Page 40 of Rauf: Minotaur Mates

Just a few hours ago, Rauf and I had⁠—

No. I absolutely wasn’t letting my mind wander back down that path.

Julia twisted the tissue in her fingers. Her breathing grew uneven, and she brought the rag up until it covered part of her mouth as well as her cheek.

“I was just trying to help him. Otho was so busy with his patients. I never thought that he’d⁠—”

“It’s all right. Just take it slow.”

She drew in a breath that caught halfway through, then tried again. I stayed quiet.

Julia wiped beneath her eyes, dragging the damp tissue over her skin until it started to come apart.

“Do you think you could get me a cup of tea? My throat is kind of scratchy.”

The last thing I wanted was to play Julia’s errand girl. “Of course.”

I got up and moved the tissue box within her reach. She lowered the rag to her lap, looking tired now, and I left her to it.

The corridor was quieter than the waiting room. Otho was talking to someone behind another closed door, and I could hear a cupboard banging farther down the hall. I went to the little alcove outside his office, where he kept a kettle and a tin of tea leaves.

There was still water in the kettle. I switched it on and opened the tin.

I spooned some leaves into a strainer and settled it over a cup.

The kettle clicked off. I poured the water, watching the color spread through it, and breathed in the steam. A cup for myself would have been nice. So would a quiet room where no one needed anything from me for ten minutes.

I heard the door open and the heavy footsteps of a minotaur. Somehow I sensed without any other clues that it was Korfas.

I left the strainer to drain over the cup and looked around. He’d stopped at the entrance to the alcove, his attention fixed on me. There was no sign of Rauf behind him, and I was annoyed with myself for checking.

“Are you all right?” Korfas asked.

“I wasn’t the one who got punched.”

“No, but Drev told me about how you found that man. You were out with the Butchers.”

I lifted the strainer out and set it on a saucer. “I need to take this to Julia before it gets cold.” I picked up the cup.

Korfas stayed where he was. “You can heat it back up. This is official business.”

“Is it?”

He drew himself up a little. “Remmen’s out of town, which means it’s my job to fix this. You were out with the Butchers?”

I wished he wouldn’t call them that. Why were the men out at the farm held to some higher standard? Every minotaur on this planet, except for Nezara, had fought in the pits. What made Rauf and his men so dangerous?

“Drev wanted me to take a look at where he found a dead goat. They’ve been having issues.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me?”

I stared at him. “You’re not a veterinarian.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

We were dancing around the issue. I wanted to take the bull by the horns and get this over with. But I’d already taken one bull by the horns today and that had ended in orgasms and disaster.

My cheeks flamed.