I shrug. “Rossi reputation and all that.”
“Let me tell you, Dante wasverydistraught.” Phoebus glances over his shoulder at the windows giving onto the wharf, his features uncharacteristically tense. “And will surely be even more so once he learns how you spent your night.” The points of his ears stick out through his sleek shoulder-length bob. “I’m all for cockfights, but I’m not sure how I feel about the one you’re stirring up, Picolina.”
I roll my eyes at his favorite endearment. “Have you again forgotten we’re the same age, Pheebs?”
“I call you that because you’re tiny.”
“I’m not tiny. You’re just freakishly tall.”
We smile at each other for a moment, but then what he said settles back over us like the clouds forever swamping our mountains. “There’s no reason for them to fight over me.”
“Isn’t there?”
“Antoni and I . . . it’s not serious. All we did was kiss. And Dante . . . Well, I heard he has his sights set on a princess.”
Phoebus snorts. “For duty’s sake. Trust me. There was zero attraction between the two of them. Not like there is between the two of you.” He chews down another mouthful. “I should ask you for pointers, since I’ve yet to snag a man’s heart with my kisses.”
“Perhaps because you kiss them below the belt, and hearts are higher up.”
Phoebus grins. “Did my favorite maiden just make a dirty joke?”
“Can you all stop mentioning my maiden-ness?”
“That’s not a word. And who’sall?”
“Catriona suggested I auction it off.”
He hovers the walnut he picked off the bar, after it plinked off his pretty face, in front of his mouth.
“She says I could get a couple gold coins for it.” I slide my lower lip between my teeth as I picture how much easier life would be with that much money.
“No.”
“No, what? I’m not worth that much?”
“You’re worth so much more, but that’s beside the point. You’d regret it.” After a beat, he adds, “If you need money, my purse is your purse.”
“Your parents cut you off.”
“But they didn’t change the lock to their doors or to their safe. You should see all the gold they stockpile inside. And not just in the form of coin.”
“Pheebs, I could never take your parents’ money.” I reach over and squeeze his hand. “But thank you.”
I steer the conversation off my virginity and finances and onto his current flame, a Tarecuorin Fae by the name of Mercutio who isn’t well-endowed but makes up for it with a mouth and fingers Phoebus describe as godly. Between him, Syb, and Catriona, and their love for oversharing, when the time comes, I feel confident I’ll know exactly what goes where.
“What is given isn’t considered taken,” Pheebs tosses out before leaving the tavern. “Just saying.”
It takes my mind a moment to make sense that he isn’t speaking of sexual acts.
I hate to admit that I’m tempted to borrow money from him, but thankfully, he leaves before I can give in to the temptation.
But, Gods, it lopes around my mind without pause, growing louder than the din of the tavern. Growing so loud that I volunteer to head to the cellar, a place I usually try to avoid, not a fan of dank, cramped spaces.
I press my palms against my temples to stifle Phoebus’s offer. Once I feel like I’ve stomped out my weakness, I grab the wine cask.
“Are you hiding from me, Signorina Rossi?”
My heart jerks in time with my body, and the wine cask, it slips from my hands and hits the floor with a worrying thump. By some miracle, the cork stays put, and the thick glass, intact. I cannot say as much about my newfangled calm.
