Elizabeth smiled and raised an eyebrow. “You sound surprised.”
“No jewels or gowns anymore?” he inquired, gesturing at her form.
She was wearing a dark, homespun dress of dyed cotton. She wore no silks or expensive fabrics, and her throat and ears were absent of any adornment. Her hair was plaited, with a few strands escaping, and she wore no face paint. She blended in with everyone else in the city and had sold nearly every expensive thing she had owned.
She no longer looked like a woman who dined with royalty—she looked like a commoner.
By selling her things, she acquired her own accommodations and a modest amount of gold, which she hoped would last for a while.
Instead of wandering the world in search of somewhere that felt like home, or trying to return to a place where she no longer felt like she belonged, she had made her own. It was small, and she wasn’t wealthy by any means, but she loved it more than she could put into words.
So, Elizabeth smiled and slowly shook her head.No. No jewels or fancy gowns anymore.
When the serving woman came over, she ordered a bowl of soup, and Caspian raised a hand to interrupt. “She will have the venison, as will I. Another round of wine, and I want three orders of this to bring home.” Caspian tapped the menu, not letting her see. “For mine, please have the meat undercooked, raw in the middle. No vegetables.”
“Very good, sir.” It was a mark of how good the restaurant was that the server didn't even blink at the strange requests and took the menus from them.
Her gaze narrowed in irritation. “I was going to order the soup.”
She did not like being told what to do or spoken over like a child or someone incapable of making her own decisions.
“You ordered from the cheaper side of the menu, I assume because you were either planning to pay for yourself or to spare my feelings and coffers. I will be paying, of course, and I will insist you eat something more filling.”
Elizabeth couldn’t find room to argue, so she admitted defeat. “Thank you,” she said stiffly. Her pride was saved from admitting that shehadbeen looking at the cheaper side of the menu. His insistence was irritating, but it was not coming from an unkind place, so she relented.
“It is mypleasure.” He said, making the word sound vaguely obscene. “We can't have you off on your adventures with an empty stomach now, can we?”
He cocked his head to the side and added, “The extra is for you to take with you, wherever it is that you are, by the way.”
“And here I thought you were worried Asmodeus would need to be fed when you got home.”
He smiled slowly. “Because he is my pet?”
“You said it, not me.”
Caspian laughed, the sound booming. His expression quickly fell, and he surveyed her seriously once more. “I missed you.”
Elizabeth’s fingers tensed in her lap. The intensity of his gaze on hers made her uncomfortable. “Why have you come?”
Softly, he said, “Why did you leave?”
A hundred reasons. But she didn’t want to list them all and ruin the evening, so she only said, “Because I could not stay.”
An awkward silence stretched while the server brought their meals. She cut a piece of venison with her knife and speared it with her fork. She sighed as the fatty cut of meat nearly melted in her mouth. The food was much better fare than she would have had at home, where she typically ate meals of bread, cheeses, and whatever bland stews she was able to put together in the small fireplace in her townhouse.
She muttered her thanks for the meal, and he crossed his arms, brooding across the table.
Neither spoke until her attention was caught by several white flakes falling outside.
She gasped in delight. “Oh! Is that snow?”
He glanced outside. “Yes,” he said dismissively. “We get it every winter.”
She propped her chin on her fist, staring in wonder at the snowflakes drifting down and landing on the cobblestones. “I’ve always wanted to see snow,” she said happily.
“It’s nothing special,” he said gruffly. “It’s justsnow.”
Noticing his derisive look, as if he found it silly that she enjoyed something so trivial, she turned to him and raised her brows, words coming out sharp. “So whydidyou come? Besides belittling things I enjoy.”
