Page 38 of The Kingdom of Eternal Ice
“They are,” Royan explains. “Alana and Tynan underwent the same training, and they went to school together. Gamma Ita is a year older and a mentor to both of them. The three of them are inseparable actually, always have been, even as kids.”
“It’s great that Alana has such good friends,” I say. Things might have been lonely for me in the desert, but at least I had Shayan and Simin. Friends are so important.
“Say, Royan,” Simin eyes the Gamma curiously. “You are Azadeh’s bodyguard, right?”
He nods. “I’m actually her Gamma. It’s unusual for a pack to have more than one Gamma. But the king announced me as one to make sure the princess is protected.”
“How come you aren’t around Azadeh all the time, then?” she asks directly, before clapping her hand over her mouth. “I apologize! I didn’t mean to suggest that you weren’t diligent about your duties.”
Royan just smiles, though. “You are right to ask, little Simin,” he advises her. “Whenever the triplet princes or another ranked member are with Princess Azadeh, I’m supposed to go on about my other duties.”
He offers me and Simin his arms, and we both take them. There is something in his whole being that makes me feel comfortable around him.
“Dinner is grilled meat and fish today,” he tells us.
I notice Simin’s face and chuckle.
“Don’t you like meat?” Royan asks her.
“I… I’m normally a vegetarian, mostly,” she admits. “It’s not that I hate meat.” She looks at me for help.
“We just have a lot less meat in our home kitchen,” I explain. “But, please don’t worry, we will adjust.”
“Oh, but we can make sure that there are always side dishes,” Royan reassures us.
“I don’t want to be a bother,” Simin worries.
“I will be subtle about it,” he promises. “We have a meeting between the ranked members every second day. I will just casually point out that we should make sure you get enough food with nutritional value, since you are humans.”
I contemplate pressing the point that it’s not necessary, but seeing how Simin looks so hopeful, I decide to go with it. To be very honest, a few more vegetables wouldn’t be bad. Simin and I aren’t wolves after all.
thirteen
The Sisters
*AZADEH*
Iappreciate how the royal family always has dinner together with their ranked members, and that Simin, Shayan and I are invited to it too, despite not being part of the family and not having a high rank here. A pack is like an extended family, and while I always knew that to wolves, family matters a lot, I wasn’t aware of how much so until I encountered it myself.
Wolves also really like their meat, it seems, and they can eat a lot! It’s fascinating how much they can eat at one sitting. Seeing how much they train and work, though, it’s not really a surprise. Only Kilah seems to hold back, although she eyes the plate of ribs with sad envy.
I wish she knew that her slightly curvier body is perfect the way it is. She doesn’t need to starve herself that way.
On a funnier side, Tynan has taken his place next to Shayan, and keeps offering him the best pieces of meat. Shayan isn’t used to receiving that much attention from anyone, but it’s kind of endearing to have someone dote on him like that.
“How do you like the food?” King Gillean asks me.
“It’s fantastic. The fish in particular,” I say.
“I hoped you would like it,” he beams.
“Aza is right,” Shayan nods, surprisingly using my nickname, too. Seems like it’s slowly rubbing off on everyone. “Where do you get your fish from?”
“We have ponds and lakes here,” Endellion explains. “Caelan is a great ice-fisher and loves fish. It’s his doing that we also added fish to our menu.”
“I didn’t even know it was possible to fish from a lake that is covered in ice,” I say, my interest peaked. I’ve always had a thing for nature, and this just sounds fascinating.
“We could explain it to you,” Flinn says with his signature smirk. “Or, we’ll show you.”
