Chapter 8 #2
"Chudleigh's chef is determined to give us the hunt, at least," said Alex, taking a sip of water. He hadn't enough head for wine to drink with every course the way some could.
"It's good venison," agreed McGuinness with a grin. "Too bad we can't take down another in this terrible snow."
"We'd never manage to sneak up on one," agreed Gallowglass. "Might get some half-frozen partridges, though."
The two of them and Leslie laughed, while everyone else gave polite chuckles. At least he had Winterson and Nonami-Finklewick on his side against the hunters.
Alex had the next item, the bite-sized tart, which was savoury and full of sweetness from the onion and umami from the mushrooms and the sauce, which he thought might also be venison-based, plus a soft tangy cheese.
Chudleigh must have taken down a deer or two just for the party, and Alex hoped he hadn't been relying on the hunting party to bring in food for the next few days.
That was a thing people did, eat the spoils of the hunt. At least he thought he remembered that from back in the day.
Really, he hoped never to have to find out.
"I enjoy party games, anyway, so hopefully Chudleigh will have planned us something fun," Miss Winterson was saying, fork bobbing for emphasis. "It's been months since the Season ended and I miss the games the most, I think."
"It's a big crowd for games," said Winston-Smythe.
"Nonsense," said McGuinness, taking up the challenge. "This is a good-sized crowd for a number of things, and Chuds knows all the best ones. He'll keep us from getting bored."
Alex realised that it would never occur to a single one of these people to spend a bitterly cold afternoon bundled up reading, or watching one of Thomas' movie recommendations, and he felt a little sad for them.
Reading was somewhat acceptable, but not the way he and Julian did, whiling away time with enjoyment over trashy novels or even work-related materials.
He'd actually brought the book on inlay he'd bought an age ago, figuring he might use some of the down time to finally get into the text. It had wonderful diagrams, but the prose was so dense and poorly phrased that it tended to meander from metaphor to simile without actually making its point.
There weren't a lot of texts in the area of magical stone inlay, was the problem, and so far he hadn't any luck getting his hands on the others.
"Do you read?" he asked the Lady Winterson, when he pulled his brain out of his studies and back to the table, where everyone had paused conversation for another bite.
She nibbled and put her hand over her mouth to swallow. "Oh, yes," she said, "avidly. It's not very ladylike, but I do enjoy a good novel."
"Me, too," said Alex. "Maybe Chudleigh will open up the library tomorrow and us bookworms can entertain ourselves."
Gallowglass made a somewhat disapproving noise, but covered it by having a sip of wine.
Alex took a sip, too, finding it complemented the venison well enough and he didn't have many opinions about it beyond that.
Instead, he ate the last treat, finding the herbs laced through the cheese puff reminded him more of home than anything else on the table.
These felt like wildness, like someone had picked them in Chudleigh's forest along with the mushrooms, and he had to smile at the thought of some servants foraging for their dinner to make their employer look good to the other snooty peerage.
And himself, of course, as he very much appreciated the taste of wild woods and untamed undergrowth.
He sent Julian a little thread of appreciation, getting love back and then a tug that made Alex chuckle as Horace took off to go land on Julian instead.
Sometimes one needed a bird.
Alex turned his attention back to the group, who were laughing about Horace's departure.
"Left over for your husband," said Gallowglass. "He did seem the more charming."
"I can't deny that," said Alex with a shrug. "He's much more used to this sort of thing than I am. I'm used to solving murders and working alone in my basement."
"Oh, you must talk to clients sometimes," said Gallowglass, her smile feeling a bit sharp now.
Alex shrugged. "We do, yes, but it's always by appointment, and there's quite a wait list. I had to rearrange my schedule a bit to get three days off for Chudleigh, but he's a good enough friend to be worth it."
"There's no big planetary events this weekend, anyway," said Winterson unexpectedly.
Alex beamed at her. "That did help," he admitted. "I don't do a ton of things that use the planets, but when there's something big I will try to align my work to the skies. The moon, on the other hand, I'm always beholden to somehow."
"Oh, but the moon phases will always come back around," said Winterson, clearly having hit upon a hobby of hers. "You can't get Pluto back for ages if you miss something."
"Fortunately, not a lot of my work has to do with Plutonic energies, as I'm primarily a maker of trinkets these days, as well as healing potions. I'd be in a lot more trouble if I started making poisons instead." Alex tried to look charming, and it seemed to work on Winterson but no one else.
He supposed it was better than no one at all.
Their plates were removed and wine glasses as well, though they were left with their water. Alex didn't mind his wine vanishing, but Gallowglass seemed a little offended when her mostly-empty glass went away.
"I suppose this is the sort of dinner where we get wine with every course," she said philosophically. "Better than no wine at all, like the tea."
"I was tempted to put some whiskey in mine," said McGuinness, winking at her across the table.
"That would have helped, though our conversation was entertaining enough, I suppose. I got sat with your young Julian, in fact, he's quite the pretty thing." She sipped her water and gave Alex a challenging look.
"He is, I'm a very lucky man," said Alex, shooting Julian a fond look. "He's really blossomed the past few years, both magically and in his confidence."
She huffed. "You two are soppy in love still, aren't you?"
Alex shrugged. "I have no regrets," he said smugly, sending Julian a little wave of possessive love through their bond and getting amusement back, though also love. Always love.
Winterson sighed. "I'd give anything for a man to look at me like that," she said, clearly transported by the romance of it all, eyes bright and cheeks pink.
"A lady such as yourself deserves no less," said Winston-Smythe. Unfortunately, he didn't manage to hit a sincere note, so the compliment fell flat.
Winston-Smythe didn't seem the adoring sort, really.
"I'll hope for that for you, then," said Alex, saluting her with the fresh wine glass that had appeared while they were talking, and taking a sip of this new vintage.
For all he had strong opinions about food and more recently tea, Alex was just not that into wine, and thought it tasted, well, fine.
More food was appearing, soup this time, a smooth golden-orange cream soup that reminded Alex of winter vegetables and fall leaves.
It was surprisingly hearty and warming when he tasted it, delicious with the curl of crème fra?che atop it, and garnished with a bit of hardy winter parsley.
Again it felt like things that had come from the house and grounds, rather than being sent out for, not so much an economy as an ode to the manor house they were celebrating.
Alex smiled and took another bite.
Conversation swirled on around him for a while, coming back around to hunting and balls and the other social events that he himself took as little part in as physically possible.
He ate his soup in smallish bites but every mouthful nonetheless, already starting to feel a small gnaw of hunger from not having his metabolism supported quite well enough.
Well, there were always midnight snacks.