CHAPTER 257: BRAIDS

"Ah! Don’t look!" Talia yelped, whipping around so fast she splashed half the pond.

She folded into a crouch, sinking as low as she could, arms crossed over her chest, her whole face burning red.

Zarah, on the other hand, didn’t move an inch. Not even a twitch.

Of course she didn’t.

We’d already seen each other naked more than once, and even before that, she was never the type to flinch or scramble to hide. Modesty wasn’t exactly her strongest trait.

But what did catch my eye was her hair.

Braids.

Clean, neat, woven tight against her scalp and ending in small loops near the back. It framed her face—made her cheekbones stand out, drew attention to the slight roundness in her chin, and somehow made her elf-like ears more noticeable. It looked... good. Really good.

She must have had Talia braid it.

And the more I looked, the warmer something deep in me grew, enough that I had to take a slow breath before my body made my intentions embarrassingly obvious.

Talia cleared her throat in a panicked sputter.

"What... what are you doing here?" she asked, voice trembling, still crouched with only her eyes above the water like some terrified pond creature.

Without even glancing in her direction, I answered, keeping my focus on Zarah.

"I came to see Zarah."

"Why?" Talia asked sharply, the word cutting through the air like she was challenging me without meaning to.

I turned my gaze on her, slow and sharp.

"Do I need a reason to meet my beloved?"

Her mouth dropped open a little.

"Beloved," she repeated under her breath, like the word tasted strange... maybe even sour.

Zarah tilted her head, ears twitching slightly.

"Chief, what’s beloved?" she asked, still sitting comfortably in the water, completely unfazed by the situation.

I looked back at her, and the tension in my chest eased the moment our eyes met.

My voice softened without me trying.

"Someone special," I said. "Someone dear to me. Someone I’d fight a thousand ogres for."

A faint blush colored her cheeks, the kind that made her look even more radiant with those new braids framing her face. She lowered her gaze for a second, then lifted it again with a small, shy smile.

"Then the Chief is also my beloved."

My heart melted instantly—like a candle held too close to a flame. It slipped down into warmth I couldn’t hide even if I tried, spreading through my chest in a way that made everything around me soften.

"Ahh, cringe!" Talia blurted out, but I didn’t spare her a glance. Her opinion at that moment mattered about as much as a pebble at my feet.

I crouched in front of Zarah, gently lifting her chin with my fingers.

"That makes me happy, Zarah," I murmured, the warmth in my chest leaking into my voice.

She leaned forward, and we shared a soft, brief kiss—nothing heated, nothing overwhelming, just something quiet and sweet that settled the last of the tension in my shoulders.

"Hm. If you’re done..." Talia interrupted, still mortified, "can you turn away? I need to dress."

I sighed, pushed myself back up to my feet, and turned around.

"Make it quick," I said, though the edge in my tone was more habit than annoyance.

Behind me, I heard water shifting as they rose, followed by the rustle of fabric and the awkward fumbling of someone trying to dress without exposing themselves. Zarah moved with calm indifference, while Talia sounded like she was wrestling a wild animal made of clothing.

I kept my gaze forward.

"By the way," I said, breaking the silence, "how did you two get so close?"

I hadn’t noticed any real interaction between them until now. No bonding. No conversations. Nothing that hinted at the level of comfort they clearly shared here.

"We’re not close," Zarah said immediately, as blunt as a hammer to the face.

Behind her, Talia let out a long, wounded sigh.

"And here I thought we’d gotten somewhat closer..."

I frowned, genuinely curious now. "Then how’d you two end up bathing together?"

There was a rustle of fabric as Talia tightened the wrap around her chest, her voice coming out slightly muffled as she struggled with the knots.

"I saw her muttering to herself, looking... frustrated," she said. "And she looked a bit roughened up, like she’d gotten into a fight, so I—"

"Roughened up?" I cut in, turning toward them just as they finished dressing.

Zarah stood there calmly, hair braided, clothes clinging to her still-damp skin, her expression neutral—too neutral.

But the moment I heard that word—roughened—my jaw tightened.

Narg said he went easy on them.

He promised he went easy.

That bastard.

"Narg and I got into a duel," Zarah said, her voice steady now that she was dressed. "And he won, which is why I was frustrated."

Then her expression shifted—just a little—and she smirked.

"But even though he won, I made sure to leave an arrow in his leg," she added, almost proudly. "He should be limping right now."

I narrowed my brows.

The Narg I saw earlier definitely wasn’t limping.

Not even slightly.

No stiffness. No uneven gait. Nothing.

Zarah wouldn’t lie. Not about things like this.

So if she said she hit him, she hit him.

Which meant Narg was injured... and hiding it.

Very well.

If I hadn’t heard this now, I never would’ve known.

It was nice to hear Narg had been hit, though. He’d been talking rather smugly about winning the duels.

Talia’s voice drew my attention back.

"Seeing her angry, I thought I should avoid her," she said, tying the last knot on her top, "but then your pet pushed me out into the open."

My pet?

Ariel?

Sounds like something she’d do.

I didn’t know what to say when I fell right in front of her," Talia continued, pulling her damp hair back behind her ear. "So, off memory, I blurted out that I was...