“You need to add an item to your job list,” Marius told Mina. “Better sound insulation for the east wing.”
Gen blushed but shot back, “Finally, you noticed.”
Mina pointed to Marius. “Any noise we make is his fault.”
He flashed her a wolfish grin, not at all repentant. “Your fault.”
I buttered my toast, channeling all the Zen I could muster.
“You should add better noise insulation for the benefit of us in the west wing too,” Bene threw in.
“Which you have all to yourself now,” Mina pointed out.
Bene waggled his eyebrows. “Lots of space for company.”
Henrik looked up from reading the newspaper in his usual corner, disgusted by the level of conversation. The paper was probably a week old, butcurrent eventshad a different meaning when a guy lived for centuries.
A pang of sorrow hit me — a rare thing to feel for Henrik. To live that long without ever finding your true love, or worse — finding and losing her… No wonder the guy was permanently downcast.
I put a hand on Gen’s thigh, resolving to treasure every moment we had together.
Bene studied Gen and me. “Wait. How serious is this? Don’t tell me I’ll have to share the woods with two tigers instead of one.”
“All 120 acres,” Mina muttered. “Poor baby.”
“Once our contract ends, you can leave any time you want.” Marius pointed out.
“I will, believe me,” Bene retorted.
“You can’t leave, Bene!” Mina admonished.
“Not with that coffee machine, at least,” Marius grumbled, unmoved.
“That beauty is mine, buddy,” Bene growled.
“Bene can’t leave. He’s like family.” Gen sided with Mina.
“Yes, like a really annoying younger brother,” I muttered.
Henrik nodded silently, then gazed out the window, and I wondered about the family he must have outlived by several centuries.
Another argument against eternal life, if you asked me.
“Just wait. I’ll leave a hole in your lives when I’m gone,” Bene declared, then gestured to me. “Pass the eggs,brother.”
I passed the platter without comment.
“You have another week of my fine company,” Bene said through open-mouth chewing. “Then I’ll be out of here.”
“And how terribly we’ll miss you,” Henrik deadpanned.
Mina shot Gen an alarmed look that said,Please tell me Henrik isn’t staying.
Gen frowned back, and I sensed her thinking of the pendant he’d given her. As long as she had that, she and Mina could feel relatively safe, if not free of his company.
My inner tiger snarled.Relatively safe?
Well, I would be around to make that a one-hundred-percent guarantee.
