My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 393

Taya

The knife needed sharpening. It wasn't dull exactly, just not what it should be for tomorrow, and I had the whetstone and the time and nowhere else to put my hands, so I sat at Rurik's table working the edge and not thinking about anything in particular.

I heard him before I saw him. He had a particular way of coming into a room when he was pleased with himself, slow, like he was giving you time to notice him. Usually it annoyed me. Today it made me put the knife down.

"What," I said.

Rurik leaned in the doorframe with his arms folded, smiling at me. "Good news."

I waited.

"I talked to my father," he said. "Vane's going to speak to the Luna. Have the whole thing called off."

I looked at him.

He looked back at me, smile still in place, waiting for the gratitude.

I said, "Who asked you to do that."

The smile shifted. Not gone, but uncertain. "Taya—"

"Who asked you, Rurik."

He pushed off the doorframe and came into the room properly. Sighed. Ran a hand through his hair. "Someone had to. You weren't going to."

"That's right," I said. "I wasn't. Because I don't want it called off."

"I know you don't. That's the problem." He pulled out the chair across from me and sat down. "You're going to do something in that ring you can't take back, and I'm not going to watch that happen because you're too stubborn to see what you're actually walking into."

"It wasn't a terrible idea."

"You challenged the Luna to a duel, Taya."

"She accepted."

"I know she accepted. That's what worries me."

"I wasn't stupid when I issued it," I said. "And she wasn't stupid when she accepted it. We both knew what we were doing. So why is everyone getting involved in something that isn't their business?"

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