Oh! It was Edwin!
A delighted smile took over my face and I barely resisted the urge to pop up and hug him. “Edwin, good morning.”
His head actually jerked back for a moment. “Er, good morning, Your Highness. I’m astonished to see you here at this hour.”
I’d always been a morning person, but he didn’t know that about me yet. “I couldn’t sleep. How are you?”
“Well, thank you.” He pointed to the cup sitting at my elbow. “Would you like another?”
The first one had done fuck all, so… “Yes, please.”
When he put a hand on the cup, I put mine on his forearm. “Two sugars and a hint of cream, please. I like mine sweet.”
He shifted in discomfort. “Of course.”
Dammit, I’d been too heavy-handed with the flirting. Argh. James, you idiot, you must remember Edwin’s shy by nature. He’s not used to flirting. Scale it back, now.
“Sorry. I didn’t intend to make you uncomfortable.”
He relaxed a hair and gave me a quick smile. “Not at all.”
So forgiving, my Edwin.
He fixed me another cup of khavé and brought it back. “I also found it quite hard to snerdle last night.”
I blinked up at him. Now, I was a highly educated man, who’d had both private tutors and schooling, and yet many a time I’d felt stupid talking to Edwin. “Snerdle?”
“Cozying under the covers,” he explained.
“Ah, right. It was a touch warm last night.”
“Yes, unseasonably so. I prefer it cooler in order to sleep.”
“So do I.” I made a mental reminder to buy him one of those fans. Wonderful inventions, the mechanical fans. They ranon magic, a true marriage of science and magic that produced wonderful results.
Wait, how did I casually gift one to him when he’d only known me a day?
Dammit, if I wasn’t so exhausted, I’d be able to think of a solution.
Never mind, I’d think more on this later. “What are you working on this morning?”
“Your travel plans.” He answered as he moved toward his own desk to my immediate left. “You intend to go to Berengar, do you not? Right after your adoption ceremony?”
“Well, yes, to reseal the portal.”
“Then I must work out the logistics of how to get there and who is going with you.” He settled in his chair and gave me a wry look, brow quirked. “Your days of going wherever you wish without company have now ended.”
Actually, I’d had company for ten years now and was quite used to it. I just wasn’t thinking this morning about demon portals, only of Edwin. It was so like him to come in early ahead of his coworkers to work on such tasks.
Couldn’t I sit here and bask in his presence while he worked, staring at his face and marveling at how young and handsome he looked?
It’d come off as creepy, wouldn’t it?
Dammit.
Five
James
