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“Why?” he asked. “Actually, you don’t have to answer that. Why do I get the feeling that this is one of your quirks?”
The teasing tone in his voice made me smile. “If needing to eat food is a quirk, then yes.”
“We have not denied you food. In fact, you’re eating better than most of the fae in Rouhaven.”
“Yes, you’ve fed me,” I responded. “Thanks for not starving me.” My voice was laced with sarcasm. “I just want to have some of my favorite foods and snacks around. Is that too much to ask?”
“I’ll take you. But we’ll have to go tonight, since I have some things to take care of.”
“Okay. See you later, then.”
I tried to go back to bed, but I was too wound up. I hadn’t gotten much closer to figuring out where the Moon Oracle had gone. Tommy had come into the shop once or twice, but when I’d pulled him aside to ask what was going on with the Forsaken Lunars, he’d said he didn’t know.
As much of a pain in the ass as Flint’s reminders were, he was right. I didn’t have time to goof off. But how was I supposed to be subtle about it? Lucy and Chad sensed something was different when I came into work in a different outfit they’d never seen. My excuse that I’d picked them up at a thrift shop worked, but maybe they’d figure something was up sooner or later.
I spent the day reading, since I had nothing else to do and nowhere to go. Around sunset, Lex knocked on my door. He was dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt that were molded to his lean, muscled form. I had to stop lusting after him, but he was making it really damn hard.
“You ready?” he asked.
“Yep. I have my list and everything.”
We went out to a shiny silver sports car, a nice change of pace from the enchanted SUVs we always traveled around in. A driver and an enforcer were sitting in the two front seats of the car.
The car felt very Lex, especially when I sat inside. The light-colored leather inside was buttery, and the music pumping from the speakers was loud and upbeat. The size of the car pushed us much closer together than we were before, which wasn’t helping me ignore my attraction to him. He always smelled nice, too, like clean, crisp air.
“What’s on your list?” He used a puff of air to blow it out of my fingers and into his hands.
“Hey!” He used his element much more than the others in fun ways like that.
“Bread. Apples. Peanut butter. Pasta. Potato chips.” He raised an eyebrow at me and handed my list over again. Our fingertips brushed, sending a tingle up my arm. “Thrilling.”
“What did you expect?” I folded the paper again. “Am I supposed to buy fireworks and jewels?”
“Weirdly specific.” He laughed, resting his arm along the back of the seat. “But no, I figured you’d have something more interesting.”
“Because I’m interesting?”
“Well, yeah.” He shrugged.
My whole body grew hot. I waited for him to make a joke of it, but he never did. No one found me interesting, at least enough to tell me so. I was just Arden, the orphan who couldn’t shift or control an element.
We arrived at the grocery store. It wasn’t the one I went to regularly, but it wasn’t an upscale shop, either. Lex followed me around as I put a few items into my cart. I was a creature of habit when it came to shopping and always got the same things. Lex let me pay for my own groceries without being pushy about it, and we went outside. It had gotten dark already.
“Where’d the car go?” I asked.
“They’re a block or two down. We can walk and meet them there.” Lex took my grocery bags. “Don’t complain about me carrying these.”
I huffed. “I can carry them on my own.”
“Do you want to? Deep down?” The corner of his mouth quirked up. I shook my head. “There we go.”
We walked down the block. Narrow, dark alleys separated the buildings. Rouhaven was a big city, and no big city was completely safe, especially with alleys like this. Lex frowned at some commotion up ahead.
“Take these.” He handed me my bags again and took off. I rushed to keep up with him, the sound of a struggle getting louder the closer I got.
I reached the alley seconds after Lex. A female fae was on the ground, the contents of her bag strewn everywhere. The other fae was a male, who was cowering against the wall, Lex standing in front of him. The good humor that had been in his eyes all evening was gone, replaced by rage.
“Please, wait!” the robber cried, holding up a hand. “I swear, Your Highness, I won’t—”
