Edith choked on air. “I hate you,” she informed him weakly as she grabbed a glass of water.
Binky ignored her. “He had yearning posture.”
Dave lost it, laughing again, his mouth was full of food yet that didn’t stop him.
“What,” Edith demanded, horrified, “does that even mean?!”
“It means,” Isabeau said helpfully, “he wants to kiss you.”
Edith made a strangled sound and stuffed bread into her mouth to avoid responding. Unfortunately, silence only made everyone look more suspicious.
Jessica narrowed her eyes slowly. “You like him.”
Edith almost launched herself bodily through the nearest window. “I do not.”
Maeve gasped theatrically. “Oh no, she absolutely does.”
“I met him twice!”
“That’s enough for fate to work with,” Isabeau pointed out.
Edith dropped her head back dramatically. “Why is everyone in this house insane?”
“Magic,” Bas said.
“Lead paint,” Isabeau suggested.
“Poor parenting,” Maeve added.
Grundlepus snored softly under the table, entirely disconnected from the chaos the Lucky bastard.
Edith rubbed both hands over her face. Theabsolute worst partwas that underneath the embarrassment and panic and chaos… she had wanted him to kiss her, and that terrified her far more than the bounty ever had.
Spencer was exactly the kind of male she should stay far away from, quietly intense, protective in ways he probably didn’t even realise yet, and capable of making her feel seen with one look.
Which meant one thing… Disaster.
“Edith.”
She blinked. Jessica was watching her carefully now.
Apparently, everyone else had moved on from mocking her love life and into the “genuine concern” phase of the evening. Edith straightened slightly. “What?”
Jessica tilted her head. “You’ve pushed the same pea around your plate for five minutes.”
Edith looked down, the said pea sat sadly near the edge of the plate.
“I’m thinking.”
Maeve grinned immediately. “About Spencer?”
Edith pointed at her. “No magic for a week.”
“You can’t enforce that.”
“I can bloody welltry.”
Binky fluttered onto Edith’s shoulder suddenly, lowering his voice just enough to sound serious for once.
