“Brutus?”
“Shhh. I was never here, and I didn’t bring these things. You woke up and they were here.” He bent and dumped a tangled clutter of items on the floor outside Adel’s cell and straightened, hanging the lantern from a sinister-looking hook on the ceiling.
“I saw nothing,” Adel murmured, moving to the front of her cell where she could reach through the bars for the items. “Thank you.”
Brutus grunted and turned away, his footsteps fading as quickly as they appeared.
Felix peeled his face from the coolness of the wall and scooted toward the bars separating her cell from his. “What did he bring?”
“Who?” She looked up sharply. “There was no one. We woke up and this was here.”
Felix winced.
“You are terrible at this,” she confirmed, breaking a loaf of bread in half and passing the larger piece through the bars. The action warmed him, confirming the suspicion that a heart lurked beneath her armor. Unless the bread was poisoned.
“I can eat the smaller one.”
She shook the piece, impatient for him to take it. “I am more accustomed to being hungry.”
He made no move to take it. “So am I.”
“You? An Alexandrian medicus, know hunger?” Her eyebrows flickered in disbelief, lantern light glinting in her eyes as she looked at him.
“Not everyone is as they appear.” He shrugged. “No one is without struggle, no matter what outward appearances say.”
“You speak like an old man.”
He pressed a hand to his chest, feeling his lips tipping up. “Is that a compliment?”
Her eyes narrowed, but a playful glint remained. “Act so surprised and there will not be another.”
“Ah.” He allowed a slow nod of realization. “There you are. For a moment I thought you’d been exchanged for someone else.”
“No doubt you would have preferred that.”
“I don’t mind.”
“Are you a glutton for misery, then?”
“I never cared much for the easy way of things. My mater didn’t approve.”
It was her turn to smile. “She would have liked my aipei. I was forever doing things the hard way.”
“And could you take instruction from her?”
She raised an eyebrow. “I can take instruction... from those competent to give it.”
“I sense an insult hidden somewhere.”
“Perhaps you are not so incompetent after all.”
“Two compliments in one day? Are you trying to woo me?”
She shot him a look that pointed to the contrary. “Are you going to take the bread?”
“If you make it even, or give me the smaller piece.”
She blinked and withdrew the bread, tearing off enough to make the two pieces equal before passing it back. “Satisfied?”
