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

She looked at me, then blinked her eyes several times, fighting off the remnants of sleep.

“Can I go back to bed?” she asked.

Her stomach rumbled at the same time as mine did. I smiled cheekily at her.

“’Fraid not. C’mon, love. Let’s get breakfast.”

Eris groaned once more and flung the thin sheet off her body and hopped out of bed. She lumbered over to give me a quick good morning kiss as she went to the bathroom to splash water on her face and fix her bedhead, which was nearly impossible with her thick, unruly hair. As she walked out of the bathroom, I handed her a fresh shirt, a light sapphire color with long sleeves. At this rate, she’s going to leave me shirtless.

“Put this on, you exhibitionist. Don’t want to give the other patrons a show, do we?”

“It doesn’t bother me that much, besides, your human clothing is suffocating. I’d rather feel the breeze on my bare skin,” she said, but still wore the shirt. I didn’t even bother trying for underwear or pants. That’s a fight I’m not going to win.

She walked in front of me down to the bar. Even at this ungodly hour of the morning, there were still patrons drinking. I thought about grabbing an ale myself, but food first. The scent of freshly baking bread came from the kitchen and whetted my appetite.

Ruff was still handling the bar, though I noticed he'd changed out of the shirt he’d been wearing last night. He now had a crisp, white long-sleeved one that was sure to be stained a hundred times by the time the day was over.

“Morning,” he called out sharply as we waded our way down the stairs.

We both responded, though, with far less enthusiasm. Ruff had cleaned up the wreckage from the night before, and a new table sat in the place the old one had been. You would almost think a fight hadn’t occurred last night, except for a small divot in the stone floor from where the table had cracked it.

We sat down at the table, and Eris pretty much slumped over to use the table as a pillow. Entomancer hangovers are as bad as humans’, it seems.

Ruff was a gift from the drunken gods as he brought two plates of food, heaped with bacon and eggs, with a side of the fresh bread I smelled. He also sat down an ale for me and a strange brownish-green concoction in front of Eris.

“Uh, Ruff, what the hell is that?”

“Ruff’s rough and tough hangover elixir! Guaranteed to cure all ailments!” he said with all the charisma of a snake oil salesman. I doubted the efficacy of such a claim, preferring the age-old hair of the dog cure myself, but Eris was in bad shape.

I slid the noxious beverage over to her and pretty much had to force it down her throat as she was half asleep.

“Not so hard, be gentle,” she mumbled.

I rolled my eyes and kept forcing her to take sips until the drink was gone. I sat back in my chair when it was over and started in on my own cure. When the ale was gone, I tucked into the food. It was cooked perfectly, and I savored every bite. Eris only managed a few nibbles, but she was looking batter by the time I'd finished.

When breakfast was over, and Eris standing on her own. It was time to hit the road. I went to thank Ruff for his hospitality and bid him farewell.

I turned to leave when Ruff grabbed my arm. “You be careful now, ya hear? I don’t know who or what that girl is, but it’s clear she’s something special. You take care of her now.”

I nodded to the perceptive barkeep. “With my life.”

My answer rang with the truth of my conviction, and Ruff smiled before wishing us both well. Ruff was good people.

I said my goodbyes, and with one last glance at the spot where I’d nearly killed Mikhail, we left the Inn of Ill Repute.

Chapter 16 - Can’t Run From Your Problems

Outside in the too-bright light, the prints of dozens of feet painted the dirt streets, telling a story on the ground. Most of the villagers were simple farmers, and they were already off to the fields for a day of backbreaking labor.

I helped Eris on top of Lacuna and quickly fed the horse an apple or two before leading her out of the stable. As we walked past some of the shops, I decided to stock up on a few more supplies, leaving Eris nodding off in the saddle, and went into the small general store, procuring another week’s worth of supplies and a few odds and ends.

While Eris slept off her hangover, I pushed Lacuna to the outskirts of the village. A few hours passed in silence until we entered another stretch of forest. The trails branched in three directions, but I stayed on the center line and urged Lacuna to a gallop.

Eris woke up just after midday. Her eyes had lost the eerie glow to them, and they were back to her usual hue of inky darkness.

“Remind me to take it easier next time,” she said while stifling a yawn.

I leaned down a placed a kiss on her head. “No promises, you’re a hilarious drunk,” I said with a grin.

She turned around with a frown, but it melted to a smile when she saw my face. I kept going for a few more minutes until we were out of a particularly overgrown section of forest. We stopped to eat lunch in a small recessed area that formed a natural semicircle where no trees or grass grew. We sat down on a dead log that had fallen over and