“Gregory MichaelBenan,” came a thundering voice from behind them. “What have I told you about starting fights in my kitchens?”
A dramatic swirl of wind tugged at Ger’s hair and cooled his flushed skin before the door thunked shut. He managed to turn his head, just enough to see Marie nearly vaulting tables to get to them. Benan had been sidestepping the puddle on the ground and halted midstep, nostrils flaring with a huff of breath. He wrenched his death stare away from Jack and Ger, turning to Marie, who waited with her hands on her broad hips.
“Well?”
“That I’ll be—”
“That you’ll be fighting the mice for crumbs, that’s right.”
Marie stepped in then, one clipped footstep after another until she was looming over Jack and Ger where they knelt on the floor, a bear standing over her cubs. Her tone lowered to a pitch deep and dangerous, the voice of pure wrath.
“And besides that,” she swore, “if I see you anywhere near my boys again, I’ll be on to your grandmother so fast it might finally spin that thick head of yours into place.”
Benan bristled. His face worked a moment, caught somewhere between rueful and rageful until the latter won out, twisting his thick eyebrows in a knot. That rage jerked visibly through him, jolting his gaze from Marie to Ger—to Jack.
“Good of Leman to save your ass,” Benan spat, “even if he doesn’t want a piece of it.”
Ger could not bring himself to look up, but he felt the warm grasp on his shoulder loosen. Even if he’d imagined it, Benan’s vicious delight told him enough of Jack’s reaction to make his tender stomach sink.
“Oh, he didn’t even tell youwhy,did he? Poor little kitchen mouse. He’s balls deep in that princess again—”
“Enough,” Marie snapped. “Get out.”
And finally, Benan did. But Gerard would not soon forget the look of pure hatred he levelled at them all as he backed slowly out the doorway. The raging fire in his beady eyes sent an echo of heat surging through Ger’s gut, and he gave another wild retch to a chorus of alarmed gasps.
“Right then, hero,” Marie sighed. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
???
It bothered him a little that he was vain enough tothinksuch a thing right now, but Ger couldn’t help it. He didn’t want Jackto see him like this. For a second time no less, cowering and breathless—and now covered in bodily fluids too.
Very bloody attractive. Who could resist?
They’d taken him to the staff privy at the back of the kitchen, given him water and a swill of mint solution to wash out the taste. Then Marie had helped to peel his armour and uniform from him before whisking it off somewhere for cleaning. He couldn’t look Jack in the eye as he accepted the soft, clean jumper the porter had found for him and pulled it on past his undershirt.
“Bit snug,” said Jack, tone flat. “The one downside to those big shoulders.”
Well, there was that, at least. Ger chanced a glance up at him through his sweat-damp hair, and at whatever Jack found on his face, his guarded expression softened.
“C’mere,” he said, and waved him over to the opposite wall of the dim bathroom, where a low stool was wedged into the corner.
Ger’s knees trembled as he sank to his seat, though his breath came easily enough now despite the slight ache from his overworked throat.
“You alright?” Jack asked.
Ger raised his brows. “Areyou?I know he’s not the most reasonably minded, but to blatantly attack you like that in Marie’s kitchens—what wasthatabout?”
The porter’s lips tugged up—grudgingly, but with undeniable amusement all the same.
“Well, he was hungry, and being roughly the size of a bear, our friend Benan believes his hunger to be a little more urgent than anyone else’s. He thinks I’m hoarding food.”
“That’s stupid.”
“That bit’s true, actually.” Jack grinned at the immediate shock that slackened Ger’s face. “Halftrue. I’ve been foraging on my way to work. Nuts and berries, that sort of thing, so I can have something on hand if it’s needed. A lot of people have been struggling to get by with just the daily broth, so I hand out little parcels of them when I can. He caught me delivering one to the gard’s quarters on his way to bed last night.”
“A parcel for Benan?” He couldn’t help the incredulity that tightened his already sore throat, but Jack just rolled his eyes.
“For you, Ger.”
