(Dyn)

  “G’day mate, didn’t hear you e in,” Quinten’s voice said. Dyn heard the tiredness between his words.

  He’d nodded off, and awoke to the very naked backside of Quinten, who stood a couple of feet in front of him as he toweled off his head and shoulders. There was a whole lot of Quinten ass staring back at him. He gnced away, feeling self-scious. But the easygoing elf didn’t seem to mind. her would Dyn if he had a figure like that.

  “Shower’s free if you want,” Quinten said, still fag away from him. “Go on and hop in. Promise I won’t look.”

  Dyn heard the smile on his face as he spoke. Giveernative was to sit and watch the naked, easygoing elf, he slipped into the shower stall, clothes and all.

  “Mate, not sure if you know how this works, but you’ve still got your clothes on. Trust me, works much better with ‘em off.”

  Dyn stripped in the shower, draping his soiled, stinking clothes over the top of the door. He turned oer a to hot-as-fuck, steam curling around him instantly. He took the bar of soap and started scrubbing.

  After waiting a beat, Quinte right for it. “Are you single?” he asked.

  Dyn stopped scrubbing, his hand frozen mid-swipe across his chest. He slowly turo look at the shower door, its polished wooden surface colleg beads of water. “This about kinship?”

  “You know about kinship?” Quinten sounded surprised. “I thought this was your first time off Dirt.” He gave a casual shrug. “Just makes it easier I re, here’s the deal, I’ve got a cousin—”

  “Is she a princess?” Dyn interrupted. There were more than enough princesses in his life at the moment.

  “Nah, mate, just a regur gal.” Quinten chuckled. “Why? You a prince or something?” His voice grew mock-serious. “Oh no, don’t tell me you’re the King of Dirt?” He clicked his tongue. “Ah bollocks, I’ve gone and shown my hio a highness again—”

  Dyn froze with one arm in the air and his other scrubbing u. “Again?”

  “Listen mate, there’s only one washroom and we’ve all gotta share. It’s not my fault no one checks before they stroll on in,” Quinten said.

  “Eury?”

  “Yeah…”

  “Ouch.” Dyn resumed scrubbing the stench away.

  “Naw, girl’s a legend. Took it like a champ. pletely ignored me and just hopped in the shower—no muss, no fuss.”

  “Also, I’m not the king… or prince… or anything of Dirt—Earth! Goddamnit, now I’m saying it,” Dyn said.

  ‘Dyn of Earth, Dyn of Earth.’ He repeated in his head like a mantra, shaking the bar of soap with each repetition.

  “But you’ve still got a thing for princesses?” Quinten asked.

  “No, no, it’s—”

  “’t say I bme ya,” Quinten said, and there it was again, the smile in his voice. “There’s something about living on a knife’s edge, always skirting danger.”

  Dyn stopped scrubbing, the bar sli his hand. “Danger?”

  He gnced back at the door. “What do you mean?”

  “A princess is just a girl like any other. Except her daddy is usually the king,” he said.

  Dyn sighed inwardly. “I never really thought about it that way.”

  “It’s Eury, right?” Quinten asked, now fully dry, leaning against the doorframe. “’t imagine you’ve met our other princess yet—”

  “Meekan?” Dyn asked.

  “So you have met our other princess.” Quinten raised a brow. “You sure don’t waste any time, mate.”

  “Yeah.” Dyn he memory of her flying tactical tackle-hug pyed in his mind. “Apparently I’m her best friend.”

  “Really?” Quinten chuckled again. “I thought she was best friends with Nathan, Dorian’s brother?”

  Dyn shrugged. “Her words, not mine.” He paused, about actally upsetting Nathan creeping into his thoughts. “You think he might be jealous?”

  “Naw, mate, she’s not his type. If you get my meaning.”

  “Oh,” Dyn said, unsure if the easygoing elf meant fox women or women in general. Sexuality and preferences got a lot more plicated when race meant more than skin color.

  “Yeah, anyway, unless you’re to carry me to bed, I should go and find it before I pass out.” He stifled a yawn. “Good luck with the whole prihing. And uh, let me know if it doesn’t work out, yeah?” Quinten said and then stepped out of the washroom, letting the door close with a clibsp;behind him.

  Dyn had to admit, this was a whole different ‘hookup culture’ than they had ba Earth. Who needed dating apps when everyoed like a babushka with a granddaughter they’d like you to meet?

