Kael walked into the front and found Mira. The market was loud, chaotic, and smelled like sun-scorched fruit and fried bread.
People bustled past their wooden stall, children weaved between legs, and sellers shouted over each other to be heard.
Kael watched Mira from a distance. He was by no means the type to gawk at women, but he could not help himself from enjoying the way the sunlight caught her hair, the way her figure moved, made blood rush to places it shouldn't, in public.
Maybe it was that dream he just had, the one that left him hard and itching for a release.
Yeah, that had to be it. Just a dream… but it still left him blue-balled and distracted.
He continued to watch her. Her shirt, clinged just a little too tightly across her chest, and the way her lower outfit hugged her hips, made his thoughts go in directions he knew he shouldn't let them.
She reached up to tie her hair, arms lifted, and the motion gave him a full view of her slim waist. And below that, her wide hips, full ass, were built to make a man sin. She had the kind of body that made priests curse and thieves pray.
And her breasts, they looked full, soft, perfect, strained slightly against the fabric like they wanted to poke out.
Kael was a little surprised by how she was dressed. These last few days, she was dressed very revealingly In Front of him.
Mira had never seemed like the type to dress with anyone's attention in mind, let alone his. But lately, the way her clothes fit her... it made him wonder if something had changed. Was she dressing like this for him?
He hoped so. The idea of her, her curves
She was older than him by a few years, and despite her beauty, she had always kept herself distant from males, except him.
She was one of the beauties in the city, yet, she'd never been in a relationship with anyone. At least, not that Kael knew of. And for some strange reason, it gnawed at him. Still single at twenty-five, but Kael couldn't help but fantasize about what it might be like if that changed... with him.
"Are you finished?" Mira asked, catching him in the act. Then she shot him a look, half-irritated, half-something else. "Stop staring like some lovesick dog."
Kael smirked. But then, he noticed that Mira's smile immediately left her face as she looked away.
Her posture straightened, and then her shoulders tightened like a string pulled too far.
"Ughh," she muttered under her breath, her mouth curling in disgust, "Nobles." She muttered.
Kael followed her gaze. Four men, all in their mid twenties, were approaching. They spoke loudly and obnoxiously. They were dressed in expensive silk outfits.
Kael just gave a slight nod to Mira. But inside, he frowned deeply, because he did not like the sight of those rich bastard's. Kael was not the only one who shared those feelings towards the rich, however.
That was just how it was in the Varnathal kingdom. There was a deep animosity between the rich and the poor. And with good reason the rich openly oppressed and stole from the lower class. It was no surprise how despised they were.
Not only that, but those scoundrels looked down on common folk like him and Mira as if they were rotting turnips in the gutter.
He turned a little to watch them, from the side of his eye.
The four of them strolled through the crowd like it was theirs to part. Draped in rich fabrics, jewelry gleaming. The finest swords hanging at their hips.
'I bet those swords are more like decoration than tools. Because none of these bastard's could use them.' Kael muttered in his mind. He wished he could get a hand on one of their luxurious swords, maybe even drive one through each one of them.
That would be revenge.
But, he would not dare say those thoughts out loud, because if he did, he might just have to follow through. And that would be real trouble.
But, Kael could not stress enough, how much he despised them.
He hated them for a hundred reasons. Last winter, a friend of his, Ronan, had been beheaded for staring at a noble's wife too long.
He just took a look, nothing more. And that had been enough to earn a death sentence.
The nobles laughed loudly, their voices forced and obnoxious. One of them, with slicked-back hair and a wolfish grin, approached the stall. His gaze roamed over Mira's body, lingering too long on her chest.
"How much?" The slick haired noble asked, leaning to the table, and pretending to inspect a basket of apples, though his eyes never left Mira's body, especially her chest area.
Mira backed away slightly, covering her chest, "T-Two coppers, sir," she said.
Her voice trembled a little. She didn't like how close he was, nor the way he looked at her.
The slick haired noble smirked. "I wasn't talking about the apples."
Laughter erupted from the mouths of his friends behind him,
"He means you, silly," The one with a thick mustache said, miming a crude gesture.
"How much for a night with you?" Another one, with a no hair single hair in his head said, eyes raking over Mira like she was something for sale. All four of them were undressing her with their eyes.
Kael's blood ran cold. His muscles tensed. He didn't like the way these four were looking at Mira, like she was something on display.
And even if they weren't nobles, he would never stand it, if anyone was looking at her like that. Their status was the only thing saving them in fact.
He took a step forward, ready to intervene, but Mira caught his eye and shook her head slightly. Her gaze pleaded: Don't. Please don't.
Kael listened to her and stayed back for now.
"I don't sell myself," Mira firmly made it clear, her voice trembling. She yanked the basket of apples away. "If you're not buying. Then you should leave."
The one with the slicked back hair raised a brow, taken aback by her defiance. "You're a Feisty one, for a peasant bitch," he muttered, grabbing her wrist and yanking her toward him.
That was it. Kael had enough of them. He moved and removed Mira from his grip.
The slick haired rich guy turned to Kael, annoyed by his courage, to step in. "And who are you? Her boyfriend?" He did not like seeing Kael step in and stop him from forcing Mira to accept him.
Kael gave a thin, icy smile.
"That's none of your concern. What is your concern... is that I'm the peasant who's about to make you regret making a stop here, if you don't walk away."
Laughter burst from the group. They looked at Kael and could not imagine him daring to do anything to them. Plus he looked weak, like nothing special, with no real muscles. On top of that, he looked like he hadn't had a full meal in a long time.
His clothes were dusty, his boots worn thin, and there was nothing noble about the way he carried himself, except, perhaps, in his eyes.
Deep in his eyes, there was something dark. They didn't waver as they stared at them.
"You don't even look healthy enough, and yet you dare to speak up to us?" One of them commented and they started laughing. Their laughs didn't last long.
Kael's gaze hardened, and with a cold smirk, he sneered, "You're one to talk, you look like a bloated pig."
The one who had grabbed Mira was the first to go quiet. His smirk faltered, and his eyes narrowed, offended by the tone Kael had dared to use.
"A dog like you dares to speak to me like that?" He questioned
Another noble stepped forward, the one with the mustache. He unsheathed his sword with a lazy flick, like it was more for show than threat.
"Maybe I should show you how sharp my blade is," he said, bringing the edge close to Kael's cheek.
The steel grazed downward, slow and deliberate, stopping at Kael's neck.
"We could cut your throat, take her with us and do what we want, and no one will dare to stop us," He said.