“What?”
He’d invited me to share lunch with him. What kind of condition could he possibly have in mind?
“That you allow me to surprise you.” He walked around to a spot behind me, kneeling on the blanket behind my back.
“What are you doing?” I asked as the long cloth appeared in front of me, and Pharis proceeded to place it over my eyes.
“Blindfolding you.”
His tone was matter of fact, as if this was some normal occurrence in his life.
“Why would you do that?”
“For a smart woman, you don’t listen very well,” he said. “Tosurpriseyou. I want to see if you can tell what you’re eating without seeing it first. I went to a lot of trouble to find… interesting food for our lunch.”
“I’m not sure if I like this,” I said.
He chuckled. “You haven’t tasted anything yet. I promise… you’ll like it.”
“No, I mean—”
Pharis cut off my protest by inserting a bit of food just past my lips. Suddenly, I didn’t want to talk anymore.
The flavor burst on my tongue. Sharp and tangy, it was some of the best cheese I’d ever had.
“It’s cheese,” I said.
“Yes, but what kind? Our kingdom boasts at least a thousand different varieties of cheeses.”
“All I know is that it’s not goat cheese.”
“I don’t give points for negative guesses,” he said.
“Um… red rind?” I said, naming one of the soft cheeses I’d tried with Stellon.
“It’s sweetbutter,” Pharis corrected. “Next one.”
My luck in the game only went downhill after that. Time and time again, Pharis fed me foods I had no hope of identifying.
“Can we stop?” I asked after failing to recognize a bite of exotic fruit. “I want to look at the waterfall.”
“Just a few more. I don’t want you to stop on a losing note. I promise the next one will be easy,” he said.
The next bite was salty and savory, mouthwateringly good.
“I’m sorry, I have no idea what that is,” I said after chewing and swallowing. “Some kind of fish maybe?”
He laughed. “You really are exceptionally bad at this game.”
“Well maybe you should have played it with someone whose palate is more sophisticated then.”
I hadn’t been able to keep the note of snippiness from my tone.
Pharis didn’t respond for a long moment.
“I have no desire to play with anyone but you, little Wynn,” he said finally.
With the blindfold on, I couldn’t see his expression, but that shiver-inducing tone was back in his voice.
