My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 372

Taya

We stared each other down, neither backing off, a real standoff between us. Rurik, usually so blithe and carefree, had finally reached the limits of my patience. His father was strict enough, and I wasn't about to let his own son run wild without consequences.

Rurik broke first. He sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his neck. "Fine, come on. I was sure you'd be gone longer than this. If I'd known you'd be back so soon, I would have wrapped this up before you got here."

I didn't accept it. "No. I expect you not to do this while I'm around. Just wait." My jaw clenched. "This is weird, Rurik. And maybe it would have been better if you'd done it the regular way, not like this. What the fuck is this?"

Rurik rolled his eyes, as if I were being unreasonable. "Fine. Sometimes I just wish you were more open-minded."

I folded my arms over my chest. "I'd rather not be," I said curtly. There were some things I could never accept, and this was one of them.

Rurik huffed and turned to walk off toward the bath, leaving me standing in the middle of the chaos. A few steps away he stopped and turned back to me, his face a mask of exasperated patience. "You were saying something."

"I ran into Sera and Mina."

Rurik's eyes went wide. "You ran into the Luna? Please tell me you didn't do something stupid."

"Don't call her that," I said, sharp. "She's not fit to be our Luna. I don't know why nobody else can see it."

Rurik shook his head, muttering, "This again," like an old, tired song, and kept walking toward the bath. I followed him, my jaw tight.

"You know she hates me," I said. "Why would I go out of my way to find her?"

"Who said anything about you going to find her? And—Fuck. You have before," he replied.

"It was an accident," I insisted. "I was on my way to the kitchens for food. She was coming the other way with Mina. We had to pass each other in the corridor."

"And then?"

"Then nothing! She started in on me without even a word. Just started mocking me. I was just walking past, and she had to come at me, out of nowhere — "

"I told you to stay away from her." Rurik turned and walked the last few steps to the bath. He stripped out of his underclothes and stepped down into the stone basin, waiting.

"I did! I was just walking down the corridor — and there she was, and she was already in a rage, and she just came at me, out of nowhere—"

He turned on the flow, the natural hot spring water feeding in, and settled back as it rose around him. "Did she touch you?"

"No! She — I just said she did." I paced. "She grabbed my throat and threatened to kill me in front of everybody. Just because she felt like it!"

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