  He rotated uhe scalding hot water like a rotisserie chi and began to uand the drai’s pent for long showers. Whe water never ended, how was anyone expected to get out?

  The stream of water ended with a chirp as he shut the valve off. The st few drops escaped from the showerhead, plip-plopping onto the wet tiles at his feet.

  He opehe shower door a crack to peek out and verify he wasn’t about to fsh any silent onlookers. When he was sure of his decy, he stepped out and grabbed a towel from the stack. Even a crash nding hadn’t dampehe crew’s hospitality routihis was both the best and worst cruise of his life—though, teically, it was also the only cruise he’d ever been on.

  Another crucial decision had to be made: put on his soiled clothes or just wear a towel. The thought of squeezing bato the damp, stinking garments made his skin crawl, so he opted for the tter. Eury’s undry should’ve been done by now, so he went to check if the deathwash mae was free for a load of his own.

  As usual, she’d fotten all about her clothes sitting in the mae. But between going down into the gashole and almost dying, she’d had a pretty rough day. So, instead of b her, he simply sed out her clothes for his. After making an to the deathwash god, it tossed his clothes happily as he gathered up Eury’s undry and walked it to her . The entire ship was suspiciously void of empty baskets.

  Dyn had to lean in awkwardly to reach the door without dropping Eury’s undry. He rapped twi the door and waited for a response.

  “Who is it?” Eury asked from behind her door.

  “Room service,” he replied. At first, he thought he was clever with his little joke. Then he remembered his current attire: a loosely secured towel, and nothing more. His face burned as he noticed a pair of her panties sitting on the very top of the pile, just under his , amplifying his self-sciouso eleven.

  ‘How’d you get there?’ he wondered, squinting at the ced undergarment. But it was too te to do anything. All he could do now was close his eyes and sigh as the door swung open.

  “Dyn?” Eury wore a quizzical expression until she reized her underwear on top of the pile. “Why do you have my clothes?”

  “They were in the deathwash mae…”

  Eury dropped her head, sighing. “Sorry.” She pihe bridge of her nose. “I did it again, didn’t I?” Embarrassed, she didn’t look up as she leaned in to take her undry from him.

  “Stop!” Dyn cried out.

  Her eyes shot opehan a foot from his, as she froze, staring into his eyes with only a bundle of clothes betweehey shared breaths in the cramped space. He smelled spearmint, just like before, as Eury looked tht, left, and then back at him.

  “What’s the matter?” she whispered in a spiratorial too her credit, she hadn’t moved.

  Dyn also hadn’t moved, frozen in pd uo see past her clothes or the green ced pao assess how far his precariously ed towel had been undone.

  “You’ve, uh… got my towel,” he said, wide-eyed.

  They’d gotten tangled up in a ese firap of his own doing, both of them stuck together by a pile of undry. There wasn’t any way for him to check, and he sure wasn’t about to ask her to look. But all wasn’t lost; his backside didn’t feel any cooler than before.

  “What?” she asked. Dyn watched as realization dawned on her face. “Oh…” Her own eyes grew wide. Oh!” She turned her head and leao her side, cheg to see what she’d done.

  “Eyes up here, princess!” he snapped.

  She caught herself, looked up at him again. “Sorry. I was just trying—maybe if I…”

  He felt her fingers fumbling far too close to his waistline, atempt to fix things backfired. Now his backside felt armingly exposed. Panig, he got stuck repeating the obvious.

  “The towel is down! The towel is down!” he said urgently. His panic was tagious, filling the hallway with frantiergy.

  Worry spread across her face. “What do I do?” she asked, looking to him for instru.

  There were several ways this could’ve been resolved, but Dyn’s brain only saw two at that moment: be naked in the open hallway or be naked in a fined . His heart pounded as he weighed the equally mortifying options. He just o ask one quick question before deg.

  “Do you trust me?” he asked, his eyes searg hers.

  “Yes,” she said without hesitation.

  Eury yelped as Dyn rushed forward, hugging her closely as he hustled her and her undry into the . With a sm, he kicked the door shut behind them.

  Now mere inches from his face, she asked, “What now?”

  “Uh,” he said, stalling. That was a damn good question, ohat Past Dyn had left for Future Dyn. “Close your eyes and turn around, and then I’ll put my towel ba.”

  “Alright,” she said, tinuing to gaze into his eyes. He waited for her to close hers, while she waited for him to say when. The awkwardness mounted as they tiheir actal game of chi.

