I grin. “Oh, I can talk all diurnal about sausage.”
“The best way to make her stop is to put sausage in her mouth,” Gwyneth helpfully supplies.
Nash stumbles over his own feet, but manages to keep a firm grip on me and regain his balance. “Great form, Nash,” I comment, patting his shoulder. “Sausage talk normally takes me down, too.”
He sucks in a long breath and his jaw ticks. “What are we going to do with you?”
“I vote we keep her,” Malachi says. “She makes the dull diurnal far more interesting.”
“We don’t need interesting, we need to rescue a damsel,” Hart snaps.
Nash glares at him as we push into the library. Oh good, we're returning to the safest place in the palace. Are they forgetting that I nearly died here? Then again if we avoid the places where I almost die, we wouldn’t have anywhere left to go. The scent of freshly cooked sausage permeates the air banishing the worries of fatal incidents.
ChapterEleven
“I’m astounded at the amount of sausage the pretty mouse can put away,” Theo mutters with wide eyes, watching me fill my plate for a third time. Malachi reaches to take the last sausage from the mid meal spread. My gaze narrows to his sausage stealing digits. He raises his hands and backs away. That’s what I thought. Don’t come between a girl and her sausage.
I plonk my ass down next to Gwyneth, who stopped after her first plate because she’s so ladylike.
“They have more food in the main dining room,” Malachi offers.
“They don’t allow Burghers to sit and eat there,” Hart snaps.
“I keep forgetting she’s a Burgher,” Malachi says with a sigh as he tucks himself into an armchair. Nash the naughty has disappeared to do grown up tutor stuff, leaving me with happy, grumpy, and sexy.
“Which is which?” Theo asks.
I blink. “Which is which, what?”
“Naughty, happy, grumpy, and sexy. Clearly, I am sexy,” Theo answers while puffing out his chest.
I shrug. “You are clearly full of your own Bunkum poop.”
“But I am sexy,” he says with his chest pushed out. “I would have said naughty but you already bestowed that onto Nash.”
“Yes, you are sexy.”
“Leaving me with happy,” Malachi says.
I nod and raise a brow at Hart. He rolls his eyes. Glad we agree on that.
Loud footsteps thunder on the floor and Charming appears before us. He eyeballs Gwyneth and I with lowered brows. I roll my eyes. We're no doubt breaking some weird Hallowed law about sitting down and eating with the Stirlings. Can't have the dirty Burghers eating with the blessed Hallowed.
He puffs out his chest, trying to hide how threatened he is by the Stirlings. As if he could even compare. They exude a cocky confidence born of experience, while Charming plays with it like a fumbling toddler.
“Gwyneth, unfortunately I have been called to the castle. I should return by no later than on the morrow’s sundown for our walk.”
“Is everything okay?” she asks. She feigns interest so well. She could make a killing on stage, unlike me, who would be doing the killing.
“Of course, my king has summoned me.” Probably asking His Cruelness if Gwyneth is theone.
“I shall see you at sundown on the morrow.”
He sweeps his gaze across the Stirling brothers like he’s warning them away from his maiden. With a swift turn, he leaves the library, the floorboards groaning beneath his feet and his stupid cloak billowing around him.
The librarian comes bustling from between the stacks, the sound of book pages rustling echoing in his wake. “Burgher, I need you.”
I blink. He was quite adamant that he did not need me earlier. Gwyneth rises and places her empty plate on the table. She touches my arm as she passes. “I shall see you this sundown in our chambers?”
