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“What do you mean she doesn’t eatmeat?” he asked loudly. “What does she eat?”
“You’re handling this new development well,” Ophelia said, pushing open the door and announcing her presence.
The kitchen staff immediately cheered, stamping their feet on the stone floor in welcome. Ophelia looked surprised, perhaps not realizing how very popular she was—not just with the highest-ranking members of the court, but with those at the very bottom too.
“Don’t you all have work to do?” Calix grumbled, shooing them away. “Welcome back, Your Majesty.”
His bow was all sarcasm, but Ophelia seemed to understand that the welcome was genuine.
“Thank you, it’s lovely to be back.” Ophelia beamed at him. “Have I made a lot of work for you by bringing my new friends back?”
Calix snorted. “It may be a lot of work for me, but I suppose you’ve saved the realm from starvation, so it all balances out in the end.”
“Yes, those are two things of equivalent value,” I agreed, knowing without him needing to say a word that Calix was waiting for me to say something to him first. Waiting for me to set the tone.
And without him saying a word, with just the barest glance to give away his feelings, it was clear that I hadn’t got it right. I’d been trying to maintain the same dynamic we’d always had, but the other night in his apartment…
Things had changed, no matter how much I wanted to avoid that fact.
“Queen Ophelia,” Torin said, bowing slightly as he approached. “We have tried to prepare some human vegetables. Can I show you?”
“Oh, of course.” She moved around the counter to look, leaving Calix and me alone.
He gave me a long look before returning his attention to his cutting board. “Well, there’s something comforting in predictability, I suppose.”
I swallowed thickly, not needing him to clarify thatIwas the predictability in this equation. Predictably prickly. Predictably standoffish. Predictably disappointing.
“I’m managing expectations,” I murmured, reminding him in fewer words that I wasn’t sticking around.
He nodded. “I suppose one of us has to be sensible.”
We fell into an uncomfortable silence for a moment while he chopped a haunch of meat at an alarming rate.
“One of the Hunters doesn’t eveneatmeat,” Calix grumbled under his breath eventually. “Presumably, she’ll perish shortly which I suppose is one less mouth for me to feed.”
I laughed quietly in spite of the tense mood. “They’re not Shades. You already know they don’t need the same things we need to survive.”
He muttered something too low for me to catch, undoubtedly bemoaning the difficulty of the challenge he was clearly enjoying.
I couldn’t begrudge him that—it was a trait I recognized all too clearly in myself. Both Calix and I struggled to express happiness.
“Have you met any of them?” I asked.
“Where do you think I’m getting all this free time? I haven’t left the kitchen in days.”
“You could leave if you wanted to. You enjoy suffering.”
Calix grinned, the expression making my insides clench. His half-feral, grouchy demeanor was attractive to me, but hissmilewas almost impossible to resist.
“You’ve got me all figured out, Blue.” I glanced around subtly, making sure no one else had heard the nickname. “Relax, you know I’d never embarrass you.”
I did know that. I also felt strangely distressed at the idea of Calix needing to hide such a harmless term of endearment from the rest of the realm even if it was the smartest course of action.
“Anyway, I’m sure I’ll meet them at some stage. There’s been talk of social events to introduce them in a more relaxed environment, as well as the coronation, of course.”
Right. Introduce them in a more relaxed environment so they too could find a mate, the way the king and queen had.
“Are you going to… well, you know.” I trailed off, swallowing thickly around the question I wanted to ask. Then again,didI want to ask it? Did I really want to know?
