Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
The next morning I woke up to a knock on my window. There was Richard, face pressed against the glass in the pre-dawn light. What in the world was he doing? He held up a fish-shaped pan, and everything came together.
Oh, right! The tuna cakes! He’d actually been serious about that?
How crazy! I rolled out of bed, pulling on the nearest robe, which was a filmy thing that matched my pale pink silk nightgown.
I hurried through the cottage and opened the front door so Richard could come in with bundles of ingredients.
He wiggled his brows at me. “I brought the pan! Do you have an oven? I didn’t ask. We could try to cook over an open flame in the woods! Maybe not for your first cat cake, but it would be an adventure!”
I beamed at him. I loved cooking adventures, not that I’d ever had any, but they sounded perfect. “The little kitchen is so cute, and it has an oven!”
Richard beamed at me and then waltzed into the kitchen like he lived there.
The next hour was spent with him directing me on the proper way to bake a cat cake.
I did my best, so by the time the sun was truly up, I had the kitten cake made with mostly tuna, but a bunch of other healthy things for cats.
We sat on the floor feeding kittens crumbs, and it was the best morning I’d ever had in my life.
“You can keep the pan,” Richard said, leaning against a pink cabinet. “It’ll give me room to buy more.”
“How long do you think you’ll keep your pet baking hobby? You said you were a serial hobbyist, so maybe you’ll switch considering how long you’ve been at it. At least five years.” That would be the saddest thing ever if he quit his SunRae platform and moved on, but it would be to something awesome.
He rubbed his chin and then picked up the black kitten, studying it. “What about Poem?”
I looked at the black cat and then at him. “Poem? You mean poetry as a hobby? I think it has potential!”
He raised a brow at me. “For his name. Short yet pretty. Kittens don’t need to be named after their physical attributes, or even their metaphysical.
You can have any name at all. Like the way you kept changing your name for awhile there.
Kristin? Kirstin? Then Katrina and Katriana. Why does a name have to mean anything?”
I patted his knee. “It’s okay, Richard. Even though you weren’t named Grace or Mercy, you’re still an angel. Speaking of, what do you think of Hallie?” Hallelujah!
He raised a brow. “Think of her?”
“Like would you date her?”
He snorted and elbowed me hard enough to knock me over. “No.”
“Why not?” I asked, pushing myself upright. “She’s really nice. And her shoulders are really broad.”
“Why not?” He raised a brow and then leaned closer.
“What about you and your long line of suitors?” He tsked and shook his head as he stood.
“I’m not dating right now. Unless you consider the dating show I’m on, in which case I’m dating you along with all those other marvelous specimens.
” He scowled and I got the idea he was thinking about Zander the assassin.
“What about fencing?” I asked quickly, scrambling to my feet and trying to ignore the wave of panic at the thought of him leaving me before I’d fixed his love life.
“Fencing?” He looked confused, like we’d been talking about dating and suddenly I switched topics. Because I had. I was notoriously not subtle.
I smiled brightly. “I haven’t fenced in ages, but I saw a pair of dueling swords in the closet.”
He frowned at me. “I’m a Lion.”
“And I’m a vampire. Don’t Lions duel?”
He cocked his head, eyes calculating until he finally nodded. “I will try not to get too aggressive with you.”
I rolled my eyes and headed for the fridge. “I’ll just get a drink first, and then we’ll be ready to go.”
“Drink?”
“Blood. I’m a vampire.”
“You mean Mitt?”
I wrinkled my nose at him and opened the fridge. I grabbed the first blood bag I saw and then straightened, closed the door and punctured the bag with my teeth. I sucked blood while he stared at me, kind of intent, like he’d never seen a vampire suck a blood bag before.
I pulled out my fangs and elbowed him. “You’re staring.”
“You were staring at me baking.”
“Because you’re actually a competent baker and everyone else sucked so bad.”
He elbowed me back. “And now it’s you sucking. You don’t drink live people? Wouldn’t you prefer to have your blood in a pretty glass?”
“Nope. I don’t like the smell. Angel blood, sure, and a few other flavors, but overall, the taste and scent of blood is not great. It’s like raw meat.”
He blinked at me. “You don’t like the taste of blood? And you call yourself a vampire.”
“A sun-born vampire. I know, it’s weird, but at least I can go in the sun. I love the sun! It makes up for how much I don’t love blood.”
“But you have to drink it?”
