Page 18 of A Fable of Riddles and Redemption

“I’ll let her know.” With that, she returned to the front of the store and made small talk with the head housekeeper.

Unfortunately for Zorina, Madame Giry kept drawing Herrick into the conversation. The housekeeper eyed the guard critically, then turned her gaze to Zorina. “Despite the drastic height difference, the two of you would make a lovely couple.”

Zorina spluttered. “Wh-what?”

Herrick began to give a lopsided grin. “You think so?”

Madame Giry grinned back approvingly. “I do, indeed. You are a handsome young man, she is a beautiful young woman. What more do you need?”

Attraction? Compatibility? Open honesty? Zorina thought, but she knew better than to argue with a customer—regardless of how very wrong she was.

Herrick arched an eyebrow at her with a meaningful look. Was he seriously attempting to flirt with her after everything?

Was she insane for harboring a faint hope that he would?

Shaking her head to clear it from that rogue thought, Zorina focused back on the conversation.

“—I really do think you two would do well together,” Madame Giry said.

“Did you hear that, Zorina?” Herrick asked with an odd glint in his eye.

Zorina pulled her brows together. “I did, though I can’t say I’d agree.”

Thankfully, before Madame Giry could pry more with her meddling matchmaking ways, Jurian walked out of the workshop with a beautiful red vase carved with a rose motif.

“Ah, yes, that is exactly what Duke Armand is looking for! But, it seems a bit…dull.”

Jurian nodded. “I haven’t glazed it yet, which I will do soon. His Grace wants four more of these, yes?”

Madame Giry confirmed the duke’s wishes to be precisely that, with the potential for more of the same being commissioned in the future. Then, she left the shop.

Before the door closed behind the housekeeper, however, Anala rushed in, as if she had been waiting for that very moment. In all likelihood, she had.

But instead of clambering to the pots on the shelves, the red panda headed straight for the one in Jurian’s arms.

“No!” he shouted. “Get back! Get out!”

Anala climbed up his leg in an effort to reach the vase. Jurian panicked as he tried to scramble away and dropped the commissioned piece.

“Blast it all!” he yelled.

Anala, seeing that the pottery was now smashed on the floor, leapt back down and searched through the broken pieces for coins. Thankfully, there weren’t any this time.

“Now I have to start all over again,” Jurian grumbled irritably. “And on a commission for the duke, no less!”

Zorina winced at the less than ideal situation. Poor Jurian. Anala smashing pots was bad enough, but when they were for the duke?

“Perhaps you should keep those particular ones back in the workshop,” Herrick suggested.

Jurian gave him a baleful look before spinning and marching back to his pottery wheel, slamming the door behind him with a loud bang.

“He usually keeps commissioned pieces in the back,” Zorina explained to the bewildered guard. “It keeps them safe from prying eyes, especially when the buyer prefers to keep their commission private. This was a temporary exception to that since Madame Giry specifically asked to see its progress.”

Herrick rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh. Right. That makes sense.”

At the clattering of another pot crashing to the floor, Zorina added, “And we still have a red panda to evict.” Slowly, she inched toward Anala, softly calling her name. “Anala? Come here, sweetheart.”

A scoff sounded behind her, but she ignored Herrick for the moment. Anala chirped and peered up at her.