“Hey!” she yelled indignantly. “You guys! This isn’t funny anymore!”
Annoyed and very hungry, she started to take a bite out of the morsel she had left in her hands…when suddenly Treffon tackled her and knocked it to the ground.
“What are you doing?” she cried.
“Did you take a bite?” Treffon demanded frantically.
“No, because apparently nobody in the universe wants me to. What gives?”
“It’s been poisoned!” He snatched the picnic basket away from her. Half a dozen Eeplings swarmed over him, grabbed it, and ran off with it.
Her eyes widened in horror. She looked over at them. They seemed fine. They didn’t seem sick. “But…they’ve been eating it. What makes you think it’s poisoned? Should we rush them to the medic?”
“What they eat is not compatible with what humans eat. So, if they can eat something, odds are good that it would be poisonous to you. They were trying to stop you from eating it.”
“Oh! That means they saved my life!” She hugged the Eepling who had knocked the food out of her hand. It looked at her reproachfully.
“Eep, eep!” She suspected that was Eepling language for, “We tried to tell you, you moron.”
Then she looked at Treffon and her face went pale. Tears welled in her eyes and trickled down her cheeks. “If this was poisoned…it was meant for me. Somebody here, somebody on your pack lands, is trying to kill me.”
“Yes,” he growled, his face dark with anger. “And I will find them and make them sorry they were ever born.”
He clicked his comm bracelet and spoke to Tristao, telling him what had happened. “Detain the chef who prepared this meal,” he said furiously. “And send out a crew to collect the picnic baskets.”
A short while later, security staff came to pick up the baskets and all their contents, to take back to their laboratory for analysis.
They flew back to the castle, and Allison and Kroi met them at the landing pad to fetch the Eeplings. Kroi still looked downcast; apparently he’d been very rattled by his failure at stalking Violet. He was wearing a uniform that Violet thought was only supposed to be meant for the cubs of the pack, and plucking at it self-consciously without really noticing.
“You’re all heroes, yes you are,” Allison crooned to the Eeplings. They trilled with delight. Allison glanced up at Treffon. “Promise you won’t let anyone murder my friend,” she said with unaccustomed boldness.
“I would die first,” Treffon said.
After Allison and Kroi and the Eeplings left, Violet glanced down at her fruit-splattered shirt.
“I should change.”
He nodded. “You will shower in my room, because you are moving into my chambers. And I will wait outside the shower to ensure no one makes any attempt on your life.”
When she started to speak, he growled, “Do not argue with me. I am the Reginar, and my word is your command!”
“Is it impossible for you to be civilized for five minutes?” she snapped at him. “Quit trying to boss me around! I wasn’t going to argue.”
“Of course you were. You are a stubborn human who refuses to let me do what is necessary to keep you safe. But I will do what I have to do, whether you agree or not.”
Violet stalked off, heading towards Treffon’s room. Treffon followed right in her footsteps.
“I wasn’t going to argue with you. Iwasgoing to tell you that I’d probably be even safer if you were in the shower with me. And now I’ve changed my mind.”
“What?” Treffon looked dismayed. “Change it back!”
“Nope. You can’t make me.”
“But I can be very persuasive.”
