Dark Empathy Archibald Bradford (best books to read in your 20s TXT) 📖

fell into a frown once the door clicked closed.

“You did not tell him of the Troglodyte.” The Dragon observed.

Sadie let out a particularly unladylike yawn and shook her head.

“We’ll tell him if we can ever find her. I don’t want to get his hopes up over what may turn out to be nothing but a rumour. He has enough on his plate.”

“My lady, always so wise.” Xalanth rumbled, her eyes hooded and a familiar heat in her tone.

But dark thoughts made Sadie miss the cues her Dragon was giving her.

“Am I?” She sighed; “He blames himself for Jonathan, when he should blame me for not seeing the darkness in him ages ago.”

Xalanth growled at the unwanted response to her amorous overtures.

“You both need to place the blame where it belongs.” It was clear from the anger in her voice that she was referring to Evadne, but it faded quickly as her mighty claws palmed Sadie’s breasts and she spoke huskily into her ear; “But there are better things to dwell on right now, are there not?”

Sadie chuckled as she leaned back into her bond-mate’s embrace.

“Such a feisty Dragon! is it going to be one of those days then?”

__________

A short while later Nameless and his girls were in the corner of the common room of the dormitories, sharing the sweets Nina and Milly had brought back from the bakery.

After taking a few deep breaths to gather his thoughts, and his courage, he broached the subject with his bond-mates.

“Look girls, I have something I need to talk to you about, something really important.”

Erica and Milly were sharing the comfy sofa, the Katje on top of the Minotaur, grooming her sister’s hair with her rasping tongue.

Her purring stopped for a moment as she spoke.

“You wanna talk about how you need to stick it to some human women so the Empaths don’t die out?”

She gave the sleepy Minotaur’s hair one last lick before taking in his startled expression.

“Oh please, you aren’t that good at controlling your emotions, that and Volka explained it pretty clearly.”

“Right...” He replied uncertainly.

Once Erica hopped out of her lap, Milly stood and stretched with a yawn, then looked at him with hooded eyes.

“We don’t have a lot of space back home, so I hope you aren’t planning on anything permanent.” She said simply.

“No! I mean, I haven’t planned anything at all!”

She nodded her acceptance.

“Okay.”

His shock at Milly’s reaction was plain, so Ophelia took pity on him, the Flutterby setting the last of their teacups to dry beside the sink in the little kitchen before turning to join them.

“Dearheart, it’s like Erica said, Volka already explained everything, some time ago actually. So we’ve already had this conversation.”

“But... I haven’t!”

“No, but you’re a horny little fucker. You get the easy job. The rest of us have to watch.” Nina observed.

His indignation evaporated at the giant’s dark words and he looked to her with pleading eyes.

“Nina, I wouldn’t, I mean I couldn’t-”

Volka placed her arm around his shoulders from beside him, interrupting his sputtering.

“But you will. Because you very recently told Ophelia that you wanted to do more.”

He looked to her, seeking the wisdom of the ancient angel’s golden eyes.

Instead he got a pie to the face.

An actual pie.

It was blueberry, with copious amounts of whipped cream, one of the ones Nina had brought back from the bakery.

Volka held it in place for a moment, her arm on his shoulders keeping him from escaping as she well and truly mashed the still-warm pastry into his astonished visage.

“And now Husband, our position has been made clear. All joking aside, I know this isn’t a small task that is being asked of you, but it is quite possibly the single most important thing you will do in your lifetime, even more so than stopping Jonathan and Evadne’s machinations. We need more Empaths, and we also need to go to bed. It is quite late and I understand we are all training with Kavanaugh again in the morning.”

She gave his shoulder one last squeeze before leaving him to set the ruined desert on the counter in the kitchen and join the others as they filtered out of the room.

He pressed a finger to one nostril and shot a blueberry out of his nose with a burst of air.

“You owe me a pie.” Nina grouched over her shoulder as she left.

Because of the cream and mushed berries in his eyes, Nameless couldn’t tell if the tiny red Gigas was talking to him or Volka.

He was pretty sure it was him though.

“Wow.” A familiar voice said behind him.

He turned and squinted at Ginger who had a look of wonder on her face.

“Dude. Your life is complicated.”

Internally he cursed at their carelessness in having such a private conversation in the public room, externally though he pretended not to know what she meant as he sat on the plush sofa and took up a napkin to clear the pastry from his face.

But since when did the redhead need input from someone else to carry on a conversation?

“I mean, an Empath, wow. That explains why you have so many bond-mates! Honestly I kind of thought you people were just a myth!”

He tried to play it off, this time with a snort of derision at her phrasing.

“‘You people?’ I’m not a people. I’m just a guy with blueberries up his nose.”

Impatiently she waved a hand at him as he went back to wiping at his face.

“And a guy who can read monster girl minds!”

“I don’t- fuck! I don’t read minds!”

She was taken aback by the uncharacteristic curse, finally getting a sense of his irritation as she carefully sat next to him.

He gave her a measuring