I’m not sure what made me type out,“No, her place. I should have asked if I should bring something.”
His reply was slow to come.
A hostess gift would be good. Bottle of wine?
As if I had any idea what kind of wine a princess drank. I shook my head and scoffed as I typed, “I was thinking flowers.”
Good luck, Kardok.
Luck? This was just part of rehearsal, wasn’t it?
But still, I hesitated outside her door at six thirty, my fist lifted to knock, my other hand gripping sunflowers. I’d debated what kind of flowers to bring, but ultimately decided roses would send the wrong message.
Just knock, idiot.
I took a deep breath and did, and the door was opened quickly enough I suspected she’d been waiting. I’d expected her smile, but when her gaze had landed on the sunflowers? Her facelit up.
“Sunflowers are my favorite!” she breathed, reaching for them.
“Really?” I would have expected something expensive and exotic, with words likeParadiseorFlamingoin the name. Not the humble sunflower. “They were my mother’s favorite, that’s why I chose them.”
She was leading me through the apartment, which was twice the size of mine—and in the swanky part of town, too—to the kitchen, where something delicious and fancy-smelling roasted in the oven. Now, Lila smiled at me over her shoulder as she pulled down a crystal vase for the flowers.
“I think I would like your mother, then. Does she live in Bramblebluff, or back in your home?”
“She’s dead,” I announced flatly, pretending interest in studying the kitchen. “My brothers and I were the only ones in the family who crossed over to your world, and they moved out east last year.”
“I’m sorry,” Lila said softly, her attention on arranging the flowers. “It must have been hard to lose them.”
I shrugged, although ithadbeen hard to say goodbye. I understood their reasoning, and we texted regularly…especially since Korrad’s latest fucked-up scheme.
To my surprise, I found myself telling her about them. “They’re twins, a few years older than me. Korrad is the responsible one—most of the time, at least—and he has a son, Jay. He was the safety inspector at the lithium mine before it closed. Brakkor is…” I shrugged. “He’s an asshole, really.”
Lila stifled a giggle. “And your asshole brother followed your non-asshole brother out east?”
I relaxed, telling her more. “Brak was the heavy equipment operator in the mine. When it closed, the owner moved a lot of the guys to the processing plant, but he opened up jobs on Eastshore Isle, the island he moved to. Kor and Brak got a good deal, so now they both work for a construction company on the island.”
She seemed genuinely interested, asking me questions about Eastshore—which Korrad described as a cozy little beach town full of Mated couples—as I helped her get dinner ready.
“It sounds lovely. You’ve never visited?”
“Nope, although I should have. Korrad got married last-minute on the beach a month ago, but I was still in postseason. Besides, I’m not a beach kind of guy.” The first time I’d evenseena beach had been traveling with the team that first year. “I prefer the mountains.”
“No ice on the beach,” she agreed with an easy smile, and we sat down to eat.
The food was good. I mean,reallygood, even if I wasn’t entirely sure what it was…something involving chicken and wine and approximately forty more steps than anything I’d ever cooked. I told her so, and she laughed.
“It’scoq au vin. My second stepmother’s recipe, actually.” A pause, then, quieter: “She was my favorite of the stepmothers thus far.”
“Ah.” I set down my fork. This felt…heavy. “So…your father has been married a few times?”
“Four, not counting my mother, who died in a car accident when I was too young to remember.” She said it easily, the way you say something you’ve made peace with. “I used to wonder if he was trying to find me a replacement mother, and he kept ending up with womenhecouldn’t live with.”
Used to, I noted. I wondered if he was still doing that.
Now Lila shrugged, not looking up from hercock vein, or whatever she’d called the meat. “It’s why he spoils me, although he claims he doesn’t.”
I glanced around the expensive apartment and let just enough sarcasm drip into my voice when I agreed, “Oh, he spoils you, Princess.”
