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My snarl ripped out of me.
Her eyebrows lifted. “You can’t even maintain a cinnamon roll hero for ten seconds.”
“What is this cinnamon roll hero?”
“Not you, that’s for sure.” She lowered plates onto the table and sliced the bread, putting three slices on one plate and one on another. Sitting, she waved to the plate with three. “Eat.”
“Cinnamon is a spice. It’s used in a roll.” I lifted the bread. “A roll crafted something like this. And I’m already a hero.” I flashed my tusks her way.
She rolled her eyes. “I’ll give you that. You behaved in a heroic manner yesterday.”
My spine stiffened. “I behave in a heroic manner all the time.”
“Maybe it’s a work thing. You’re dedicated, and it shows.”
I liked it when she spoke well of me.
Actually, I didn’t need her to like me. I grumbled as I spread preserves on the bread and took a big bite, speaking around it. “We’ll go into town and—”
“You can leave me here. I promise I . . .”
I lifted one brow her way, watching her squirm. “You can promise you won’t run or leave me, pretty mate?”
“I don’t feel a pressing need to flee at the moment.”
“You enjoy my touch,” I said smugly.
Her lips thinned. “What makes you think that?”
“The way you moaned. The shriek that burst from your lips when you came.” It echoed in my mind, making me ache to take her back to my bed and show her all over again that she couldn’t resist me. No, I’d sweep everything off the table and take her on the surface. “You shouldn’t feel embarrassed by how you respond to my attention. You’re behaving as a good mate should.”
“I’m not good.” She gripped her knife tight. Would she actually attempt to stab me with it? If she did,thenI would lay her on the table and distract her. It would only be fair. “Truly,” she said. “You might soon discover I’mverybad.”
“Bad works just as well as good for me.” I gave her a sunny smile, pleased with my mate despite her possibly vicious tendencies. She’d bear me orclings with the same fire, and who could complain about something like that?
“You mentioned taking me to the king soon,” she said. “Why would he want to meet me?”
“Why wouldn’t he?”
“Because I’m . . . I’m not really sure what my role here is.”
“You’re my mate. It’s an illustrious position.”
Why did she roll her eyes at my statement?
“Back in my village,” she said. “I went to the woods each day to collect herbs I used to treat ailments. I’m used to spending my time in that way, not meeting royalty or shopping.”
“You’re a healer.”
“I am.” She delicately took a bite of her bread, chewing carefully and with her mouth closed.
Realizing crumbs were raining down the front of my tunic and that I was gnawing through my second slice of bread in big gulps, I slowed my pace and ate with more care. The teachings of my upbringing echoed in my mind.
“I learned everything I know about healing from my mother,” she said. Pain flickered in her eyes, and I barely suppressed the urge to gather her in my arms and hold her forever. “My parents died ten years ago. Shaydes attacked them while they were traveling to another village. They shouldn’t have left their shelter that night, but they were rushing to get back to me and my sister. We were staying with friends. I . . .”
She squeezed her eyes shut, opening them again and displaying so much devastation, it kicked me in the gut. I lowered my bread onto my plate. “I raised my sister after that. My mother was a well-respected healer, and she taught me how to find the right herbs in the forest and how to prepare them.”
“I’m sorry. I, too, have lost family. My mother was killed ten years ago during a shayde attack that decimated my people.”
