and trying to make sure they were well-wrapped in the blanket.
He didn’t look too despondent by her snappishness. Instead, he acted as if she had just spilled her heart out. “Well, don't you worry yourself, elfling. We'll take care of you.”
Her lips pursed together, and she growled in threat, “Ditto.”
They both snorted out a laugh, and then she felt Taric's hand rub against her hip. The men spoke over her head in that mysterious language.
“What are you called, girl?” Taric asked in her ear.
She didn't answer, merely turned her head towards her pillow. He grabbed her sore ass roughly with his strong fingers, and she gasped, “Kyra Kingsguard!”
Draevan grinned and entwined his legs into hers; she could finally call herself warm from head to toe. “Rest well, our Kyra,” he told her, reaching up to pet her hair. “Our cute little thief.”
She was certain that it was an impossibility to sleep in these conditions, and she stifled a frustrated growl. She was used to resting with damp, dirty earth under her body, but she wasn’t used to the warmth blanketed by the presence of the two men. Yet, not even five minutes later, the warmth from their bodies began to lull her. In a short time, she drifted off into a deep sleep.
Chapter Two
Draevan was beginning to fancy himself in love, which he had never done before. But then, he had never let himself feel any sort affection for any female who wasn’t kin before. Since they were small boys, he and Taric had known they would be the ones to kill the giant of Blue Forest and marry the she-elf given to them in payment. Draevan's mother had foreseen that herself, and she was never wrong.
So he never believed he would take one of the women from the village as a wife, and he never let himself grow attached to any womanwho warmed his bed, even in the smallest measure.
Now, this fair little lady tucked against his chest, purring in her sleep like a kitten might, warmed not just his body. She was the cutest girl he'd ever seen, and being such made his chest tighten with feeling. Best of all, little Kyra was an elf, which meant that he could marry her all he wanted. After killing the giant, they'd have first pick of any she-elf in the kingdom! It had been long decreed!
Why not pick Kyra? He could already imagine her purring against him every night, and at the mental picture of it, a small grin sprawled on his face. Taric also seemed quite pleased with her; surely Draevan wasn't the only one already baking up fantasies about breeding her—taking her over and over again, filling her with their seed until she birthed not just one, but several sons for them.
Lords, the image alone of her filled with child was already making his cock stiffen uncomfortably in his trews… It seemed like his body wanted that image every bit as much as his mind did. His most basic instincts wanted to claim this girl as his mate, to protect her, to provide for her…
Hopefully Taric shared those feelings.
Because he and Taric had always known they would share a wife, which was not uncommon to Northern villagers, they’d long-ago promised each other that they would take their wife in a way that would make it impossible to tell whose child she bore, and they would love their wife's children as their own.
“Taric?” he hissed over the sleeping girl's head.
Taric made a groaning noise and cuddled closer against her, breathing deeply into the girl's hair. The elfling was small enough that Draevan was able to kick in the space under her and reach Taric's boot with his own to rouse him. “Taric!” he struggled to keep his voice to a whisper, keeping the deep vibration out of his voice so as not to wake her.
“Meh…” Taric grumbled as he stirred. In another second Taric's head darted up in alarm. “Do you hear something?” he asked, as if an approaching giant would be the only reason Draevan would ever wake him.
“No,” Draevan said, and Taric's head plopped right