  She tilted her head slightly. “Now?”

  He nodded. “Now works for me.”

  Eury closed her eyes and turned around as he asked. However, they’d been very close together, and she’d spun around quickly, brushing the rest of her clothes, including his towel, aside. pletely naked and far too close to Eury, he leaped backwards, smming into the closed door with a loud thud.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, her head tilting slightly as she started to turn toward him.

  “Still naked!” he warned, holding out one arm towards her and c himself with the other.

  She halted mid-turn, stiffening as she returo her previous stand faced the wall directly in front of her, her arms pressed firmly to her sides with too muergy and nothing to do.

  “It’s just really cramped in here,” he said. The walls seemed closer than he remembered, the heat from the jungle day still ging to the air. Apparently, all of their s were as small as his, he just hadn’t noticed before.

  He bent down to sort through the pile of clothes that fell on top of his towel. The cramped space made every movement feel like a bang act, and he was standing on top of his towel. Reag out to steady himself against what should’ve been his hammock, he lifted his foot and grabbed the towel. The only problem was, he wasn’t in his , and that wasn’t where her hammock was.

  “What are you doing?” Eury asked without turning around.

  Dyn looked up, his stomach dropping as he realized his hand was firmly against her ass.

  “Shit, sorry!” he said, yanking his hand off her butt. He scrambled upright, ing the towel around his waist in a hurried motion and tug the er in tightly.

  “All set,” he said.

  Eury turo face him and said, “Thank you for…” Her eyes drifted down to her undry sprawled across the floor.

  “You’re wele, sorry about the whole…” He gestured down at the floor and then toward her rear.

  “Please don’t, it’s… fine,” she said, staring at the floor and being really cool about the actal butt toug. She looked back up at him, hesitating before she asked, “Was there… anything else?”

  He’d just made a plete ass of himself and wanted nothing more than to run away and bee a hermit in the jungle. He hoped to God there wasn’t anything else.

  “Nope. I should probably…” He hooked his thumb to the door behind him.

  “Alright.”

  “Yeah, I’m just gonna go now,” he said.

  They shared an awkward smile as he opehe door and stepped through it. The soft clibsp;of the tch followed him as he closed it behind him a out his held breath. He leaned his back up against the door, closing his eyes as he sighed.

  “That was quick,” W’itney said as they ched on a treat. They leaned against their own open doorway, just across the hall from Eury’s, as they flicked anolden into the air before catg it with a snap of their teeth.

  Dyn opened his mouth. “This…” he said, pointing to himself and then to the door behind him. “This isn’t what it looks like.”

  “Uh-huh,” they said, gng down at his towel.

  “Nothing happened, W’itney.” Self-scious, he adjusted his towel uheir gaze.

  W’itney gave him a knowing wink and said, “Listen, I get it. She’s a pretty princess, and you’re charming in ways that make a person ache and break in all the right pces.”

  He narrowed his eyes at the outgoing drai and frowned. “I feel like you’re not listening to what I’m saying.” He kept his hand on his towel.

  “I must have been imagining it when you pushed your way into her and smmed the door shut while making a ruckus.” W’itney gave him a casual shrug as they gri him.

  ‘Fuck,’ he thought, repying the st five minutes in his mind. From an outside perspective, it looked pretty bad. His guts twisted as he worried how this might impact Eury with the whole Kinship thing. He wasn’t even sure if elves had one-night stands—it certainly didn’t sound like it.

  “Goddamnit W’itney.”

  “I’m curious,” they said, pushing off the doorframe. “What did she do to ge your mind about that kiss?”

  They were getting on his nerves. His jaw tightened as he tried to keep his temper in check. He didn’t care if they wao tease him, but they should leave Eury out of it.

  “I was raised not to hit a dy, but so help me God, I will sp the shit out of a dragon,” he said, i in his eyes.

  “Promises, promises…” W’itney replied with anrin, flig a treat into the air and catg it effortlessly.

  He raised his upper lip in disgust. “Aw man, now you went and made it dirty.” Everything was just innuendo to W’itney.

  “Good night, Dyn,” they said, stepping bato their room and l their voice to a whisper. “Holy, I’m rooting for you two.” The door clicked shut before he could respond.

  He let out a deep sigh, his shoulders sagging uhe weight of the day’s events. Taking a different kind of walk of shame back to his room, he hung his head. And then, before anything else could happe on some pants.