(Dyn)

  ‘Just like a pup with a bone,’ Dyn thought, his lips shifting into a crooked smile. ‘She doesn’t give up.’

  Tenacity was something he could respect, even admired. But did that mean she ged her mind about him? There were worse fates than living happily ever after with a princess. A month ago, a girl—sorry, a woman—like her, wouldn’t have even noticed a guy like him. Unfortunately for all ied parties, he o figure his shit out first.

  Eury squared her shoulders, suppressing a wince as she brushed a stray strand of her rose gold hair from her face. Her adamant eyes locked on him.

  “Because I’ve already told you, I don’t want to be treated like a princess,” she said, looking very much like a disheveled, proper princess.

  He bit his cheek, stifling a ugh at her ironiposure. Instead, he said, “I’m positive it’s not because you’re a princess.” The certainty in her eyes wavered at his response, repced with fusion.

  Her voice softened as she asked, “But… how do you know?” There wasn’t an edge to the question, no expectation of a particur answer. It wasn’t meant to test an assumption or firm a was genuine. For the first time, she asked without knowing what she hoped to hear.

  The answer slipped out before he could sed-guess it. “Because I have feelings for another princess,” he said.

  “Oh…” she said softly. Her posture shifted slightly, closing in on itself as she grew quiet, withdrawing into her own space.

  Even Dyn hadn’t expected that answer. It hung in the air between them, irrevocable.

  She gnced up, her voice hi surprise. “You know more than one princess?”

  The words barely left her lips before her expression shifted. Her ‘thinking face’ slipped into pce. After a beat, her eyes narrowed on him again with renewed determination, as if she just accepted an unspoken challenge.

  Dyn’s stomach sank. He khat look. He’d seen it before. ‘Oh no,’ he thought. ‘She’s petitive…’

  He scratched at his forearm, his smile turning awkward. “Well, know might be a stretch. But, apparently, I’m her best friend? She said so when we first met. Not really sure how that works…” His thoughts trailed off momentarily.

  Actually, he kly how it worked. People always seemed to tto him. Ru wasn’t wrong—he had a big heart. He saw everyone as a friend… until they proved otherwise.

  “Huh,”—he put a fio his —“now that I think of it… she’s also tackled me. Not to save my life, though.” His gaze drifted somewhere in the middle distance before snapping back to Eury. “Thanks for that, by the way. Wait, does this make us even?”

  Eury seemed to be enjoying herself, a half-smile pying on her lips as she listened. She appeared tent to let him keep eaining her with his ‘thoughts-out-loud routine.’

  “You know,” he tinued, sitting up straighter. “Now that I think of it… we also bonded after a near-death experience. Except that time, I was the one who almost died, not her.” He absently picked at his nails.

  “You’re both very pretty, by the way.” Dyn added, then froze. His gaze darted to her as he cleared his throat. “I mean, as a friend. I think you’re very pretty.”

  He csped both hands in his p, anch himself. “It’s just… today’s versation got me thinking. Maybe you o hear kind things more often.” His words softened, and after a pause, ahought slipped in. “I wonder if Nathahat too…?”

  “Nathan?” Eury’s eyebrows shot up at the mention of his name, her expression sharpening like she’d stumbled onto a clue Dyn hadn’t noticed.

  He waved his hand dismissively. “Oh, he’s not a princess,” Dyn said, then froze mid-thought. “At least… I don’t think he’s a princess.” His face sched as the question hit him. “Wait— boy elves be a princess?” He scratched the back of his head.

  Eury shook her head, a soft giggle esg before she covered her mouth. “No,” she managed betweehs.

  Dyn chuckled along, the image of Nathan in a tiny tiara fshing in his mind. It was too ridiculous not to ugh.

  “Sorry,” he said, posing himself. “It just occurred to me I’ve had some on experiences with you and the other princess.”

  Eury’s gaze fell to the e cloak in her hands, her fingers brushing over the fabric. “She’s lucky,” she said with a sigh.

  Dyn waved his hand across the sky like he was delivering a headline. “Old fat guy has crush oy princess. News at nine…” He let his hand drop, shrugging. “Not sure ‘lucky’ is the right word.”

  “You’re not old,” Eury said, her tone uedly firm. “And if it’s who I think it is… teically, she’s older than you.”

  Dyn lowered his head with a sigh. “Everyone looks so young here. And I’m already terrible at guessing ages—”

  Eury, clearly doh his self-pity, cut him off. “It’s barely been a week, and you’re already less round than when we first met.” She motiooward his midse.

  She had a point. Charles’ pants weren’t such a perfect fit anymore—his belt had been pig up the sck more each day. He’d have to fix that whe home.

