Chapter 43

Sammy dragged Natalie to meet her friends. Unsurprisingly, that included Alden, the boy at the tank’s guild who had hit on Natalie as soon as she’d stepped through the door—then who had dropped her off with Sammy when Natalie had turned him down. Standing next to him—close enough it wasn’t a friendly proximity, but pressed into his side—was a woman with black hair and stunning blue eyes.

She, like most of the people here, was dressed several degrees more formal than Natalie: in a long, clinging black dress. Natalie felt the girl’s eyes crawl appraisingly across her body, probably making judgments about Natalie’s overly casual attire—though there wasn’t any disdain on her face. Mostly curiosity.

And ... appreciativeness? Which was odd. Natalie was pretty sure this girl was Alden’s date for the night, so to be checking Natalie out so blatantly was ... indiscreet. Natalie pretended not to notice.

“Your hunts went well, then?” Natalie asked Alden, quirking an eyebrow. She was mildly miffed over how quickly he’d taken interest then dismissed her, but she also couldn’t blame him. He’d been on the prowl. Plus, he’d brought her to Sammy, which made up for things.

Before giving Alden a chance to respond, she finished introduced herself to rest of the group. “Hey. Nat.”

There was one other besides Sammy, Alden, and his date: a brown-haired boy with chocolate eyes. He was surprisingly innocent looking—kind of like a boy version of Liz.

“Hunt?” Alden asked, putting a hand to his chest in mock offense. “I was not on the hunt. I was simply doing my duties welcoming people to the guild.” His lips quirked. “And you have it wrong. This is Evie, my dearest betrothed, not a result from any alleged—totally false—’hunts’.”

Betrothed? Natalie repressed a twitch of surprise. These two were to be married? But ... Alden had been hitting on her back at the tank’s guild. Then had Natalie given away something she shouldn’t have? He didn’t look concerned, so probably not?

And Evie, his fiancée, had also just been checking out Natalie. Not subtly, either. It’d been a good eye-fucking.

“Alden has good taste,” Evie said, smiling at Natalie, and, like the appraisal, not in a way that left much to interpretation. It dispelled the idea that she had misjudged something. Or, she had, but not in the way she thought. “You only like girls, Alden said?”

“Do you mind?” Sammy asked irritably. “Go find someone else to organize your gross threesomes with, Evie. Not my date.”

Okay, yeah. That explained that.

“But, to make it clear,” Evie continued, ignoring her friend’s protests, “it could be just us two. Alden would get to watch, though. It’s part of our deal.”

“Evie!” Sammy protested.

Natalie gaped at the two, briefly, before shaking off her surprise and taking a drink to buy time. It took a lot to fluster Natalie, but they’d done it. Alden and Evie seemed amused at her reaction.

So. These two were engaged, but fine with each other sleeping around. Was that normal in the capital?

If Natalie hadn’t come with Sammy, she might have entertained the idea. Though, not with Alden watching. That’d definitely be too weird. But Evie? Natalie was interested, to say the least.

But she’d come here with Sammy. She wasn’t ditching her date the moment someone else came along. She’d be leaving with Sammy, assuming it was what she wanted.

“Thanks,” Natalie finally said. “But, uh. That’s not exactly my scene.”

“A pity,” Evie said.

Sammy cozied up to Natalie, glaring at her two friends. Natalie could’ve swore Alden winked at her, as if he and Evie had prepared this exchange to purposefully make Sammy jealous and move things along. Was he still wing-manning for her, like back at the tank’s guild? Why? Though maybe he was egging on Sammy, and Natalie was incidental. That seemed more likely.

Either way, she guessed she wasn’t complaining. Because a cute girl tucked into her side? Worth the somersaults her brain had done trying to orient herself to this situation. Natalie subtly worked her free arm around Sammy’s waist, who leaned further into her, accepting the advance. She was still eying Alden, who seemed satisfied his efforts to have Sammy clinging to Natalie had worked.

Natalie faced the brown-haired boy. She hadn’t gotten his name.

“Dag,” he said. “It’s nice to meet you. And, ignore Evie and Alden. They’re hedonists.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“The offer stands, though,” Evie added.

“Evie! Seriously.” Sammy didn’t sound genuinely mad, just exasperated. By the sound of things, this was very much the standard for Alden and Evie. But a hint of annoyance had crept in.

Dag said, “You’re a tank, right? The same as these two brutes?” He gestured at Sammy and Alden.