite of his apple. "She actually did it. She tad them."
Inside the cabin, away from the cold draft of the living room, the nursery was warm and quiet.
Roxy sat in the rocking chair, oblivious to what was being said or conspired behind her back. The fire in the nursery hearth crackled softly, casting dancing shadows on the walls painted with crude drawings of dragons and wolves.
Thanks to the kids.
In her arms lay Iris.
The baby girl was fast asleep, her thumb tucked into her mouth, her long, dark lashes resting against her chubby cheeks. She was heavy, a solid weight of warmth and life that grounded Roxy in a way nothing else could.
Roxy humd a soft, wordless tune as she gently ran her fingers through Iris’s hair. It was getting long, curling slightly at the ends.
"You’re getting so big," Roxy whispered, carefully braiding a small section of the silky hair. "Too fast. Stop growing, okay? Just stay a baby for a little bit longer."
Iris sighed in her sleep, nuzzling closer to Roxy’s chest.
Roxy smiled, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. She felt... strange.
It wasn’t just the exhaustion from the five-day marathon with Syris. It was a deeper, vibrating hum in her body. It felt like her blood was carbonated. Every cell felt heavy and charged.
She looked down at her stomach. It reminded her of when she got pregnant with Zarek’s and Kaelen’s birthdays.
Just when she wanted to call for the system, it materialized in front of her.
[Ding!]
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: LIFE DETECTED]
User Comments
0 comments from readers