  The thought hit harder than expected. Charles wouldn’t be there whe back. A twinge built in his sinuses, his eyes watering as the realizatioled in. He sniffled. It’d be at least three months before he’d see his rugged friend again.

  “Well, I think she’s lucky,” Eury said, her firag the hem of the cloak again. “I’ve seen what you’re willing to do for a rival—”

  Dyn cut her off with a raised hand. “I don’t think of you as a rival.”

  “That’s because you’re an idiot,” she replied, her smile turning wry. “A very kind, siderate, and trusting idiot.” She shrugged lightly. “At first, I thought it might’ve been because you liked me, but…” She trailed off, her gaze dropping for a moment as if weighing her words. “But if you’d save a rival, then I wonder what you’d do for someone you loved?”

  “I don’t love M—” He stopped short, correg himself. “—her.”

  Eury raised an eyebrow, her expression equal parts curious and skeptical. “Do you want to kiss her?”

  “Yeah,” he admitted, the word feeling heavier than he expected.

  The realization hit him—this was what she wanted. He turhe mirror ba her. “Is that what you’re looking for?”

  “Everyone wants to be loved,” she said, her gaze fixed firmly on the e cloak in her hands. Her fioyed with the fabric, a quiet defle.

  He couldn’t imagine she didn’t have a line of suitors stretg for miles, waiting outside her city, her castle, or wherever she lived. “Pretty sure W’itney wasn’t just joking when they were hitting on you,” he said, then added awkwardly, “and me…”

  “I know they weren’t,” she said with a sigh. “But they’re young, and drai are ruled by their hormones. At that age, they’re still experimenting, expl their sexuality. I don’t want to be araining wheels. They’ve got a long way to go before they figure out what they really want.”

  Her voice dropped, barely above a whisper. “Besides, they weren’t the oo risk their life to save mine.”

  Dyn’s intrusive thoughts slipped out before he could stop them. “At least the twins didn’t suggest you should’ve risked your life in the first pce. Wedge is strong enough to hold my weight. I should’ve been the oo go down.”

  Eury’s gaze sharpened as she peered at him from under her brows. “And who would’ve noticed when you passed out?” she asked pointedly. “Or realighe to get you out?” She straightened with a wince, brushing off the disfort. “Also, none of us know how to cast cardiopulmonary resuscitation.”

  All three were excellent points. Fortunately, she had no idea about his ability to reset.

  He suppressed the urge to point out that CPR wasn’t a spell, and from experience, he knew better than tue. “You’re right,” he said.

  Her smile bordered on smirking. “Of course I’m right, but my point is, outward appearances are easy to ge, but what’s ihat rarely ges.” She paused, her gaze lifting as she searched for the right words. When her eyes met his again, they were steady. “Dyn, I think your inner beauty is—how did you say it?” A small smile pyed on her lips. “An eleven out of ten,” she finished with an affirming nod.

  The pliment struck him harder than expected. It was one of the kihings anyone had ever said to him, and for a moment, he didn’t know how to respond.

  “Thank you.” His cheeks warmed, a faint blush creeping up as he looked away, suddenly very ied in the remaining dirt under his nails.

  A full minute passed, and he could still feel her gaze fixed on him. With no speck of dirt left under his nails, he finally looked up. The iy of her attention made his skin prickle. Knowing her, she probably had her ‘thinking face’ on the whole time.

  Dyn shot her a sideways gnce. “What are you thinking?” he asked, half afraid of the answer.

  Her lips quirked to one side. “Listen, if things don’t work out with your best friend and you’re still not scared of princesses, I’ve got an older sister you should meet. Teically, she’s first in line.” She held up two pinched fingers. “So there’s a slight ce you’d have to be king.”

  Her hand fttened, palm out, as if to calm any objes. “But my father’s only in his four-hundreds, so that might not even be an issue.” She frowhoughtfully. “Although… she has a bit of a reputation—”

  “What?” Dyn interrupted, pletely thrown by the sudden turn in the versation.

  She shut her eyes, a trabarrassment crossing her face. Once again, she’d fotten he wasn’t an elf. “Sorry, do you know about Kinship?”

  Dyn pursed his lips, his brow furrowing slightly. “You mean… like family retionship stuff?”

  “Kind of.” She frowned, as if sidering ways to expin it simply. “Kinship is an elven tradition. We arrange romantic retionships for our family.”

  “You have arranged marriages?” He tried not to sound judgmental. After all, their divorce rate was way lower—or so he’d heard on YouTube…

  “No.” She shook her head. “They don’t have to get married. Kinship is wheroduce potential parto our single family members. It’s up to them whether they want to pursue a retionship, but we’ve vetted the suitor and believe they’d make a good match.”