“Or I get dizzy and anemic. Also it’s easier to channel my vampire speed and strength if I’ve been drinking enough blood. I went through a period where I refused to drink blood. The Scholar calls it my vegan period. Do all teenagers really go through that? That’s what he said.”
He shook his head. “No. Some of us never mind killing innocent animals for our own health and happiness.”
I squinted at him. “But did you go through a vegan stage?”
“Vegetarian, but don’t tell anyone.”
I laughed and then finished my blood bag while he kept staring at me like it was really interesting. It wasn’t, but it made me feel special. Whatever.
After that, I went to my bedroom to get dressed in something that would twirl beautifully while we were dueling. It was also pink and purple pale stripes. So pretty. My purple shoes had a large rosette on each toe. I was saving it for a picnic, but this would be better.
When I came out, Richard took my photo then nodded and sent it to me. “It’s perfectly pastel princess. I’m still wearing Banus’s pants and Mitt’s shirt. I flew home for my pan last night, but I forgot to get clothes.” He shrugged while I looked down at his legs.
“Those are business slacks. The Scholar likes to wear pants like that when he doesn’t want people to think about how many ways he can kill them.”
“That’s exactly what my wardrobe needs.” He showed me the perfectly polished foils. Apparently he’d polished while I got pretty. “Do you want to do photos? I could ask Hallie or you could ask Mitt.”
I shook my head. “Dueling isn’t really my brand.”
“Same. I’m more killing than dueling, but for you, I’ll try to make an exception. If I do accidentally kill you, I am very sorry.”
I snorted. “That would be hilarious. And then I’d rise a vampire and suck all your blood so that you could also rise a vampire. Then we could continue the duel on equal footing.”
He nudged me, eyes twinkling. “I love the way you plan through all exigencies.”
For some reason that word, ‘love,’ floated in the air and caught on the edges of my heart. He wouldn’t mind me falling desperately in love with him, he just wouldn’t ever reciprocate. That was one way to assure a broken heart that never healed.
We started the duel in the clearing on the edge of a pond. There was a lovely boat floating along the bank. I should have suggested rowing instead of dueling. Maybe later.
I took a starting pose, raised my foil at Richard, who frowned, like he was puzzled until he finally copied my pose. I slashed my blade, and he nodded and slashed his, like he was remembering how this was supposed to go.
Then I leapt forward with a thrust that would have gone through his heart if he hadn’t blocked, spinning and knocking my blade back. I was on him again in the next instant, not as fast as I could be, but fast enough to push him.
His eyes narrowed as he focused, finally taking the game seriously.
It was glorious! We battled all along the bank and clearing. My skirt twirled so perfectly every time I spun away from him, or around him to attack from the other side.
And he was wonderful! It was like dancing without any music. Finally, when we were nearing the bank, I kicked one of his feet into the other, while bringing my foil around on the other side, and he stumbled back, off the bank, into the water and fell down with a great splash.
I giggled as I held my foil, staring at the fallen lion, all wet and ridiculous, with long wet strands of not-so-gold over his face, water streaming from his golden wings.
“Do you yield?” I asked, swinging my foil back and forth, flicking the water.
“I yield.” Richard the Lion said with a nod then with a smile that spoke of mischief, he stood, dripping from his sodden wings to his probably ruined pants.
That look in his eyes made me take a step back, but not fast enough. He shook off, and those feathers…
I flinched as the cold water hit me. I wasn’t soaked, but I was shivery and shocked.
He spread his wings and launched out of the water, coming towards me.
I gulped but before I could bring up my weapon, he had me disarmed.
He picked me up over his shoulder and then hopped into the boat, carrying me upside down so I could see the boat rock and almost tip over.
“Careful! This is my picnic dress,” I said, grabbing at his back, trying to get a grip.
“And these are Banus’ business pants. Or were. I’ll probably have to pay him to replace them.”
“You’d probably have to anyway. Most people don’t like other people borrowing their clothes, even if they don’t go swimming in them.”
He tsked and then set me down. The boat rocked and I grabbed onto him, but his foot caught on the coil of rope in the bottom, and then he fell, but this time I went with him, landing on his chest in the bottom of the boat.
For a second it was quiet, but then we both burst out laughing. I tried to get up, but the boat rocked again, and he pulled me against his side, enveloped by his enormous wing.
He was so warm, even damp, and the sun was so bright, and his feathers were so soft. I was here in the bottom of a boat with SunRae my best friend in the whole world!