A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust

"Not bad, I guess," Julius muttered.

"We'll have to keep an eye on him," Norton chimed in, voices low and suspicious.

Quentin staggered to his feet, a crooked grin on his face. "Alright, come on, you and me-let's spar for a bit."

"Wait, you mean a fight?" Silas stood up too, eyes widening in surprise.

"I need to know you can protect Callie," Quentin said, suddenly sounding way too serious for how much he'd had to drink.

"Fine, bring it on," Silas replied, rolling his shoulders.

The two of them tromped out onto the lawn before Calliope could stop them. Within seconds, they were brawling like two college football players after too many beers.

Naturally, Calliope and Dahlia hurried out to watch, joined by Julius and Norton, who immediately started cheering for Quentin like this was the Super Bowl.

After a while, it dawned on the tipsy crowd that no one was rooting for Silas, and soon enough, Julius and Norton were arguing about whose side they should actually be on.

"Your brothers are a riot,” Uriah said, standing next to Calliope.

"They're just drunk," Calliope replied with a frown.

"Still, Quentin's impressive. Even wasted, the guy's steady on his feet. And Silas is holding his own. I've never seen anyone match him before," Uriah mused.

Calliope just watched, biting her lip, clearly worried.

The longer the fight went on, the more serious it got-punches landing harder, eyes narrowing. These two were really going at it, and it was clear someone could actually get hurt.

Seeing things escalate, Calliope realized nobody else was going to step in. So, without a second thought, she rushed toward them.

"Watch out!" Uriah tried to grab her arm, but she was too quick. "They're both wild right now, you'll get hurt!"

But Calliope didn't care. She dove right into the fray.

A few wild moves later, both Silas and Quentin, caught up in the adrenaline, turned their attention to this unexpected challenger.

That's when Calliope showed what she was made of. With just a few slick moves, she had both guys pinned and gasping for breath.

"That's it, fight's over. It's a tie!" she declared, glaring at them. "I'm Callie. You're not allowed to hit me!"

With that, the fight abruptly ended. The two bruisers suddenly looking sheepish. Calliope waved Dahlia and a couple others over to help haul the boys back inside.

After all that, Silas and Quentin were even more hammered, stumbling and slurring, barely able to keep their eyes open. In the end, Calliope

managed to shove all four que into

separate rooms, just to make sure no more brawling broke out.

Finally, peace and quiet.

Calliope let out a sigh of relief.

Uriah was staring at her in awe. "You're seriously impressive."

"You flatter me," Calliope replied, shooting him a quick glance. Noticing Mavis was

missing, she asked, “Hey Uriah, you got a minute to talk?"

"About what?" Uriah replied warily, already sensing trouble.

"Mavis," Calliope said, fixing him with

a look. "Don't try to dodge this. I'm not going to eat you alive, and m not forcing you into anything Just a chat, okay?"

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Uriah hesitated, but finally nodded.

They stepped outside together, leaving the noise behind.

"Do you really have zero feelings for Mavis?" Calliope asked quietly. "You know,noveldrama

giving someone hope and then taking it away, that's a cruel thing to do."

"I know," Uriah replied, voice low.

"That's why I didn't want to give her any hope in the first place. That's actually why I called off the

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Christmas dinner at the last minute."