“What?” I asked, offended.
He signaled to his werewolf driver/bodyguard. “Kell. Bring the basket.”
The werewolf began unpacking Severn’s food items: roast pork, figs, expensive soft cheese, and fresh-baked crusty bread, two different kind of berry pies, pomegranates, an assortment of fine thin-cut meats, and a bottle of honey wine.
“Thatis a picnic,” Severn emphasized.
I held up the bottle of honey wine. “Thatis illegal to serve to children.”
Severn grabbed it out of my hand and uncorked it in a few graceful twists. “Very well, then you and I will drink it.” He signaled to Kell to prepare two wineglasses.
“I thought I wasn’t supposed to drink fae wine,” I said. Everyone had warned me about it except for Locke, who I suspectedwantedme to drink it so he could taunt me for whatever disastrous effects it had.
“It’s mead,” Severn explained. “Alcoholic honey wine. Notrealwine. Harmless.”
Since he was thrusting a glass at me, I assumed I wouldn’t get in trouble for drinking on the clock. Henry and May ran over, giggling, and grabbed some apples and figs, then ran off chasing each other through the grass. Severn and I settled onto the blanket, watching them play. I felt incredibly strange to be here with him, my boss. Joggers and other picnickers in the park were giving us strange looks—everyone had to have recognized the reclusive billionaire Severn Wilde and wondered who the mystery woman and children were with him. I expected him to bristle at their stares, but he barely seemed to notice the attention we were garnering.
“I inquired about your mother,” he said, which surprised me. I had almost expected that he had forgotten about our conversation. “The European courts claim they know no Alyse O’Dell, but I am waiting for a response from a few others. Kell is asking the werewolf packs, as well.” He motioned to the bodyguard, who was standing a few feet away from us.
“I appreciate that. Truly.” I began to relax; it was hard not to on such a beautiful day, sipping sweet honey wine, the smell of flowers and fresh-cut grass enveloping us. Not to mention, Severn’s pie was divine. So I felt bold enough to clear my throat and say, “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“The children want a pet.”
“A pet? An animal? Inmytower?”
I didn’t let his frown discourage me. I pressed, “It would mean a lot to them. It’s an important part of any kid’s life to learn how to care for another creature and to have something to love and play with.”
He took another sip of his honey wine. “Something to play with? I thought that’s why I hiredyou.”
Severn’s turquoise eyes danced with more amusement than annoyance, which tempered my flare of anger slightly. All I could think about was how much having a pet would have meant to me as a little girl, having no stable life, and how much it would mean to kids like Henry and May who had lost everything.
Severn waved his glass dismissively in the air. “Get them a plant.”
“This really matters to them, Severn.”
He cocked his head, perplexed. “Once again, you disobey me. Fascinating. I don’t quite know how I feel about that.”
Red was creeping up the back of my neck, but I held my ground. He could fire me if he wanted, but it was true that he had no power to command me to do anything, and I knew it needled him in a way that I was starting to enjoy.
“It’s hard to be a kid, even harder to lose one’s parents. Kids need some kind of stability, something constant in their lives.Morethan a house plant.” I swallowed, suddenly feeling very warm as I admitted, “You probably haven’t seen it, but there’s an old movie called101 Dalmatians. I was obsessed with getting a Dalmatian of my own when I was little. But we couldn’t—” I broke off, realizing I was rambling about my own past and that Severn couldn’t possibly care about my history.
To my surprise, he had an eyebrow raised, listening, but the last thing I wanted was to tell him all about my unconventional childhood and make him think I wasn’t suited to take care of his wards.
“I promise a pet won’t bother you,” I insisted. “I’ll take care of it, do all the feeding and cleaning up after it. You’ll never even know it’s here.”
He studied me for a while, his jaw shifting as though trying to make up his mind about something, and then he cleared his throat and took another sip of his wine. “Fine.”
I was so shocked that I wasn’t sure I heard right. “Wait, so you mean…”
But Henry and May ran up just then, cheeks flushed, giggling and exchanging mischievous looks with one another. May had gathered wildflowers from around the park and woven a flower crown, and Henry had made a small bouquet.
“Willow! Severn!” they called. “Play with us!”
They each took one of our hands and tugged until we reluctantly got to our feet. From the corner of my eye, I saw a group of tourists staring slack-jawed at Severn Wilde on a picnic.
“Bend down, Willow,” May said, and when I stooped, she put the flower crown on my head and gave me the bouquet. Then they dragged us beneath a flowering cherry tree. Kell, silent in his black suit, followed at a distance, never more than a few feet away from his regent.
