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She stared at him for a minute before continuing to eat around it, ignoring the offering.

"You are too thin," he muttered as if in explanation. "You have lost too much weight."

Aiko looked between them, eyes sparkling.

Fae narrowed hers.

"Before you wouldn't speak; now you refuse to shut up," she grumbled before popping the meat into her mouth and chewing morosely.

Then something happened that Fae had never witnessed. Slowly, the lines on his forehead and between his brows seemed to smooth out, his shoulders seemed to relax a little. The edges of his beautiful mouth lifted in a dazzling smile, revealing a dimple that she never knew existed. He looked like she had given him the greatest gift, and then he added another piece of meat to her bowl.

"Watching you both is like watching a mouse trying to move a mountain," Aiko said thoughtfully, biting into her bun.

Blaidd blinked at her before he asked, "Are you calling me a mouse?"

Fae snorted despite herself.

"Are you calling me fat?" Fae said with mock-anger.

"You are not fat," Blaidd replied at once.

Aiko made a soft choking noise.

"Stop that," Fae muttered, heat rising to her cheeks.

Blaidd merely continued eating while his eyes flitted to her mouth at intervals, looking away when she caught him staring.

Every time she slowed, he made a small, pointed gesture toward the bowl.

Aiko leaned closer to Fae and whispered, loud enough for him to hear, "He is worse than my grandmother."

Fae's lips twitched while Blaidd pretended not to hear, but the faint curve at the corner of his mouth betrayed him.

Chapter 39

Over the next few weeks, Blaidd followed her around like an overgrown puppy. It was a side of Blaidd no one had ever seen, least of all Fae. Aiko looked on with fascination, and Fae often found her munching on her favourite snacks while watching Blaidd's clumsy attempts at courtship. Kenji tagged along, morose but not interfering because he knew what it meant to be lifemates—even though he wore his heart on his sleeve when he looked at Fae.

As for Blaidd, he did not press, but he was everywhere.

But his presence was there in small, persistent ways that quietly threaded themselves into Fae's days.

He left things where she would find them.

A strip of cured leather, softer than any she had touched, to tie her hair.A folded length of cloth in pale gold for the coming moon festival because he secretly thought it matched her eyes.

He had managed to talk his way into the workshop at lunch hour and brought food, which he left on her worktable.

Sometimes she returned the gifts untouched.

Sometimes they disappeared.

He hoped they weren't thrown away. Once, he brought her a pair of light winter boots—lined and practical. While he knew she preferred bare feet, he left them on her doorstep without comment, since the weather was cold.

She did not wear them.

He noticed.

He brought nothing else for her feet after that.