Chapter 2

Olistaire

I sigh and take a slow sip of my whiskey. "What a day."

The Golden Griffin tavern bustles around me with life as I sit opposite Rhokar in our favorite booth, and cast my eyes over the warm, smoky bar. A small group of dwarves are here for after-work drinks tonight, and their baritone voices rise in song as they clink their ale and then burst into rumbles of laughter. The charming ambiance envelopes me, a welcomed treat after the harassment I've had to endure today.

"Don't start with me, Oli," the orc opposite me grouches, sending me a glare over the rim of his beer-mug. "I've been trying to contact you all day about the new build. Even swung by your office, and d'you know what your realtors told me?"

I can't help a little smirk, and I raise my glass again. "What?"

"That you didn't even bother to show up at the office today . "

I take another long sip. "I had business to attend to."

"We're building a fifty-room lodge together, you stubborn-headed bull. The least you could do is answer your calls. I need my partner."

"And I need you too, sweetheart." I reach over and grab his green fingers within my lightly furred grip. "You know you mean the world to me."

Rhokar snorts and flicks my hand away, bottom lip twitching in annoyance against his tusks. "Fuck off."

"But unfortunately, I was busy today."

That's the moment my phone chooses to light up with a call, ringing obnoxiously, and my ears flick forward in agitation as I turn it over on the table beside me, so I don't have to see the screen.

"Isn't that your girl?"

I scrunch my nose, feeling the gold, hooped nose-ring there shifting against my skin. "Sera is not ‘ my girl' . I don't have a girl, and quite frankly, I thought she'd understood that until recently."

"Ah," Rhokar grunts as my call dies out. "Is

that where you were today? Avoiding another lover?"

I frown. "You make me sound like some kind of player."

"You are some kind of player."

"Well, fine, but I only play with other players." I slouch backwards in the booth and signal the lavender-haired pixie working the bar to refresh my drink. "We'd been through this, she wasn't looking for anything serious, and neither was I. We were just two consenting adults looking for… tension relief."

"Aren't you a little old for this game?"

"How dare you," I huff. "I'm still as handsome as ever."

"Your fiftieth is just around the corner."

"Stop calling me old, you're only a year younger than me."

Rhokar grins suddenly, and I already know what he's about to say because he only ever smiles like that when thinking about one person. "But I already have a wife."

A small, tiny, minuscule part of me feels potentially, maybe, just a little bit of longing for what he and Ella have. Fated Mates. The perfect connection, two people pulled together against all odds to complete one another.

But then, would I really want to be tied down to a single person for eternity like that?

I wave my hand dismissively, deciding to deflect the issue by annoying Rho. "Are you suggesting we share her?"

His expression immediately sours, and my good humor elevates. Gods, I love riling up this grumpy orc bastard.

"Whiskey, neat," a feminine voice says, and we both turn towards Nib as she drops from the air beside us. Her opalescent wings buzz to a stop when she lands, the short, aptly named pixie cut of her lavender hair barely ruffling as she hands me my drink.

"Thank you, darling." I down the remainder from my old tumbler and hand it back to her. "The drinks here always taste sweetest when you pour them."

She flashes me a grin and cocks a hip. "Laying it on a bit thick today, aren't you?"

"I'm the thickest."

Nib bursts into a snorting laugh, grabbing a wayward menu off the table and whacking one of my horns. "Yuk! Just for that, I'm charging you double."

I chuckle and flick back the styled brown waves that fall into my eyes. "Mind the locks."

She fans the menu in front of my face to block me from her view and turns to Rho. "I heard Ella's sister is back in town. Is it true?"

I immediately perk up.

"Nib, she barely arrived an hour ago," Rho replies, "how do you already know?"

"I have my ways."

Snatching at the menu before me, I throw it uncaringly across the table and lean forward in interest. "Grace is here?"

"Ooh, that's right," Nib says, her lavender eyes lighting up with keen interest now that the smell of gossip is in the air. "You two were hitting it off at Rhokar's wedding, weren't you?"

Gods, yes, she was gorgeous. Long, golden-brown hair, bright blue eyes, curves for days and a smile that told me she was aware of my devastating good looks and charm, but wasn't falling for any of it—which somehow only lit a bigger fire within me. Even her son, Lucas, was a pleasant little thing.

Too bad she's in a committed relationship, and a bit of harmless flirting was as far as it went. The fact that her partner wasn't there didn't matter, there are certain lines I'll never cross. I never tried for anything more with her, even on the occasions since the wedding when she visited her sister, conspicuously without her male every time.

Nib giggles as she studies me, and with an excited twitch of her wings she leans dramatically down to my eye level. "My, my, look at your love-struck expression! Is this finally the woman that will tame our flirty minotaur?"

I chuckle again and wave her away. "Please…"

Beside us, Rhokar grouches. "Just because she's single now, don't think it means—"

Both Nib and I whip our heads towards Rho. "She's single?"

Somehow, the two of us manage to say that in perfect unison, and Rho purses his lips and glares.

Excitement bursts through my chest, and suddenly images of Grace flood my mind as if they'd been dammed up behind a wall and only just been permitted freedom. The moments we'd shared at the wedding, the video conversations we've since had over her sister's shoulders… my mind fills up with thoughts of her, and I lean back in my seat with a huge grin. "Interesting."

"Olistaire," Rho says in warning, but I don't even see his face as I think about the best way to approach Grace without frightening her away.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, gentlemen," Nib says as she lifts into the air with a light buzz. "I have a phone call to make."

Rhokar lets out a loud, defeated sigh. "Now the whole town will know by morning."

"Will she be staying with you and Ella?" I ask, barely registering his words.

"No," he snaps, and I finally turn my attention back to him.

"Where, then?"

"No,

Oli. Shut that thought down."

I smile innocently and grab my drink. "I'm only asking after the well-being of my best friend's wife's sister."

"She doesn't need your kind of attention right now."

"But then again," I say airily, taking a sip and savoring its oaky warmth, "maybe that's exactly what she needs."

If he thinks I didn't realize what that floppy-haired, limp noodle of a male was like with Grace—didn't notice the way her voice sobered with unhappiness when she spoke about him to her sister, see the look on her face when he walked past in the background with a can of beer and snacks, while she cooked and cleaned on face-time—didn't hear what Ella had to say to Rho once their phone calls were done…

I noticed, alright. I saw.

That male was a waste of space. And I am more than ready to fill that space and offer this female everything she truly deserves.

"A bit of fun," I continue, "might be exactly what she needs." Because surely, she deserves a break. She deserves to feel good, to live life on her own terms.

"Leave her alone," Rhokar growls.

"What?" I take another slow sip around my smile, my mind already whirring with plans. "I didn't do anything."

"Yet."

Mm. Yet .