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My attention went back to my plate as the tempting smells wafted up toward me, intoxicating as they were. It wasn’t long before I decided that dessert would be first this evening.
Sighing, I took a bite of the pie, practically groaning with delight. I knew I was glowing bright orange. I didn’t care. Each bite was better than the last.
The crispy, buttery crust, and sweet cinnamon-apple filling made me momentarily forget every negative feeling I’d ever had, and it wasn’t long before I’d eaten well over half of it.
At least I can still find comfort in food.
“It’s good to see you again.” Neira’s voice drifted down from her spot behind the bar. “This place hasn’t been the same without you. You’re beginning to look more like yourself again, you know. For that matter, you appear to be eating more like yourself again, too.” She winked, but I could hear the relief in her voice. “Should I tell Vale to make more?”
I mockingly rolled my eyes, but then nodded, making Neira laugh.
“It does feel good to be back, though,” I eventually added, with a smile.
Neira’s kind eyes were hopeful and simultaneously filled with the sort of pity that made my heart ache. An all-too-brutal reminder that it had only been just a few months since I’d lost my mother.
Taking another long slurp of the ale, I peered up at my friend.
“Is it wrong? To be happy again, I mean.”
My gaze darted back down to my hand around the straw as it faded from its usual shade of pink to a soft blue. The very color I had been for nearly a year now—ever since we got the news that Mama was sick. Then, as she worsened. And finally, when she died.
Several silent moments passed between us. When I looked back up, Neira’s eyes had darkened, and she’d paused in her cleaning of a few whiskey bottles. She was staring at the wall, memories of her own mother’s death probably coming back to haunt her.
Shaking her head, she set down the amber-filled glass and moved closer, leaning her elbows on the bar before speaking again.
“No, Lina. It’s not wrong. And your mother wouldn’t want you to grieve forever.” She held out a hand, and I grasped her finger. “The pain will come and go, but you honor her memory more with your joy than you do with your tears. She would want you to find your happiness again.”
“Here, here,” Wigbert said from behind me, raising his glass in agreement.
Neira and I smiled back at him.
They're right. Mama wasn’t one to dwell on the past. She’d taught me to hope and to move forward. And as difficult as that seemed, I owed it to her to at least try.
“Here, here,” I agreed with the ogre, noting the way my speech slurred ever so slightly.
A groan sounded to my left, and I grinned.
“Princess.” Wigbert addressed Piper with a small bow of his head.
She nodded back before rapping her knuckles on the bar to signal that she needed a drink.
Dark circles lined her violet eyes, and her purple satin dress was slightly disheveled. The tiny dragon curled in her lap was only a shade darker than her gown, so camouflaged I would have missed him if it weren’t for the steady rise and fall of his breathing.
“Her Ladyship is still at it, then?” Neira asked, taking in her appearance while she filled a shot glass with Piper's favorite whiskey.
The princess downed it in one go before motioning for another round.
“You have no idea,” she grumbled, as Neira filled the glass once more. Piper demolished that shot, as well, before resting her face in her hands.
Before anything else could be said, the door to the kitchens swung open and Vale walked through. Piper suddenly sat up straighter, swallowing hard and smoothing out her silky golden locks. Her perfect features hardened as her eyes followed him across the room to tend to newly seated customers.
Neira and I gave each other a questioning look before staring at her. Piper pretended to ignore us, of course, but the way she was petting her dragon was a little too casual.
“I don’t want to talk aboutHer Ladyshipright now, or about anything else.”
I opened my mouth to tell them what I had spent ages planning when the bell above the tavern door jingled.
Even though I’d specifically come here tonight to speak to him, my heart hammered within my ribcage the moment my eyes met Edrich’s.
