“For the drool,” Mirra smirked.
Aelia knocked the hanky away, a smile pulling at her lips as Mirra giggled.
“He’s just your type,” Mirra continued.
“I have a type?” Aelia’s attention had already turned back to the man.
“Sure.” Mirra shrugged, going back to watching him too. “Handsome, hunky, and crucially, he’ll be gone in a few days.”
Aelia rolled her eyes down at Mirra, who smiled sweetly at her.
“I’m not going to dignify that with an answer.”
“Hey, you know I don’t judge, I’m just saying because if you are going to make a move, you better do it fast. It looks like you’re going to have some competition.”
Aelia followed Mirra’s gaze and spotted said competition. Dotted through the crowd of wary onlookers were a handful of women with a certain, unmistakable look on their faces. Aelia couldn’t blame them; if you looked past the unadulterated menace that oozed from every pore, he was drop-dead dreamy.
It was the drop-dead part that worried her.
“They can have him.” Aelia turned back to Mirra. “I’m quite keen to live to see the morning.”
A frown creased Mirra’s brow as she looked back at the man behind the swirling flames. “There is something a bit menacing about him, I’ll give you that.”
“Come on, let’s get out of here. I’m starving,” Aelia lied, grabbing her friend’s arm and tugging her away. The last thing she wanted to do was leave; what she wanted was to lurk in the crowd and memorise every hard line of his body… which was the very reason she needed to get the hell out of there. The last thing she needed was drama, and her reaction to that man was nothing if not dramatic.
She didn’t let herself look back as they walked away, but she was certain she could feel the stranger’s gaze burning into her back long after they were out of eyesight.
“Holy crap, that’s good,”Mirra groaned, the words barely audible past her huge mouthful, sauce smeared over the corners of her mouth.
After far too much deliberation, they’d chosen lamb wrapped in some kind of flatbread, the pickled cabbage staining thecreamy sauce an irresistible pink. Aelia dropped her nose to it and took a long, drawn-out breath, her heightened sense of smell easily picking out the hints of garlic and rosemary underlying the earthy notes of the lamb.
She closed her eyes and took her first bite, trying to savour every flavour that hit her. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten anything this good.
“Oh gods.” Her eyes flicked open to meet Mirra’s, shaking her head in disbelief; she didn’t think she’devereaten anything this good.
“Right?” Mirra said, before cramming as much of her own into her mouth as she possibly could.
They became too absorbed in the food to talk, the silence between them interrupted by the occasional moan of appreciation. Around them, people milled between the campfires that dotted the forest floor. The smell of foods from all over the country wafted from each one, the Peregrinian cooks selling their wares to the ravenous villagers.
“You two need to quieten down,” Fenrir said from behind them, making Mirra jump. “You sound positively indecent.”
“Fenrir, youhaveto get one of these.” Mirra stuffed another bite in, rolling her eyes towards the dense canopy overhead.
“Or you could let me have a bite of yours?” he said with a persuasive tilt of his head.
Mirra’s face fell, eyes dropping to what little was left of her food with a look of utter heartbreak, before holding it out to him. Fenrir took it with a mischievous smile, glancing conspiratorially at Aelia before taking an enormous bite.
“Arsehole,” Aelia muttered, lips twitching in a smile as he chewed slowly, exaggerated pleasure etched into his face as he taunted Mirra. She glared at him as he handed her back the pitiful morsel that was left.
“I take it back,” Fenrir said, swallowing. “That was absolutely worth all the fuss you two were making.”
“I know.” Mirra scowled up at him. “It cost more than what my whole family eats in a week.”
Fenrir’s laugh was contagious; it always had been, and he found nothing funnier than winding up Mirra. Aelia popped the last bite into her mouth as Fenrir wrapped his arms around Mirra’s shoulder and pulled her closer, grinning from ear to ear.
“Come on, there are far too many options for you two to only try one thing. My treat.” He made to walk towards the campfires, pulling a brightening Mirra with him.
Aelia tensed, spine stiffening despite his sweet intentions. She loved that he looked after Mirra, as a human, she had a tough time of it, but Aelia didn’t need his charity. She’d been planning on sneaking off a little later anyway, but if it got her out of having to awkwardly decline Fenrir’s offer, she would make her excuses now instead.
