Hive Queen by Sinclair, Grayson (positive books to read .txt) 📕

I nodded. It was always something to behold. I let Raven take in the sights for a long moment while I tried to see through the chaos of the streets.

“All right, enough gawking. Let’s get to walking. It’s changed since I’ve been here last, and I want to get a feel for the place.”

Raven nodded. “We’ve got time. Our meeting isn’t supposed to be for this evening, so we can sightsee as much as you want.”

Well, if that’s the case, might as well go visit Thrayl, since I have time. “I want to stop by a friend’s shop. It’s in Silver Midtown.”

She held her hand out. “Lead the way.”

While technically, we were already in Midtown, Thrayl’s shop would be a couple miles further down. It would take a little navigating to get there. But there was always a pattern with the way the dwarves laid out the city. Even when they remodeled it every couple years, there was always a reason for it.

The streets were filled with hundreds of dwarves going about their day, the men headed to the mines or manual labor jobs while the women minded the shops. We stepped around a dwarf woman with long red hair, carrying a basket of produce. She nimbly wound around us with a wave of apology.

If the women weren’t so short, they’d actually be very attractive.

I was careful not to run into anyone and grabbed Raven’s hand as we crossed a few streets and wound up at one of the stretches of market.

Thick stone stalls lined the streets with merchants peddling anything we could ever need. There wasn’t anything I needed at the moment, so I pulled Raven along and tried to disengage us from the throng of patrons and sellers.

After some careful maneuvering, we’d gotten off Merchant Street and hit the stairs that wound down the city.

“This place is packed,” Raven said, sticking close to me.

“Well, despite the size of this place, dwarves like sticking close to one another. I think it has something to do with safety in numbers.”

“In case of cave-ins, things like that?”

“Most likely.” I shrugged and stepped down the second flight of stairs. Dwarves never made much sense to me, but I didn’t bother questioning some of their quirks. They made the best weapons and armor on Nexus, and that was good enough for me.

It took around half an hour to reach Thrayl’s shop. I had to do some asking around, and an elderly dwarf pointed us in the right direction.

Thrayl’s shop hadn’t changed since the last I’d been there. The outside was stone, with wide bay windows on each wall. Even from here, the heat was intense; heavy smoke curled around the gray trim and floated skyward. An attached storehouse contained every tool or instrument involved in crafting, and each hung in neat order along the walls and in specific spots on the shelves.

I crept up to the window, where loud clanging sounded from just inside.

Thrayl sat banging away at a long hunk of metal on an anvil. He was tall for a dwarf, around five feet, and skinnier than most, but wiry cords of muscle clung unevenly to his frame. He had a thin, scarred face from years of metal work and thick blond hair that’d been pulled back into an intricate braid that matched the pattern of his long beard.

“Thrayl!” I shouted between hammer strikes.

He stopped mid-swing and turned, squinting. “Duran?”

“Yep.”

Thrayl hopped up from his seat a wide smile across his face. “How’s my favorite human?”

“Busy, you got a few minutes?” I asked.

He looked back at his project and to me. “For you, always.” He waved me in.

Raven and I went around to the door, a smooth portion of the wall. The door slid under the ground without so much as a scrape and Thrayl stood in the doorway, still smiling.

He took one look at me, and his smile fell.

“You go back to robbin’?” he asked, scratching his head.

“Not that I’m aware of, why?”

He pointed at me with all five of his fingers. “Then how the hell did you come by a set of Arryn Mora armor?”

My jaw dropped. I looked down and back at Thrayl. “No way.”

“I’d know his craft anywhere,” he said, craning his neck past me to look at Raven. “Good on ya’ for settlin’ down. Was worried you’d die before you found someone to put up wit’ ya’.

“But where’re me manners, come in. There’s a story here I want told.”

We entered his cramped home. My head barely missed hitting the top of the doorframe. Inside his home wasn’t much better, and I resorted to a high crouch to avoid bashing my skull against the ceiling. Thrayl led us to his living room and offered us a chair.

While made of stone, the chair was rather comfortable, and the thick woolen cover kept us from freezing.

“So how’d you manage to land such a lovely young woman?” he asked, glancing at Raven.

“Oh, we’re─”

“It’s a long story,” Raven said, interrupting me. “Took too long for me to convince him we were meant to be, but I’m persistent.”

“Ha! Good on ye’. He’s a stubborn one, but not bad folk, all things considered.” Thrayl laughed and slapped his knee. “Let me go grab us a drink, I’ll be right back.”

As soon as Thrayl left the room, I glared death at Raven. “I thought I told you never to speak for me.”

“What else was I supposed to do?” she hissed at me. “We’re supposed to be a couple, that’s the cover story. Or did you forget what you’re trying to do here?”

I gripped my knee, digging my fingernails hard into the leather, trying not to lash out at her. “Fine.”

By the time Thrayl got back with three glasses