Chapter Ten
A Farewell to Spies and Pecs
“Tell me again,” Callum said, his voice shaking with the laugh he was trying to suppress. And failing miserably at. “My memory isn’t quite what it used to be. I need to hear the story from the very beginning, no detail left out.”
I glared at him. “Maddox and Onyx saw my butt, okay? So funny. Now, can we please move on? I’m trying to cook dinner.”
Callum laughed so hard he had to lean against the counter for support.
“Wasn’t anything I haven’t seen before,” Maddox stated in that serious way of his. However, I caught the twitch at the corner of his mouth.
“Are your knees all right, love?” Briar asked, nearing me at the stove. The only one of my men more concerned than amused. “I hear you hit quite hard when you fell. A salve will ease any aches and help the bruising.”
“My knees are fine.” I sighed as I checked on the grits cooking in the pot. “It’s my pride that’s wounded, Doc. If you have a salve that can help with that, let me know.”
“You can always drink more ale,” Callum suggested. “That’ll make you forget all about your wounded pride. For a time, at least.”
I scoffed. “Only to be even more mortified once I sober up? No thanks. I’m never drinking another drop for as long as I live.”
“Such a shame,” a raspy voice said from the doorway as Rowan strode into the kitchen. Draven and Reign trailed in behind him. “I’d love to see that dance of yours again. What’d ya call it… a twerk?”
Callum laughed again, this one veering on a boyish giggle. I shot him a look, but he was honestly so freaking adorable I had trouble keeping a stern face. A cinnamon roll through and through… even when he was teasing me.
“The drunken chicken dance,” Duke said from the table where he and Lake were engaged in a game of chess. “Not easily forgotten. I’ll remember the flapping ’til my dying day.”
Quincy choked on a bite of cheese and crackers—the snack I’d given him while I cooked dinner, so he’d stop stealing food off the stove. Baden, who sat beside Duke, quietly coughed into his closed fist.
“That’s it.” I flipped around to the kitchen full of men, hands flying to my hips. “The next person who makes fun of me won’t be getting any of the cookies I made for dessert.”
Rowan’s lips slanted, showing my favorite tooth. “I reckon it’s a good thing I don’t care for sweets.”
“Don’t think that means you’re immune, mister.” I wagged a finger at him… which he tried to bite. “Keep it up, and I’ll withhold all the yummy things you love. Buttery biscuits. Croissants. All of it. Poof. Gone. No more for you.”
“Okay, okay, don’t get your britches in a wad.” Rowan held up his hands. “I yield.”
Callum wheezed with another laugh. “His britches.”
“All of you are too noisy,” Fane said from the other side of the stove. He had soaked chicken breasts and thighs in a marinade—following my instructions—and was preparing to start pan-frying them. “I long for the days when my kitchen was quiet.”
His long black tail swished back and forth though—a tell that he was in a good mood. He lit the stove burner nearest to him and placed a skillet on top, the edge of his mouth uplifting.
Briar brushed a kiss to my temple before stepping over to help him with the chicken. He coated it in the flour and egg mixture before setting it aside to be cooked. The two of them worked well side by side, quickly finding a rhythm.
“I’m surprised you have energy left to spare after working in the clinic all day,” Fane told him. “Phantasia can be quite meticulous and domineering in what she asks of her assistants. It’s why she’s worked alone for so long. No one stays with her for more than a few days.”
“I enjoy the work,” Briar responded, a sad smile on his lips. Was he thinking of his own clinic and the apprentice he’d left behind? Many had said the same of him once upon a time, but Thane had welcomed the challenge. “I find myself restless if my hands are idle for too long.”
“Aye.” Fane’s expression seemed kinder as he focused on the skillet. “We have that in common.”
“Would ya look at that,” Rowan said, hopping up on the counter next to me and letting his legs dangle down. “Specs made a friend.”
“At least Fane likes someone,” I said with a sigh, playing up the melodrama. “Must be nice. After all the days we’ve spent cooking together, he still hasn’t warmed up to me. All he does is insult my food.”
The demon in question peered over at me, a glint of a smile in his green eyes. “Then perhaps you shouldn’t put bacon in your green beans.”
“Guess what? I’m putting bacon in these too,” I said as I stirred the grits. They needed a bit more time to cook. “As well as a shit-ton of cheese. Good ole Southern comfort food. You’re welcome.”
Fane’s nose crinkled in a show of disgust. And it was a show. Because he had loved those green beans, just like he would love these cheese grits.
