Page 43 of Sky’s Edge

I let it in and scowled at it.

Since it was made of wires and motherboards and stuff (it was safe to say, I was not techie in the slightest), it had no response to my scowl.

It set the tray down on the table in the cozy seating area by the fireplace and exited.

I was glad Tanyn chose bots that didn’t look humanoid.

And that morning, even if I woke up feeling great (surprisingly), I was glad of nothing else.

An hour later, I arrived in the dining room wearing a cream mohair cowl-neck sweater, camel-colored wool slacks and a pair of tan high-heeled booties.

Tanyn sat at the table in jeans and another sweater (this one a turtleneck, which did yummy things for him) with a spent plate, a cup of coffee, two tablets and a digi-notepad in front of him, a stylus in his fingers.

He turned to me, then his luminous blue eyes roamed over me, from the top of my coppery head to the pointed tips of my expensive booties.

“Worth the wait,” he muttered.

I refused to accept his compliment.

“Well, good morning to you too,” I snapped, marching to the chair opposite where he sat at the head of the table, whereupon Hurley got up from lazing beside his dad and ambled to me.

He nosed my hand.

I gave him pets.

It was nice to see at least one creature in this room had manners.

“Did you order your breakfast before you came down?” Tanyn asked.

“Yes. These aren’t my first bots, Your Majesty,” I replied.

He said nothing while I reached to the coffeepot and poured myself cup number three of the morning.

“Which cup is that?” Tanyn queried.

I added creamer and a half a spoonful of sugar before I lifted the mug to my lips and answered, “Three,” before taking a sip.

“According to you, you should be topped up.”

I put the cup down. “Well, when I shared that detail about myself, I should have shared that was under normal circumstances. When I’ve been dragged to an isolated island in the middle of nowhere and my host acts like he’d rather me not be here, I tend to stay tetchy for longer.”

He set the tablet he was holding aside and put the stylus down.

“Have I been acting like I’d rather you not be here?” he asked in a quiet tone I’d never heard from him before.

And yes, it was beautiful.

I was so dead.

“Frankly, yes,” I answered as a bot arrived carrying my breakfast.

It was a huge bowl of porridge with some sunflower seeds and pine nuts sprinkled on top, and winter berries.

I would never have imagined I’d be hungry again after the massive meal the night before, but it looked delicious.

The bot set my bowl down and exited without a word (clearly it had been programmed not to interact, and I was at one with that).

I grabbed the spoon at my place setting when Tanyn said, “My apologies, Catla. I haven’t been here since Mom died and we put her to rest.”