Miss Quist bustled in, carrying a tray of chipped ramekins filled with thin gray pudding. My eyes shot to Lunk, who straightened.
Goddess, he must be pushing seven feet when he did that. He puffed out his barrel-like chest, making the day’s first smile itch to life on my lips. No way could he hold his breath like that for long, but it’d be fun to watch him try.
Miss Quist distributed the puddings. Rosy color dusted her cheeks. Blonde ringlets framed her face like frizzy wisps of sunshine.
“Dorothea,” Ky said, and I jolted. Since when was he on a first-name basis with our cook? “How lovely to see you.”
Miss Quist’s perennial color flamed higher. “Your Highness.”
“Just Ky,” he said good-naturedly. “How many times do I have to I tell you?”
“At least once more.” She placed a double serving of pudding in front of Amryssa. Lunk tracked her every movement, stars in his eyes.
“You know, Dorothea, I’ve been thinking...” Ky rested his chin on his hand. “It’s been ages since I’ve had a good Snogberry Fizz.”
My brows snapped together. A...what?
“Do you make those here in Oceansgate?”
Miss Quist paused while setting down Olivian’s pudding. “I’ve never heard of such a thing, Your Highness. I’m sorry.”
I slitted my eyes at him and mouthed,What’re you doing?Because I was about a hundred and eighty percent certain Snogberry Fizzes didn’t exist.
Ky winked and blew me an airy kiss. I glanced around, but no one had noticed except Vick, who weighed our exchange with narrow-eyed calculation.
I narrowed my eyes right back, wondering what he’d look like with green beans all over his jerkin. Maybe mashed into that orange hair, too. What was his problem?
“We make them all the time, where I’m from,” Ky was saying. “I’d love to take up the habit again. Maybe you could bring Lunk here back to the kitchen? Have him show you how they’re made?”
Lunk’s besotted expression shifted to one of such transparent alarm that I fought the urge to throw my fork. What was Ky doing? And did he have to be soobviousabout it?
But Miss Quist seemed delighted by the idea of the giant remedying her culinary deficiencies. She pressed a hand to herbosom. “Oh, I’m always up for learning something new. Come on, Henry, why don’t you carry this tray for me? Zephyrine knows you’re strong enough to take all the dishes at once.” She bustled around the table, clearing our plates.
I gaped. Henry? Was that Lunk’s real name? How did she even know that?
Goddess, I needed to pay more attention.
Lunk—Henry?—came dutifully forward, his face flaming, whether because of the impending need to invent a Snogberry Fizz or because Miss Quist had complimented his brawn, I couldn’t say. But he stoically bore the loaded tray to the kitchen. The door swung shut behind them, leaving us to our sallow puddings.
Well, then. With the excitement over, I stuck my spoon into my ramekin and swirled. Ky reclined in his chair, those forget-me-not eyes brimming with satisfaction.
What the hell was that?I mouthed.
Pure artistry, he said back, in silence.
I blinked. I couldn’t believe I’d understood that.It was ridiculous.
You loved it.
I hated it, I countered.Almost as much as I hate you.
He shook his head, smug.You love me. What you actually hate is admitting it.
My eyes dived to my pudding, which I’d apparently slopped over the sides of the ramekin with the consummate skill of a two-year-old.
How absurd. Of course I didn’t love him. He didn’t mean it, anyway, not likethat.
A fact I repeated over and over in order to keep the wings beneath my heart from erupting into a flurry.
