Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) by Grayson Sinclair (black authors fiction txt) 📕

as I said and plopped down on my leg and curled around me, leaning her head against my chest.

“That works too,” Gil said before devolving into a fit of laughter.

Which, of course, made most of the others join in and laugh at my expense. A chorus of chuckles and snickers filled the air for a moment. Though not everyone joined in. Evelyn seemed particularly interested in Eris.

“Who is this strange creature you have brought into our hall, dear guild leader?’ Evelyn asked me with a peculiar expression on her face.

I coughed loudly to clear my throat. “Everyone, this is Eris.” I paused for a moment before continuing. ”She is—”

I was interrupted by Harper and his loud, obnoxious voice. ”She’s the weird demi-human with the freaky eyes Wilson found with you in the loot room yesterday.”

“Thank you, Harper,” I said to him with clenched teeth. “If we could refrain from such rude comments toward our guest in the future, I would consider it a personal favor.”

Harper opened his mouth again.

“And if we can’t, Harper—” I put fury on the edge of his name. “—I would be more than happy to settle things with a duel.”

Harper shut his mouth quickly after that. At close range, Harper was next to useless, and he knew he couldn’t win against me, even weakened as I was now. I’d still bet on me in that fight.

“Now back onto business,” I said as I dismissed Harper. “There has been—”

Gil’s booming voice interrupted me. “I have a very important question.”

I nodded at him to continue.

“Why isn’t she wearing pants?” Gil asked, before descending into even more raucous laughter.

I facepalmed as the rest of the guild joined in again with the laughter. I let them get it out of their system. As they died down, Eris chimed in with her musical voice.

“I don’t like wearing them, so I don’t,” she said, as if that solved everything.

The guild cracked up again at her words.

“Did you wear that to sleep in?" Evelyn asked with a mischievous smile.

“Of course not. I don’t wear clothes to bed.”

Gil fell over from laughing, and a few wolf whistles echoed around the room. Evelyn looked a little...dare I say jealous? Or maybe just possessive, that's more her style. Wilson leaned over to whisper to me. ”Don’t you think that it was a bad idea to let her sleep naked in your room…given your ‘Unique circumstances?’”

He made a good point; it was out of character for me, and he knew it, but he didn’t know every facet of mine and Eris’s relationship. Let's keep it that way. I barely know what to make of it myself. The others wouldn’t understand. Thankfully, Eris had my back on that one.

“Why is that strange?” she asked in a too-loud voice. “Is it normally strange for husband and wife to sleep together?” she asked Wilson, before turning to me. “I did get the names right, didn’t I?”

“Yep, you did great,” I groaned.

Dead silence reigned for all of two seconds before literally everyone started asking questions all at once.

“Oh, look, a lovely wall right over there to bash my head against,” I muttered to myself.

In between waiting for the roar to die down, and contemplating the angle needed to do the maximum amount of damage to the wall with my face. Eris tugged on my arm.

I looked down as she stared up at me with her big obsidian eyes, and ignoring everyone else in the room, I leaned down and kissed the top of her head, promptly tuning out everyone else in the room but her.

Eris was warm against my chest, and while the room wasn’t freezing, without a fireplace, it was a little cool. Eris took the chill away instantly. Getting used to this wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. A few moments of me ignoring everyone later, the room got quiet again.

“All right, you mongrels!” I yelled at them. “Settle down. Now. Yes…I guess Eris and I are married… Sort of. Kind of…look, it’s hard to explain, and I don’t feel like going over the details. So, let's just all accept it and move on. Trust me, you’ll have much better questions in a few minutes.”

Gil just laughed and clapped me on the shoulder. ”Hey, no worries, I’m just happy you’ve got a lady in your life. A less homicidal lady, in any case,” he said with a whisper, glancing over at Evelyn.

“Thanks, Gil. Now I didn’t call everyone here to gossip like schoolgirls. There are two serious matters to discuss.”

Everyone quieted up and listened to me—instant silence. We’re the worst, except when it comes to business.

“First and most important is the recent attacks on Gloom-Harbor.” Taking stock of the room, I continued. “This last raid was the worst we’ve experienced yet, over five hundred troops and a full guild to siege one castle. We were incredibly fortunate to win without taking casualties.”

Wilson spoke up, “The Alliance has gone too far this time. It was a declaration of war on us.”

“Except I don’t think this was the Alliance, not this time,” I replied.

Wilson and Gil both looked confused. ”Please elaborate,” Wilson said.

“Look at the evidence. We have a small fortune in gold down in the basement. Since when has the Alliance ever paid their soldiers so well? There’s enough gold to pay every soldier they sent for ten years of service.”

Wilson thought about that statement, and I knew he would see the logic there. I added to my debate. “Not to mention the guild we fought. The Order of the Dawn were hardcore mercenaries, just like us. And I know exactly how much we charge for our services. Hiring mercs isn’t cheap. Besides, the Alliance doesn’t contract out bounties, plain, and simple.”

“Then, who?” Adam asked, chiming in.

“I don’t know.