“I happen to love bacon.” Reign sauntered over to me, oozing that flirtatious charm. “Even better when the chef making it is as sweet as you.”
“Just wait until you try the chicken,” I said, feeling more immune now to his flirting. At least enough to where I didn’t blush and become a flustered mess. “It’s gonna be pan fried and smothered in white pepper gravy.”
“Can’t wait to taste it.” The beauty mark beneath his eye crinkled as he smiled. “The food will be delicious too.”
“Your farewell can’t come soon enough,” Maddox interjected. “Would be even better if you forewent dinner and just left now.”
Briar, who had gone over to our big grump of a captain after helping with the chicken, lightly elbowed him in the side. “Be nice, you brute.”
“You attack me with your bony elbow and call me the brute.” Maddox bent his head to close the few inches of height that separated them, bringing them at eye level. “Tell me, physician, how is that fair?”
“Behave or I’ll do it again,” Briar responded with a small swallow in his throat, eyes flickering to Maddox’s mouth.
“Is that so?” Maddox challenged him, inching closer.
Briar visibly faltered as he met the force of our captain’s stare. I knew that feeling well. Maddox was hotter than the sun and could make you melt with one smoldering look. He knew the power he held, too, and often used it to get his way.
The moment Briar looked away, no longer able to withstand that smoldering heat, Maddox smirked.
A figure in the corner of the kitchen drew my eye.
Draven was like a silent sentinel against the wall, not having said a single word since he’d walked in. He stood with his arms crossed, the material of his black shirt straining against the mouthwatering bulge of his toned biceps. His pale blue eyes shifted to me before darting away.
I softly smiled before returning my attention to the stove.
Fane and I got back to work on dinner, finishing up the last few things that were left. While the chicken cooked, I fried up some bacon, then chopped it into small chunks to add to the cheese grits. It earned me the side-eye from Fane.
“You’ll love it,” I promised him.
“I find that unlikely.” His expression soured even further as I stirred the grits again, then removed the pot from the burner.
Once the food was ready, we took everything into the dining parlor.
Briar, Lake, and Maddox set the table and filled goblets, while Rowan and Callum snuck bites of food, which prompted Quincy and Duke to do the same.
Baden went over to stand beside Draven and Reign, who watched the food-stealing gluttons with a small shake of their heads.
I chuckled to myself. It almost felt like old times, reminiscent of those days back in the cottage when we’d sit together for a big meal in the main dining area.
Days we’d never have again.
That fact was becoming all the clearer with each passing moment. Things would never go back to how they once were. Not with Cedric ruling over Bremloc and King Silas hellbent on capturing me—the exact reason still unknown, only that it involved me being the Hallowed Saint.
Duke’s booming laughter pulled me from those achy thoughts. Baden and Quincy were arm wrestling over which one would get to sit at the end of the table. Poor Quincy didn’t stand a chance against the large blond knight.
“Evening’s greetings,” Varys said as he joined us in the room, offering me a warm smile and bow of his head before approaching Lake, whose fluffy tail wagged upon seeing him.
I smiled. One that slipped a tad when realizing one person was still absent.
“Will Lord Onyx be eating with us?” I glanced toward the chair at the head of the table.
“Not tonight,” Varys answered, taking a seat beside Lake at the table. “He informed me he’d be working in his study ’til late and requested that we all dine without him.”
Shocking. I had thought Onyx and I made progress earlier, that he would finally stop avoiding me, but clearly, I’d been wrong.
Stubborn demon.
I wouldn’t let him sour my mood too much though. It was Draven and Reign’s farewell dinner, and I refused to be a sad toad during it.
The atmosphere in the room was light as everyone piled food onto their plates and dug in, cramming together at the table.
Nina and Cyan ate with us as well, sitting in the chairs around the hearth.
Laughter and flowing conversation filled the spaces between bites and sips from goblets, joining the clank of forks.
And then I caught a trace of woodsmoke in the air.
I turned toward the doorway just as Onyx stepped from the shadows of the corridor and into the candlelit parlor. The shock had me forgetting how to chew my food as I froze mid-bite.
“Good evening,” he greeted in a smooth, silky voice. Sections of his long hair had been braided and pinned back, emphasizing his high cheekbones and strong brow. “I hope it’s not too late to join you.”
My heart banged against my ribs like one of those heavy gongs, one hard hit that reverberated throughout my entire body. But the trembling quake didn’t come from fear or the nerves I usually had in Onyx’s presence.
It came from excitement. From the surprise he had joined us after all.