Evryn was washing Auren’s shirt in a basin of hot water when Brinna came running toward her, breathless and excited.
“Evryn!
I have news!” Brinna panted.
“I was talking to the head maid from the house next door.
They’re holding a competition…it’s an annual tradition…and I just signed our house up for it!”
Evryn lifted her head, wiping steam from her forehead.
“What kind of competition?
And more importantly, what’s the prize?”
“I think it’s a series of games, but I didn’t have time to get all the details because it starts this afternoon,” Brinna explained quickly.
“But the prize is a gold coin for every team member!”
Evryn paused, her interest piqued.
“Seriously?
But who can enter?
Is it open to everyone?”
“Of course not,” Brinna said, counting on her fingers.
“Each team needs exactly four members: two maids, one werewolf, and one vampire.”
Evryn’s expression shifted from curiosity to disbelief.
“So, the two maids are obviously you and me.
The werewolf is Ray, of course.
But what about the vampire, Brinna?
We only have one, and you know exactly who he is.”
“Yes,” Brinna nodded eagerly.
“Auren.
He’ll join us.”
Evryn let out a dry laugh.
“Yeah, right.
You’re dreaming, Brinna.
His ego is way too big.” She shook her head, a sharp, cynical edge returning to her voice.
“That man…
he has a serious problem believing he’s actually a servant like us.
He acts like he’s the one holding the crown.”
“We’ll convince him!” Brinna insisted.
“It’s for gold!
He won’t say no to that.”
Evryn turned back to the laundry with a sigh.
“Good luck with that.”
Brinna marched across the house grounds, her boots thumping against the soft earth until she reached the patch of manicured grass where Auren was lounging.
He looked perfectly at peace, sprawled out with one arm tucked behind his head, soaking up the afternoon sun.
That peace ended abruptly when Brinna stepped into his light, her shadow stretching over him and blocking the warmth.
Auren groaned, his eyelids fluttering open.
From his position on the ground, he looked up at her; the sunlight caught the edges of her blonde hair, creating a bright halo that framed her soft brown eyes.
Brinna didn’t waste a second, flashing her most winning, persuasive smile.
“Auren, we need you.”
“Who is ‘we’?” he asked, his voice thick with a lazy, mid-nap drawl.
He didn’t even move a muscle to sit up.
“Me, Evryn, and Ray.”
Auren’s eyebrow arched slightly at the mention of Evryn, but he kept his tone bored.
“What for?”
“There is a competition at the house next door…”
Before she could even get the word ‘competition’ out of her mouth, Auren shut his eyes again.
“No.”
“Let me finish!
The prize is a gold coin for every team member!” Brinna exclaimed, leaning over him to make sure he heard.
“Still no,” he muttered, waving a hand dismissively as if shooing away a fly.
“Let me relax, Brinna.
The sun is finally at the right angle.”
Brinna dropped to her knees beside him, her voice rising with desperation.
“Please, Auren!
The rules are strict.
We literally cannot enter without you.
You’re our only hope!”
“Then don’t enter,” Auren replied smoothly.
He remained completely motionless, treating her pleas like background noise.
“Ah, I see.
That’s a shame.
Especially since Evryn is over there right now, working herself to the bone.
She’s scrubbing your shirt in a basin of boiling hot water.
Her hands are turning bright red from the heat, but she isn’t complaining.
She was so excited, telling me how sure she was that you’d help us.”
At the mention of the hot water, Auren’s jaw tightened.
A flash of genuine annoyance crossed his face…he didn’t like the idea of Evryn hurting her hands over his laundry.
But as he processed the rest of Brinna’s words, his lips curled into a knowing, sharp smile.
He didn’t open his eyes, but his voice lost its lazy edge.
“Brinna, don’t lie to me.
And definitely don’t try to use her as a shield to get what you want.”
“I’m not lying about the laundry!
Her hands are practically steaming!” Brinna insisted.
“I’m talking about the rest of it,” Auren said.
He finally stood up in one fluid, graceful motion, brushing a few blades of grass from his clothes.
He looked Brinna dead in the eye, his expression shifting from annoyed to purely mischievous.
“Evryn would never say she expects me to help.
She’s far too stubborn for that.
I know her better than you think.”
Auren didn’t say another word to Brinna, but his pace was purposeful as he headed toward the laundry area.
As he rounded the corner, the scent of lye and steam hit him.
Then he saw her.
Evryn was hunched over a heavy wooden basin, her sleeves rolled up and her face flushed from the rising vapor.
Brinna hadn’t been exaggerating…Evryn’s hands were a raw, stinging red from the scald of the water.
Every time she scrubbed the fabric against the washboard, he could see her wince.
Auren reached her in three long strides.
Without warning, he reached into the basin, his cool skin contrasting sharply with the heat, and gripped the wet fabric.
“That’s enough,” he said, his voice low and firm.
Evryn startled, looking up at him with wide, tired eyes.
She didn’t let go.
Instead, she tried to pull the shirt back toward the washboard.
“I haven’t finished my work, Auren.
Let go.”
“Yes, you have,” he countered, his grip tightening.
“It’s clean enough.”
“It isn’t!” she argued, stubbornness flaring in her eyes.
