Rich, Rugged, and Orcish by Black Zora

Author:Black, Zora
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-18T00:00:00+00:00

16

LENORA

“Is there something wrong with your ice cream, kiddo?” Cassy asks.

Xandoss, Ria, Cassy, and I are all sitting in the food court of the mall. We’ve all settled down for a sweet treat after some shopping, and while Ria has devoured nearly half of her ice cream sundae, Xandoss has barely touched his.

He merely shakes his head. “Just wanna go home,” he pouts.

“But we’re gonna go to Books A Billion after this!” Ria says. “Don’t you wanna shop some more?”

“I don’t care about stupid books,” Xandoss huffs, crossing his arms. “And I don’t want this stupid ice cream, and I don’t wanna be at the stupid mall. I wanna go home and play with Shuranna.”

“Kiddo, you need to lay off the ‘stupid’ for a bit,” I warn him. “Besides, your grandma has a hair appointment today.”

She’ll definitely be there for a while – I’m not sure how gorgons keep the snakes on their head under control, but I doubt it’s a quick or simple process.

“I think you’re jealous,” Ria says smugly.

“Of what?” Xandoss scoffs.

“That daddy’s found a cool new mommy for us!” Ria says.

“Am not,” Xandoss growls.

“If you say so…” she says in a skeptical tone. With a shrug, Ria turns her attention back to her ice cream.

Meanwhile, I try to ignore the flush that’s spreading over my body as I remember my night with Navin. Not that this is a detail the kids should know, but it’s suddenly a lot more pointed when Ria suggests I’m about to be their new mommy.

I don’t know that I’d go quite that far about whatever happened between us. But truthfully, I think she has a point that this is responsible for her twin’s grumpy mood. It probably doesn’t help that she keeps comparing me and her father to Grant and Vivica, the werewolf duke and his nanny bride. It’s cute and all, but Xandoss probably feels a little left out.

Not to mention that big changes can be rough on a kid his age. It makes sense that the idea of a new mom might be scary for him. And with how attached he is to Shuranna, I doubt he’d be thrilled at the idea of someone potentially replacing her.

Maybe a trip to the bookstore would be a good idea after all. A good book could help him get his mind off all this.

“Anyway, are you guys ready to get going?” I ask.

I’ve finished up my hot fudge brownie sundae, and so has Cassy. I doubt Xandoss is going to make any more progress on his banana split, which has started to melt. It’s a shame to waste money on food that’ll end up in the trash, especially when I’m using the credit card Navin trusted me with.

“Yep! Just one more bite,” Ria says, scooping the last of her ice cream into her mouth.

Once I’ve cleaned up Ria’s face with a wet wipe, we make our way out of the food court.

The moment we walk through the entrance of the bookstore, Ria hurries over to the clean romance section.

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