Clover moved around the counter and gave him a stiff, awkward side hug.
“I told you I wanted to see what your brother kept going on about,” he said, answering her unspoken question. “You weren’t kidding about the cold. This is terrible.”
“I tried to tell you,” she said quietly, still in the habit of speaking softly and sparingly in public spaces.
Thomas leaned his hip against the counter and crossed his arms. “I’d like to explore while I have the time off, maybe go to the garden region you once mentioned, but I only took a week off.”
Thomas was the blacksmith in Dragon Village. “Don’t you have an apprentice?”
He snorted. “I wish. It’s not like Dragon Village has a large population.”
She glanced at the clock. “Do you want to have lunch and catch up?”
“That sounds like a great idea.” He patted his stomach. “I’m starving.”
An hour later, they sat in a local tavern as Thomas told stories about the antics of people back home. Some she knew. Some she didn’t. The way he spoke about one woman in particular caught her attention.
“You and Lucy are together,” she guessed. “You said she works at Amos’ estate?”
Thomas's face split into a blinding smile. “We are, and yes. Did Amos not tell you about her?”
“Amos doesn’t talk about his staff,” she said carefully, sensing a story she hadn’t been told.
Thomas sat back and stretched. “He and Lucy are close. Years ago, he saved her from a highborn in the capital and sent her to Dragon Village.”
Hydra members from around the kingdom often sent women or families who were in danger to Dragon Village, so it wouldn’t have been worth mentioning to her. Rationally, she knew that.
Irrationally, she wanted to flip the table. Amos lost it when Thomas spoke to her in a room full of people yet he wasclosewith a woman who works in his house.
She fought for calm, the hot seed of jealousy burrowing deep in her chest. “How long have you two been together?” Wasn’t it bad enough that her husband was in a fake relationship with another woman? Her jealousy didn’t care that Lucy and Thomas were together, it cared that Amos had never mentioned her even once in the many letters he’d sent.
“Our relationship is new.” He sat forward and rested his arms on the table. “I think you’d like her. She’s funny and sweet but won’t hesitate to put someone in their place.”
Fan-fucking-tastic.“I can’t wait to meet her.”
Thomas looked at her with a funny smile. “You talk a lot more when we talk about Amos.”
Embarrassment bloomed across Clover’s cheeks. Her family said the same. She shrugged.
“It’s nice,” Thomas admitted. “None of us could pry you out of your shell. I’m glad you found someone who can.”
Later, Thomas and Clover stood on the sidewalk in front of the bakery saying their goodbyes. “Isabella asked me to deliver something for her,” he said, pulling a leather pouch from his pocket.
“Isabella did?” She took the pouch and peeked inside, pulling out a silver chain. On the necklace was a tiny dagger with a gold hilt.
“She said it reminded her of you.”
She and Isabella had seen each other a few times over the last couple of years, but they weren’t necessarily close. It touched Clover that the woman had thought of her at all. “I’ll write her a letter to thank her.” She tucked the pouch in her pocket and clasped the necklace around her neck. “I love it.”
“Ow,” Thomas hissed and jumped back, trying to shake a growling Eddy off his pants leg.
“Eddy!” Clover scolded, grabbing the tiny fox’s body. He wouldn’t let go, and she had to bop his nose until he released Thomas’s ankle. “What has gotten into you?”
“Is that a fennec fox?” Thomas asked, lifting his pant leg to assess the damage. “What is it doing in the mountain region, and why are you holding it like a pet?”
Clover scowled at Eddy. “Is Amos in there?” Eddy nodded, and her scowl deepened. “We’ll talk later.”
“Is that Amos’familiar?” Thomas marveled. “I’ve never seen his mark. I only knew it wasn’t a dragon.”
