Page 77 of The Trick of It

He paused, his eyes taking on a predatory little glint. “This? No,” he said, jostling the box, which sounded like it was filled with something soft. “Those went directly back to the house to be put in ice water. My vegetable-loving wife. You must be chuffed that you’re finally allowed them again.”

“‘Crudités’?” Mr. Charpentier asked, giving a curious tilt of his head. “Why wouldn’t she be allowed crudités?”

“My constitution was too delicate for a time,” Seph answered, keeping her eyes on Rhys. “But it isn’t anymore. Is it, husband?”

His grin widened. “It isn’t,” he agreed. “Shall we head back? I’ll eat my bread as we walk.”

Once everyone was gathered back into order and they had emerged onto the high street from the Twittens, Seph was able to sidle up alongside Rhys without being overheard. “So,” she said, nodding toward his arms, “what’s in the box?”

“Bedroom slippers,” he answered, giving it another jostle. “Only thing you can buy ready-made from the precious artiste cobbler in this bloody town.”

“But—”

He shushed her. “Our shoes will take a week, but we need something dedicated and unfamiliar to practice in. I am aware you already have bedroom slippers. Now you have more.”

She harrumphed but did not argue further.

“Now, about these crudités,” he said, smirking down at her strop. “Are you prepared for your first serving? I know your cravings have gotten stronger.”

She hesitated, a little hiccup in her steps, but did not acknowledge this question otherwise.

“Excellent,” he observed, drawing closer as his voice dropped. “I have many questions about how you feel today. If your body remembers what I did to it.”

“It remembers,” she answered, her voice gone mostly to breath.

“Good,” he said. “Your lovely body should get accustomed to that memory. And to having my cock inside it.”

She flushed red, heat fanning up over her cheeks. “Rhys!” she hissed, throwing a glance at the oblivious group ahead of them.

“Did you like it?” he whispered, ignoring her concern. “Did you enjoy coming for me? On me?”

Her stomach clenched, flutters flickering outward into her flesh, and she turned her face up to meet his eye. “Yes,” she said softly. “I did.”

It clearly surprised him, his pupils flaring and consuming the green of his irises. He licked his lips, his eyes sweeping over her face and down over her body, lingering at her cleavage. “So did I,” he said. “And I meant what I said about the locks on your shop. They are far too easy to pick. You ought to expect me, frequently and without warning, in the night.”

“I will,” she told him. “So don’t disappoint the expectation.”

He exhaled, puffing his cheeks out like he hadn’t accounted for the heat he’d burdened her with washing back onto him, and shook his head like he needed to clear it. He tore his eyes away from her and sucked in a deep breath, nodding toward the house. “Here we are,” he said brisker, louder. “Home sweet home.”

Seph smiled to herself, watching his narrow arse sway as he loped ahead of her, clearly trying to escape the heated eddy he’d constructed here at the back of the line.

Home, she thought, watching Rhys Caradoc. Sweet home.

*

Seph was sparking with the electric sensation of anticipation as they finished their dinner that night, only half listening as Nini was informed of their impending parade of daytime guests and Merlin was regaled with a summary of their expedition and the science as magic discourse they’d had over lunch.

“Those scientific expos are something to spark the mind,” Merlin had allowed, nodding along. “I saw an experiment once where two slits of light in an enclosed box produced multiple lights inside the thing, in varying levels of brightness, all side by side. It implies, I was told, that there are many worlds existing parallel to our own, right beside us, without our knowledge.”

“Like fae courts?” Rhys asked.

“Like spirits on the mortal plane?” Ivanova added.

“Like dark bodies in the sky, alongside the stars and planets,” Father Wheeler suggested.

“Perhaps,” said Merlin, whose voice did sound stronger in the aftermath of his meeting with the priest this afternoon. “Perhaps all of that.”

“Oh, wonderful,” Nini replied with a deep frown. “Just so you all know, I hate that. I hate it very much.”