Later that afternoon, Rennick waited outside of the library where Amelia worked while she apologized for her absence that morning and ended her employment.
The thought of taking her away from something she loved solidified his decision to build a second home in Friya so they could travel back as often as she desired. They would need a new sturdy carriage, too. He would have construction started immediately and surprise her as a late wedding gift.
His planning shuffled to the back of his mind when the library door opened and Amelia stepped out with slumped shoulders. “All done.”
“We don’t have to leave.” He ran his hands down her arms. “I meant what I said. If you want to live here, we will.”
Tears lined her eyes again, but before he could panic, she slipped her hand into his. “I promised Miss Bea we would visit.”
Rennick’s chest tightened at her willingness to sacrifice her current life to start a new one with him. “Yes, we will. Is there anyone else we need to see before I rent a cart?”
“I need to tell Clover I’m leaving and find Eddy before we go,” she said, ticking them off on her fingers.
“Is it unusual for Eddy to be gone this long?” On the days he’d watched her, the little fox was always around.
“He’s done this a few times before,” she said, tugging Rennick across the street.
He would pay every person in the kingdom to search for Eddy if needed. Leaving without him was not an option. “Did he have on a coat when you saw him last?”
Amelia pressed her lips together, and he noted her attempt to hold in a laugh. “No, but he will be fine.”
When they found him, Rennick would see to it that he never stepped outside without one.
“Wait here.” She dropped his hand and slipped into a small bakery. It wasn’t long before she returned, chewing on the inside of her cheek, deep in thought. “Clover isn’t working. Her boss said she took the next few days off to see her family.”
“Why do you look like that?” he asked at her cynical expression.
Planting her hands on her hips, she turned back to the bakery. “She doesn’t have any family.”
Rennick scratched the light scruff on his jaw. “You think they lied to you?”
Amelia shook her head and turned back to him. “I think she lied to them, but I don’t know why.”
Placing his hand on her lower back, he led her toward the carriage house to buy a storage cart for their journey home. “Perhaps she is at home, taking the day off.”
“Maybe,” Amelia said distractedly, and allowed him to guide her without protest.
 |
Amelia packed the last of her things into one of the trunks Rennick had delivered to the boardinghouse.
“You don’t need to glamour your ears around me,” she told him, trying to sound casual. After a few cross looks from other villagers, he’d glamoured his ears to look human.
Like an apparition, his points appeared, and he shot her a devastating smile over his shoulder. Gods, he was handsome, and she wasn’t the only one to think so. Women stared at him wherever they went, glamoured ears or not. If that was the response he received amongst humans, she could only imagine how many fae threw themselves at him daily. She glared at his back. Why couldn’t he be average looking?
Sea-glass eyes framed by dark lashes met her own as though he felt her ire. “What has you riled up, little mate?”
“I’m fine,” she clipped, slamming the trunk closed. Many things described her state of mind, but fine wasn’t one of them. “Everything is packed and ready to go.”
“The carriage, cart, and horses will be delivered in the morning,” he said, gazing out the window. “We need to find your fox.”
“If he’s coming home tonight, he’ll be on the porch.” Rennick looked uneasy. “If?”
“A few times over the years he’s stayed gone for a few days.” She opened her bedroom door to head downstairs, worried her furry friend had not eaten all day.
Fennec foxes were native to the eastern desert region, and she didn’t know if he could hunt in the snow. With no way of knowing where he went or what he did, she convinced herself he starved each time he left. Amelia hurried to the foyer and threw open the front door, and there, sitting on the top step of the snow-covered porch, sat her little friend, shivering from the cold.
“Get in here,” she chided and stepped aside.
Obediently, Eddy pranced through the door without a care in the world and followed her to the kitchen. They both stalled upon seeing the hulking fae king cutting raw steak into tiny bite-sized pieces and placing them onto a small plate.
How did he get in here so fast, and where did he get steak?
At the boardinghouse, meals were included in the weekly rent, but each tenant had their own labeled boxes in the large cold box and another labeled
shelf in the pantry.
Amelia didn’t have steak in her cold box. “Where did you get that?” He looked from the steak to her. “The cold box.”
“Whose cold box?”
“They’re not all yours?” His body went rigid. “Do they withhold food from you here, too?”
