by Ray Torrens
But for now, he was content to stand with his arm wrapped around Kaarina’s shoulder.
He’d earned a bit of a rest.
Chapter Twenty-Two
It took a bit of convincing to get the villagers to move into the dead Lord’s headquarters as their new village. The elder people of Avalu both resented leaving behind the place they’d lived their entire lives, and tbey didn’t trust the technological set-up of the Lord’s residence.
The state of Avalu made it impossible to return to though. It would have taken so long to rebuild everything that had been lost, and even if that was the path they chose, they would need somewhere to live in the meantime. And it just was not safe there anymore. Someone was bound to come in to try to take control of the region now that there was no Lord.
Moving into the headquarters just made sense.
And it didn’t take long after they’d moved before everyone saw the advantages of living in a technologically advanced fort with access to a store of power crystals, advanced weaponry, and more space than the remaining villagers needed.
They’d done their part to make the headquarters somewhere that represented their beliefs, too. Instead of leaving the steel walls blank like the Lord had them, they manipulated that garden on the ground level courtyard to grow along trellises they’d build specifically. There was barely an inch of steel on show anymore. Every room was covered in trees or climbers in various colors, and with various pleasant scents.
Mack hadn’t expected to ever say it, but the headquarters was actually looking almost homey since the villagers had moved in. And he had gotten decidedly comfortable with the situation. Being drained of teho felt like having ten cases of the worst flu imaginable all at once, and then some. It had taken him nearly a week to get back to full strength after the fight with the Lord, and that was most likely only because of the healing magic that was being used on him regularly.
After that, he wanted to help the villagers rebuild before continuing his training.
That, and he’d been thoroughly enjoying playing house with Kaarina.
Well, secretly playing house with Kaarina.
Raita had dropped all his hostility toward Mack at this point—and was even trying to teach him some of the healing magic the keiju had mastered—but there was either willful ignorance when it came to his and Kaarina’s relationship, or he was secretly trying to get in between it without making his intentions clear.
Mack couldn’t quite figure out if it was always intentional that Raita seemed to sit in between them when they ate dinner with the rest of the village, or whether every time they made eyes at each other across a room Raita would find something that he needed help with from one or both of them.
It could have just been a coincidence, he supposed, but he wasn’t convinced. The only thing that stopped him believing Raita knew anything was that he still treated Mack with respect.
If he had any idea what was really going on most nights, Mack couldn’t see Raita being willing to break bread and pour Senko with him every day.
Kaarina lay wrapped around Mack in his bed right now. Both were naked, and Kaarina was littering tiny kisses all over his chest.
“You know we’re going to have to start moving again soon, right?” he asked.
“Of course. I’m surprised it’s taken you this long to mention it.”
“I’m almost enjoying myself here,” he admitted, running a hand through her hair and trying not to be distracted by the downward movement of her lips along his chest. “It’s comfortable. Being here with you. Being safe.”
She nipped at his skin lightly. “I like a bit of adventure.” Of course, it was the whole reason that she’d wanted to come with him in the first place, so she could leave Avalu and see the world while she helped to save it.
She reached his hip bone and he sucked in a breath as she kissed across his body.
Mack reached down and turned her over so that he was now on top, pinning her to the bed playfully.
“I like a bit of adventure too,” he said through ragged breaths. And there would be plenty more to come.
Afterword
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