“So, I saw you hanging out with Emerian the other day,” Allaina said, smiling.
Why are we talking about that pretty boy?
“The day after I got back?” Mave raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I found him sparring with Trevan, and Dave was hanging around. I hung out with them until Rain came by, and he and I went for a hike.”
“Trevan and Dave are…” Allaina waved a hand. “Not the point of the discussion. You were hanging out with Emerian.”
“Has something happened I need to know about?” Mave was trying to get Allaina’s meaning, but it was clearly flying over her head.
“He has a fan club now,” Senri told her, rolling her eyes. “His half-Elvasi bloodline isn’t detracting from his uniqueness among the Andinna. A lot of females are eyeing him like a piece of meat.”
“Gods,” Mave groaned, rolling her eyes as well, then remembered her own errant thoughts every time she saw him or even began to think of him. “He is a good-looking male, isn’t he?”
“He’s bulkier since you’ve left,” Allaina practically purred.
“I noticed that. He’s been working a lot, practicing. He’s going to be an exceptional warrior.” Mave chuckled. “So, if he’s so attractive, why has no one grabbed him up?”
The three women looked around, and it was Senri who answered.
“From the perspective of a female who isn’t interested in him, I would hazard to guess he’s unapproachable. He spends all of his time with Trevan, a pure Elvasi, and Dave, the resident human. Trevan will keep them wary. What really holds off all the young females who have taken interest is you.”
“Me?” Mave huffed. “I haven’t been here for a season.”
“Well, not so much you but what you’ve done. You have them being trained by your males, and they talk to Alchan on a first name basis. In your efforts to protect them from others, you’ve put them high in the ranks.”
“Good. I’m glad they’re being respected. And honestly, if Emerian is interested in any female, in particular, he’ll learn to approach her. She shouldn’t feed him an easy fuck.” Mave shrugged. Mave had never really considered Emerian’s sex life her business.
Now that she considered it, she had no problem with other females steering clear of him. She had laid eyes on him when he came off the ship, and her attraction had been immediate. Since then, she lived with the attraction, as she did with dozens of males, without ever acting on it. Males were nice to look at, but that didn’t mean she wanted to keep all of them. If she was accidentally keeping him from being happy with a female more appropriate for him, then there was an issue.
“That’s…problematic,” she mumbled to herself.
That made all of them turn on her, eyebrows going up.
“Please explain,” Senri said, leaning in.
“If I don’t want him, but I’m inadvertently chasing other females away, I need to correct that,” Mave said, sipping on her wine as she pondered the problem.
“You might need to give him a guiding hand or have someone in the Company do it,” Allaina said pointedly. “He’s a lot like you. He doesn’t really know what to do with Andinna culture, not yet. Lessons from a book are different from really living it, and he’s not really living it, not when he’s hanging out with Trevan and Dave all the time.”
“I’ll do it,” Mave promised, taking another sip. “If I can’t, I’ll send Matesh or Luykas after him. Are you interested in him, Allaina?”
“No, I have my hands full.” Allaina side-eyed Yenni, who growled in that satisfied way everyone knew the implication of. Allaina was going to be the handful once no one was looking.
The conversation could go no further. Drums began in the village, sounding off to tell everyone in the valley something was happening.
“I bet I know who that is,” Senri said softly. “Mave?”
“I need to get to Alchan. If one of his generals is here, I need to be at his side. Politics.”
“You use whatever excuse you want. I’ll follow, slowly. I’m probably going to walk.” Senri stood slowly, stretching her back.
“I need to leave with Mave. Yenni, could you walk Senri back to the village?” Allaina fixed her long black hair, running her fingers through it to make it look tamed.
“I will.” Yenni shifted to warrior in a heartbeat, from friend and lover to protector and guard.
Mave jumped first, Allaina following.
As they approached the village, Mave saw Alchan flying in and followed him to where he