🏆 THE AMBY AWARDS 2023 TOP PICK - DIVERSE LIT 🏆
It's Rin and Hye-jin against the world. Or so it should have been.
Nagara Rin and Joon Hye-jin, college sweethearts and passionate gamers, have lived a fairytale marriage. Not even a decade after did...
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Rin grunted as he slid off a summoned beast and staggered a bit. I hopped off the one Revery called for us and tramped to his side. "You okay?" I asked.
He winced but flashed me a grateful look. "It hurts when I move it," he stared after his teammates who dismounted and followed Cavya inside the lobby. "Otherwise, I'm fine."
I bobbed my head, walking beside him on our way through Dragnasand. Unlike the flashiness and grandeur of Raventhorne, with the elaborate rays of the sun and all that motifs, for something boasting to be the most elite guild in the most prosperous Tower on the land, Dragnasand resembled a barn I used to see in rural farms. It matched the build of most of the establishments in Mystriae, including the Ivertale—the tavern reserved for people associated with guilds.
We ducked under the door frame whose ornate doors the only indication what lay beyond them was not for the common folk. Rin breezed through, eyes locked on the backs of his teammates who came to get him from Naskali. It was such a solemn moment—how, at one point, Nazran and Ahrian arrived on their summoned rides, given the briefing of what happened, and were told to fly back to Mystriae, and how we're all up in the sky in a matter of minutes—that I couldn't find the horn to ruin it by speaking.
Cavya stopped by the meeting room and turned to the rest of his subordinates. "Take the rest of the day off," he said, more to Rin than to the rest of us. "I'll meet you by the Ivertale later."
"What for?"
I rolled my eyes. Leave it up to Rin to always ruin the mood by asking questions with obvious answers. I smacked him upside the head. "He just wants us to relax and have a drink," I said. "What else?"
"Should I prepare to plug my ears for another screaming match?" Trink prodded. "I've had enough of arguing in my lifetime."
A snort made its way out of my nose. "Thankfully, no," I said. "Kora, here, knows what it's like going against me."
"Ooooooh," came the collective response from everyone involved, excluding Cavya. The party leader merely blinked and twitched his whiskers.
"You seem to be a lively bunch now," he said, cranking the knob to the meeting room door. There were slivers of people waiting from the shadows, but my angle was too skewed to be able to see who. "I'll be heading inside. Go now."
We gave our different acknowledgments and each turned to go their separate ways. "What in the Divines' name got into you to pursue them on your own?" Nazran asked. If anything, I was getting hyung vibes from him. Did he think of Rin as a younger brother? Maybe. "I was told you're with Revery. Why didn't you take her?"
Rin shrugged, grimacing when a sharp sting no doubt reminded him of his injury. "Then she would have come close to death as I did," he said through his teeth. "I don't want to risk any more than myself."
The way Nazran and Ahrian exchanged glances told me there was something deeper with that statement, something I wasn't going to know. Which reminded me...where was that blond woman dressed in blue? She couldn't be busy enough to check on her injured teammate, could she?
