Chapter 193: He Could Meet Her Husbands First

Thorne didn’t answer for a moment. Edrik looked toward the carrier outside, then back at Dove. Neither seemed surprised that she had reached the decision. Thorne’s ears had tipped back. Edrik had stopped smiling.

"Where do you want to meet him?" Thorne asked, leaving the choice of place with her.

"The freight yard. In daylight, with people nearby. Not here, and not inside somebody else’s office where I have to ask to leave."

Edrik nodded. "Both of us with you."

"That wasn’t a question. I want you there."

His expression changed at the last part. Dove touched his wrist before he could hide how much he liked being asked plainly. She wasn’t bringing them because she couldn’t speak. She was bringing them because they were her family, and Ash needed to understand what her life looked like now.

They agreed on a time the next afternoon, leaving the morning for paying rent and preparing the shop. The carrier took the message. Dove watched him go, already wishing she had picked a day farther away and knowing she would only spend those extra days thinking about it.

She went inside to finish closing before she could call him back. Today’s shirts had all sold, and they already had enough of their own. Dove closed the reward notice and put her hands on the counter, trying to remember which ordinary thing she had meant to do before Ash took over her thoughts again.

Sprout suggested tomorrow’s meeting could produce strong reactions. Dove stopped packing long enough to answer it privately.

"Will refusing him cost me anything?"

"No. An emotional response may qualify without romantic encouragement. You are not required to accept a relationship."

"Then keep the notices out of my face while I’m talking. I want his answer, not a running score."

It agreed to hold the display. She still disliked that the same system pricing shampoo could profit from something she had spent nights worrying about. At least she could decide what she did with the conversation. Edrik noticed her frown. She shook her head at the silent question in his eyes and reached for his hand instead. He let the question go.

Thorne set the papers aside while she ate, and Dove nearly reached for them again before realizing she couldn’t even taste the chicken. That annoyed her more than the letter. She had once wanted a meal like this so badly she could hardly think about anything else, and here she was letting Ash ruin it from another street.

"I’m angry before he’s even here," she said. "It’s like he’s got a fucking talent for it."

Edrik slid the sauce closer. "Eat first. You insult people better when you’re fed."

"You’ve been studying me."

"Obsessively, sweetheart. Keep up."

She looked at him over her fork, caught the smile he saved for her, and finally tasted dinner. Thorne took a piece of chicken from her plate when she offered it, his lips brushing her fingers. She would have told anyone else to use a fork. With him she found herself offering another piece.

This was what Ash hadn’t been there for. The small, embarrassing things she liked. The food Thorne covered when she got distracted, Edrik pretending not to notice when she stole his pillow, the way they made room for her tail without being asked. She didn’t want to give any of it up because a dragon had finally learned to miss her.

"I’m not going back," she said.

Thorne looked at her, no smile now. "I know."

"I mean it. Even if he’s sorry, even if he says all the right things. I don’t want to go back to being frightened every time somebody calls my name."

Edrik set down his fork. "Then we leave when you’ve had enough."

She wished it had always been that easy to say. She touched his wrist, letting herself keep the comfort instead of making a joke to get away from it.

Later, Edrik found her checking tomorrow’s shirt for no good reason. He leaned against the bedpost, watching until she looked up.

"He’s seen you in worse clothes."

"That’s not helping."

"I wasn’t talking about the clothes. I’m enjoying watching you threaten a shirt."

She threw it at him. He caught it, came close, and kissed her forehead before she could decide whether to be embarrassed about needing that.

"Don’t start a fight because he annoys you," she murmured.

"He annoys me by existing near you. You’ll have to be more specific."

"Edrik, I mean it." She held his gaze until his smile faded. He brushed his thumb along her cheek and said, "I’ll listen to you."

She wanted to believe that would be enough. Thorne joined them a moment later, and she reached for him too, pulling both men down onto the bed until Edrik complained that she was stealing all the space.

"You both keep following me," she said. "You should have thought about that."

Thorne kissed the corner of her mouth. Edrik kissed the other, and for a little while she forgot to be afraid of tomorrow.

Day One Hundred began with her wash, breakfast, and fifteen minutes of practice. Her feet were clumsy because her mind kept jumping ahead, so Edrik slowed the lesson instead of telling her to concentrate as though she hadn’t thought of it.

She chose household goods: water-carrier packs, four sales for sixty-four normal coins. Approved trades could run without her, but measuring a sample gave her hands something useful to do. She marked its capacity before paying the landlord in the agreed goods. He confirmed the new period through Day One Hundred Thirteen and took his payment without changing the terms now that she was ready to hand it over.

Behind the curtain, she touch-stored an unused sound fitting from their salvage, completing the stationary storage task. She put the new acknowledgment with the older one, then looked around the room. She smoothed the bedspread before going back out. Whatever Ash said today, she was coming home to this room with her husbands.

The early sales went well. Customers needed carriers, and explaining the handle let her speak about something other than Ash. By noon the goal was complete and her men had packed water and a small snack bag for the walk.

At the freight yard, a familiar horned figure stood beside the brick office, black hair tied back from his face. Ash had arrived first. He took a step before she had even cleared the gate, his whole face changing when he saw her. Then he noticed whose hands she was holding, and Dove felt both grips tighten.