"By the Mad Queen herself," I said, proving I'd been told that much. "Sounds like she kept him as a little trophy to show off or something." I grumbled to show what I thought of that: puredisgust.
Hawke laughed once. "Yeah, well, that's the Mad Queen for ya. Trust me, it only gets worse when you know the details."
"And you can't talk about them," I teased.
He canted his head a bit and shrugged. "I'm trying to talk around it as much as I can. But yeah. Tor's hurt that the girl got the girl, and the girl got the guy, and the guy got the girl, and he's getting a whole lot of nothing but magical issues."
"Fuck, that means he's pissy again, huh?"
"So fucking pissy," Hawke agreed. "I told Keir to kiss the shit out of him but - " Hawke stopped hard. "Shit. Did I just overstep?"
"You're fine!" I promised. "Geez, I know about the kiss, and you even said Torian's hot. I mean, hello, obvious, right? Wait, are you into Keir too?"
"Wilder," he replied. "Uh, I'm into Wilder. Wilder's into Keir pretty bad, though. That Keir makes him get all shy and shit?"
"A shy duke?" I asked.
"I know!" Hawke said, leaving his chair to come closer. "And it's hard to tell when he blushes because of his skin tone, but he does. I just don't think Wilder would ever go for a guy Tor's messing around with."
"Wait, why?" I asked.
"Uh..." Hawke dropped down to sit on the corner of my bed, the closest place to my desk he could get. "Um..."
"Things you can't talk about?" I offered.
"Well..." He dropped his head and scrubbed at his mouth. "Magical differences?"
"Because Torian's a jevadu?" I asked. "I mean, don't tell me Wilder's racist!"
"No!" Hawke hurried to assure me. "No, not that. I mean. Shit!"
I took a bite of my meal, then turned my chair so I could see him. "Is it because Torian's a prick about things, always acts like he's better than everyone else, and tends to be cruel about it?"
"Kinda, yeah," Hawke agreed. "Although I wouldn't have said it like that, but I can see where you'd think so."
"I mean, I get it," I said. "Before I got here, I was shit on by everyone. Not only was I always the new girl, but I was a loser, didn't have parents, didn't have cool clothes, and all that shit. I got pretty good at lashing out before they could embarrass me, so everyone called me a bitch."
"Yeah," Hawke agreed. "Kinda like that, but add in growing up with the Mad Queen, and you get a better picture."
"Shit," I said, actually thinking about that. "Ok, yeah. No wonder he's a dick."
"So, like, Keir?" Hawke asked. "If he, you know, fell into bed with Wilder..."
"Good for them?" I shook my head, not sure what he wanted.
"So I should push Wilder to make a move?" he asked. "Since Torian isn't, and I think they'd be cute."
"So cute!" I agreed. "Yes! Oh my god, that would be perfect. And then I wouldn't feel so bad about me and Aspen, and me and Keir, and yeah."
"And maybe I can still kinda flirt with you?" Hawke asked.
I giggled. "You know how to flirt?"
"Not really, no," he admitted. "I just..." He shifted a bit on the bed and glanced down at the floor. "You know how before the Hunt showed up, we were all just laughing and having a good time? And how in practice, you and Keir really make me work for it, but I'm getting better with my weapons by fighting both of you at once?"
I wasn't quite sure where he was going, but I knew those things. "Yeah?"
"That's kinda the best I got," Hawke said softly.
