Elina turned over, but her sister did not relax back into the bed. Instead, she noted, “He ran out of here.”

“Yes. I know. I heard the door slam.”

“But you said Southland men, or in Celyn’s case, Southland males like to share themselves with more than one woman.”

“Yes. So?”

“But he ran out of here.”

Elina looked over her shoulder at her sister, but she couldn’t see her now that her eye on that side was gone. Instead of turning over completely, she snapped, “What is your point, sister?”

“My point is he didn’t get naked and offer himself up to us like a deer to a witch’s sacrificial knife. He ran away. . . .” Then, to Elina’s horror, her sister’s voice turned singsong like it used to when they were children and Kachka relentlessly teased her. “Because he looooovvvess you.”

“What?” Elina tried to flip over, but she got caught in the fur covering and the ridiculous robe. She was so thrown off by her missing eye, she ended up on the floor. “Gods-dammit!”

“And you love him tooo-ooo.”

“Shut up, demon female! I do not!”

Dagmar, who never napped before a feast since she enjoyed the wonderful quiet so much, walked down the hall. She would make sure that everything was in place downstairs before King Gaius and his sister arrived for the festivities.

But as she passed a room, she heard something crash inside. Worried it was her girls up to no good again, she stepped back and pushed the door open, freezing after taking only a few steps in.

She watched the two Riders wrestling on the bed. Elina was snarling and barking something in her language, while Kachka was laughing hysterically while fighting her sister off and saying something that Dagmar also didn’t understand.

Both women were nearly naked, their robes hanging off them as they tried to get each other in a choke hold.

Dagmar stepped back out of the room and closed the door.

“Perhaps it’s time I learn the language of the Outerplains, and their . . . sisterly . . . customs.”

Elina held up clothes she found sitting on a chair. “I think Celyn left this for us.”

“We have clothes.”

“Nothing that is fancy.”

“Why do we need fancy?” Kachka growled. “Are you ashamed of where you come from?”

“Would you stop? You complain like angry old woman.”

The bedroom door opened, and the annoying red-haired She-dragon swept into the room.

“Look what I have for you, Elina,” she trilled annoyingly. Then she held up a dark red dress, complete with matching eye patch made of the same material. “Isn’t this lovely? And will look absolutely darling on you.”

When Elina only stared at her, the She-dragon changed her focus to Kachka. “Don’t you agree . . . sister person, since I never bothered to learn your name?”

Kachka moved forward, one hand reaching out to touch the dress. “It is lovely.”

“Yes! See? Your sister agrees. So you should put it on.”

That’s when Kachka reached over to the pile of dirty clothes she’d left on the table and pulled out her dagger. She then cut the dress from bodice to hem.

The She-dragon gasped in outrage. “What have you done, barbarian female!”

“No sister of mine will wear your ridiculous dress! She is a Daughter of the Steppes! Not some weak female who needs male to look out for her.” Kachka yanked the eye patch from the dragon. “But she will take this. It will look nice with her skin.”

“I should burn you to ashes, foreign trash!”

“You could try.” Kachka slammed her bare foot down on the She-dragon’s, causing the female’s yelp to ring out. Then she caught her by the shoulder, shoved her out into the hallway, and slammed the door closed.

Grinning, Kachka tossed the eye patch to Elina and, by some miracle, Elina caught it.

Éibhear was coming back from town after getting his friends out of the local jail. He didn’t know how they always managed to get in trouble, but they always did.

Still, he was glad to see his old friends outside of the work they did as Mì-runach. And, thankfully, his friends got along well with Izzy. Although he was going to suggest that she start letting them win, at least once, when they arm-wrestled. It was really starting to crush their egos that they couldn’t beat her. Especially when they remembered that she was only human.

As the oversized group of four made their way back to the castle and the awaiting feast, Aidan suddenly stopped and focused on a nearby lake.

“What?” Éibhear asked.

He pointed. “What’s that dragon doing?”

Éibhear glanced over and saw his cousin Celyn slamming his head into a tree. As human. To do it as dragon was just an easy way to take down a tree. Éibhear did it all the time when he had to move trees in the Northlands. But as human . . . it was simply stupid.

Éibhear debated walking away. He did not care about Celyn and his problems. But he could already hear Izzy yelling at him that, “Celyn is your cousin! So what if I fucked him once? Get over it already! He’s family and that’s what counts!”

Unwilling to have that particular conversation yet again, Éibhear motioned to his three friends. “You lot go on ahead. I’ll be there in a bit.”

They set off and Éibhear went over to his kin. He watched Celyn ram his head against the tree a few more times, allowing himself that moment of enjoyment, before he asked, “What are you doing?”