She tried to yank the shirt from his hands, but he was like an anchor.
“I’m the one who ruined it, so I’m the one who fixes it.
I know what I’m doing.”
“You’re boiling your skin off,” he muttered, a trace of genuine irritation surfacing.
They stood there in a tense deadlock, both hands clenched around the damp, heavy linen.
They pulled back and forth, a silent tug-of-war over a half-washed shirt, neither willing to yield an inch of ground.
Brinna appeared behind them, leaning against a wooden post with a triumphant smirk.
She didn’t miss the way they were locked in each other’s orbit.
“Evryn, you’d better finish that up quickly,” she called out playfully.
“We need to get moving if we’re going to make it.”
Evryn’s hands went still, though she didn’t let go of the shirt.
Her eyes snapped to Auren’s, shimmering with a sudden, uncontrollable spark of excitement.
Up until this second, she had been certain his pride would be the end of them.
She had expected him to mock the idea or, worse, ruin their only chance at the prize just to prove a point.
“You agreed?” she whispered, the disbelief clear in her voice.
“You’re actually going to do this with us?”
Auren looked away for a split second, catching Brinna’s smug expression.
He had intended to make Evryn beg…to hear that “please” he so desperately wanted…but looking at her face now, glowing with a hope she couldn’t hide, his resolve crumbled.
He couldn’t bring himself to be the one who extinguished that light.
He closed his eyes for a moment, letting out a defeated, heavy sigh.
“Yes,” he muttered, his voice dropping to a low growl.
“I agreed.
Don’t make me regret it.”
Evryn didn’t waste a second.
She gave the shirt one final, victorious tug, pulling it completely out of his hands this time.
“Alright then!” she chirped, her exhaustion seemingly forgotten.
“I’m not letting you change your mind.
Let me finish this fast!”
Auren stayed where he was, watching her work with a fierce intensity.
He was half-annoyed at how easily his iron will be had shattered, and half-mesmerized by the way a single word from him had set her world on fire.
Brinna let out a squeal of delight, jumping into the air with her fists clenched in victory.
She had gambled everything on Auren’s ego…and his hidden soft spot…but she had been right.
She knew he was far more interested in Evryn than he let on, her plan had worked perfectly.
“I’m going to find Ray!” Brinna shouted over her shoulder, already sprinting toward the stables.
“I have to tell the others to get ready for our audience!”
Auren was already moving.
He didn’t wait for Evryn to protest; he grabbed two heavy buckets of fresh, cold water.
With a sharp splash, he poured them both into the steaming basin, instantly killing the dangerous heat.
“Auren, stop!” Evryn cried out, reaching for the fabric.
“The hot water works better!
I need to finish this fast so we can leave!”
Auren stood his ground, his shadow towering over the washbasin.
“Do it in the warm water, Evryn,” he commanded, his voice leaving no room for argument.
“Don’t make me repeat myself.
I won’t have you scrubbing with burned hands.”
He didn’t wait for her rebuttal.
He turned and walked a short distance away, leaning casually against a stone wall where he had a clear view of her.
He crossed his arms, his eyes never leaving her small frame.
Auren felt a small, triumphant smile tug at the corner of his lips when he saw her sigh and begin scrubbing again.
She was obeying him…
not because she had to, but because she was so determined to reach her goal that she didn’t want to waste another second arguing.
He watched her work, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction that he was the one who had made that spark in her eyes possible.
Without looking up from her scrubbing, Evryn broke the silence.
“Who exactly asked you to put up those curtains?”
“No one,” Auren replied smoothly.
“So you just did it out of the goodness of your heart?
And bought them with your own money?” Evryn let out a sarcastic laugh, finally looking up.
“Ah, I get it.
You were really just flexing for the crowd, shirtless on a ladder.
I have never seen a man work so hard just to get attention.”
Auren’s smile widened, a low chuckle escaping him.
“Is that what you took from that performance?”
“Is there something else?” she countered, waving her hand toward him.
“The girls haven’t stopped talking about you and your…
body,” she said, gesturing vaguely at his perfect physique.
“It was a great strategy to get popular.
Truly.”
Auren took a slow, deliberate step toward her, his shadow completely eclipsing her space.
The playful smirk vanished, replaced by a gaze that was entirely too intense.
“The only pair of eyes I actually wanted on me,” he murmured, leaning down slightly, “got angry and stormed out of the room.
So I couldn’t care less about the rest.”
Evryn’s chest tightened, her face flushing a furious red.
She jabbed a finger into his chest.
“Auren, I am warning you.
Stop flirting with me.
I am not a path you want to walk down.”
Instead of backing away, he closed the remaining distance, his lips brushing the shell of her ear as he dropped his voice to a dangerous, wicked whisper.
“I really like that black nightdress, by the way.
It’s my absolute favorite color.”
Evryn’s eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated shock.
Before she could even process how he knew about that, Auren pulled back, a victorious, dark laugh tearing from his throat as he turned and casually walked away.
“Damn you, Auren!
Damn you to hell!” she shrieked after him, throwing her scrubbing brush straight at the doorway.
Auren just kept laughing, thoroughly amused, as her furious shouting followed him all the way down the corridor.