  “Oh, okay,” he said, clearly misuanding the entire versation until now.

  “So, you didn’t really want to kiss me.” Relief washed over him. At least there’d be no awkward love triangles in his future.

  “Me? Kiss… you?” Her eyes darted around, wide and unfocused, as if searg for an escape.

  ‘Oh no,’ he thought, reizing the all-too-familiar signs. Eury ulling a Dyn.

  “Uh, I… That would be silly,” she stammered, her cheeks flushing. “I—me—you?” Her words tumbled over each other, a train wreck of self-denial and fear of reje colliding spectacurly before his eyes.

  “Why would… I mean.” She cleared her throat sharply, straightening herself with forced posure. “That’s… not how Kinship works.” Her focus dropped to a bde of grass she’d plucked, tearing at it absently as she tried to steady her nerves.

  Dyn frowned, less relieved now about the possibility of awkward love triangles—sorry, arincess love triangles—in his future. With all his new elven friends, it might be smart to learn more about Kinship, so he didn’t actally end up married.

  After giving her a moment to pose herself, he asked, “Do elves ever find their own partners?”

  “No.” Her soft voice carried a faint note of disappoi she couldn’t quite hide.

  Dyn crossed his arms, fusion tangling with curiosity. Eury wasn’t just ‘asking for a friend,’ or her sister, or whatever. Even he wasn’t dense enough to miss the subtext. But how did it all work? Was she really not allowed—or worse, wouldn’t allow herself—to find love?

  That seemed… lonely. He wasn’t sure he was keen on Kinship.

  “But what if you meet someohat you like?” His question was blunt, reflective, but he trusted she was strong enough to ha.

  Eury tore the st shred of grass in two, her firembling slightly as she tried to hide the sadness in her eyes. “You sider them for Kinship,” she said, her voice brittle. She managed a faint, despo smile.

  That was a lot for Dyn to unpack.

  For o firmed she liked him—or at least he was y-nine pert sure of it. She’d allowed herself to be vulnerable around him, sharing deeply personal parts of her life. That kind of trust wasn’t somethiook lightly.

  He cared for all of his friends, but the idea of Eury being alone, when it was so clear she didn’t want to be, pulled at something inside of him. Wasn’t that part of what Kinship was about? Making sure no one you cared about ended up alohe cept, as fn as it had seemed at first, started to click.

  But then ahought crept in, quiet yet insistent. Eury had tenacity, proved herself thoughtful, showed him kindness, and, surprisingly, had a sense of humor. She even ughed at his jokes, regardless of iionality. But was that all it was? g about a friend? Or was there something more—something he hadn’t noticed until now?

  The questioled in the back of his mind, unanswered.

  His thoughts wao the limits of Kinship. “What if you don’t have any family?” he asked.

  “No family at all?” Eury let out a slow breath, the thought clearly fn to her. “That’s… a tough cept to grasp. Elves live for a thousand years, and I’ve got geions of family looking out for me. But maybe through war, feuds, or a pgue? That’s the only way I imagine aire liting wiped out.”

  Sorrow thied her voice as she repeated, “But to have no one?” She shook her head slowly. “For an elf, that would be an exceptionally cruel fate. We’re social creatures—we tats to thrive. Kinship ensures family feels loved and cared for, even in our absence. I ’t imagine being truly alone.”

  Eury lied. Dyn knew she was imagining it—her tears were proof enough. They rolled silently down her cheek as she blotted them with a er of his cloak.

  She tugged the hood of the cloak over her head, fidgeting with another bde of grass. Sniffling softly, she said, “I should probably rest for a bit.”

  “Just don’t fall asleep until Ru checks you out, okay?” Dyn leaned forward, trying to catch a glimpse of her face beh the hood.

  She nodded, keeping her eyes hidden.

  “We just sit here quietly until she gets here, if you’d like.” He caught a fleeting smile before she nodded again.

  Dyn had thought he was the one distrag her from the pain, but she’d dohe same for him. While they talked, he’d pletely fotten about his empty stomaow, in the sile came r back with a vengeance—grumbling, bloating, and generally being maltent.

  “Doesn’t matter,” he whispered to his growling stomach. Wedge gave him a job: watch over his friend. And that’s exactly what he was going to do.

  They waited together in silehe rain had stopped some time ago, leaving only a gentle breeze rustling through the opy. Sunlight trickled through the trees, casting atches of light across the uory.

  Dyn tapped his boot against hers at the first sign of her nodding off.

  Eury sat up straighter, her eyes snapping open to lo his. She sched her fa monoyand tapped him back—twice as hard.

  Their game tinued, quiet but relentless, until Tome & Key arrived. By then, Dyn retty sure she’d beeending to nod off the eime.