My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 428

428 /526

Lyra

As the door clicked shut behind us, Nadia strode right to my wardrobe and flung it open uninvited. She knew exactly where to find what she was looking for. I raised an eyebrow at her presumption, but didn't say a word. Let her dig out her own damn booze.

She poured each glass until it was brimming with amber liquid, and while she did it she kept right on talking.

"Strangest damn breakfast I ever had," she said, "all of your father's guards lined up along the walls staring at everyone. You think they'd relax a little. Who's going to try anything in there?"

She set the bottle down with a clink, picked up her own glass, and tossed it back in one swift motion. I watched this in mute disbelief. Before I could think what to say, she was rattling on again.

"And what in hell is going on with Odile's brothers? Gero and Rennick. Those are grown men, Lyra. Grown." She snorted. "I bet they're not that bad. Probably just shy around pretty princess types."

Without waiting for a reply she was off once more, gesturing with the empty glass. "And honestly, your room looks like a hurricane went through it. There are socks under your bed. I saw them. When did you last clean in here?" She laughed, leaving no space for me or Odile to get in.

My mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water, trying to find a way into it. Before I could get a single word out she was pouring herself another.

Finally, after she'd finished pouring, I broke in. "It's not even noon, Nadia." I kept my tone dry, observational, not scolding. If she chose to get plastered in the middle of the day, that was her business. I wasn't about to start lecturing her on appropriate drinking hours.

"That's okay, Your Highness," she replied brightly, setting a full glass in my hand. "I think we can cut ourselves a little slack." And she just kept on talking, like she hadn't even heard me.

Odile seemed to be enjoying the show, at least. She gulped down her drink like it was water on a hot summer day, then held the empty glass out to Nadia. "Goddess, Lyra, this is good stuff. Do you keep it hidden in here so your mother can't get her hands on it?"

I shrugged, still not interested in joining in their little drinking game. "It's not my mother you should be worried about. My father's much worse."

Nadia raised her glass in a toast. "Well, to the worst fathers in the kingdom!" And she chugged half of it back.

I rolled my eyes at her, but Odile just laughed and joined in. "Nice one," she said, then turned to me. "You know, if I ever decide to get married, I'm going to have to steal this whole fucking room. These curtains, this rug, it's all so goddamn gorgeous."

I smiled despite myself, and caught it, and pressed my lips flat.

She took the seat beside me, close enough that her arm brushed mine as she settled. Her eyes met mine, dark and unflinching. "You are beautiful, Lyra," she said. I blinked, surprised by her bluntness. Drunk or not, it was an unusual thing to say in the middle of the day. To a princess.

I laughed, trying to deflect, but it sounded hollow even to my own ears. "I think you're drunk already, Odile."

"I am not drunk." She smiled at me, a faint curve of the mouth. "I am simply being honest."

I looked over at Nadia. She was smiling too, small and calm and amused. And there was no jealousy in it anywhere, and that was the thing that unsettled me. She said nothing at all about what she had just watched.