Remembering the gigantic food basket from years ago, she raised her hands. “Calm down. I get three meals a day, as I always have, but we each have extra we buy ourselves.” Looking pointedly at the plate, she said, “I do not buy steak.”
His shoulders relaxed. “I will leave money for whoever’s it was.” He gestured to Eddy. “He needs to eat.”
There was nothing more attractive than a scary man cutting up meat for a pocket-sized animal.
She tried to sound as nice as possible, not wanting him to think she wasn’t grateful, even though she kind of wanted to strangle him. “It’s sweet of you to prepare Eddy food, but can you show me which box?” What if that was someone else’s dinner for tonight?
After Rennick showed her where the food came from and insisted on giving her the money to replace it, she knocked on her neighbor’s door, explained the situation, and handed him enough money to buy twenty steaks.
When she returned to the kitchen, Rennick held Eddy snug against his chest, feeding him like a child. Did he just coo?
He looked up with a crooked smile, showcasing a dimple, and her heart stuttered in her chest.
“He likes it,” he told her, kissing the top of Eddy’s head, and Amelia knew, without a doubt, if this man decided she wasn’t what he wanted, she wouldn’t survive the fallout.
“We usually eat chicken,” she commented, coming around the island to stand beside him. “Steak is a rare treat.” Eddy chomped on another bite while Amelia pet his head. “You need to thank Nick for feeding you like a little king.”
Eddy yipped when Rennick’s hold tightened. He set Eddy gently on the floor and straightened slowly. With one final lick to each of their legs, the fox scampered off to the common area.
Rennick’s eyes flashed when they slid back to Amelia, and her stomach dropped. “I know that’s who you’ve known me as until today, but it’s not my name.”
Her mouth opened and closed a few times, not knowing what to say. “Nick is only part of who I am.” His tone softened, but his shoulders
didn’t. “You associated my alias with Finn, and I don’t want the ghost of another man between us. There is more to me than I could show you in those letters. Rennick is the man who stands before you, not Nick.”
She nodded, understanding completely because she was more than the girl he’d observed over the years. Amelia drummed her fingers on the island and cleared her throat. “I’m sorry. It was a slip of habit.”
He released the tension in his shoulders and wandered to the cold boxes. “Which of these is yours?”
Glad for the subject change, she poked her head in behind him and pointed to her box. They’d eaten earlier, but with his size, it wouldn’t surprise her if he needed more food. “I learned to make a pretty good roast if you want me to cook you one.” Her cheeks burned with the admission when he turned to look at her.
The way he stared made her squirm, but she forced herself not to look away from his unwavering intensity. In one of his many letters, he’d told her a list of his favorite things, and she’d committed a few to memory before Finn took the letter back.
“You learned to make my favorite dish.”
It wasn’t a question, so she didn’t answer. Instead, she busied herself with clearing away Eddy’s dishes, and washing and drying them for longer than necessary while Rennick’s eyes burned holes into her back.
After wiping her hands on a towel, she swept a hand toward the stairs. “I’ll show you the bathroom so you can bathe.”
She tried to skirt around him, but his hand caught her arm gently. “You learned to make my favorite dish.”
Did he think her a fool for doing what he paid the palace staff to do? “I’m sure it’s nothing compared to what you’re used to, but—”
He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers, killing whatever she had to say. “Thank you. I’m not hungry, but if you are, I will cook for you.”
She shook her head in a half-stunned state. “I’m fine. We, uh… we should head up if we’re going to leave early tomorrow.”
He moved out of her way and followed her upstairs. After she showed him where the soaps and towels were in her ensuite bathroom, he retreated to the bedroom and said, “You bathe first. I am unsure how long hot water lasts here.”
Her heart flip-flopped at his thoughtfulness. She looked at him then, really looked at him, from the dark stubble on his ruggedly handsome face to his large, calloused hands that made a full-sized towel look like a washcloth. He might appear to be a lethal warrior on the exterior, but inside was a kind man who sent tiny sweaters for a fox and worried the hot water would run out before Amelia could shower.
And he was hers.
It might be he who chased her today, imploring her to leave with him, but Amelia knew, deep down, she would follow him to the ends of Eden, whether he wanted her to or not.
