“What?” he asked.
“I can’t believe my eyes. Are you making tea?”
“I am.” He lifted the tin from the desk and sniffed at it. “Rose, wormwood, mugwort.”
“All I could sense was rose.”
“I personally don’t care for the taste. Its healing effects are also far too subtle for my liking, but some insist on throwing it into their concoctions.” His lips twitched, but he said nothing in response to that. “This was her tearecipe. She made it all the time for herself at home and taught it to the owner of The Fool's Folly when I was young.”
Lilac watched him in awe, swallowing her several burning questions about Aimee. “She worked at the apothecary, didn’t she?”
“Sometime after my mother began helping those in town with minor ailments, rumor quickly spread that she was a healer, the daughter of talented physicians across the channel. The brothel’s Madame at the time approached us one day at the market. Cornered us in the old bakery for her expertise in medicine.” Garin took a porcelain mug from a stack at the back of the desk, stacking a round sieve on top. “She specialized in helping women with various ailments. Wanted and unwanted. She needed my mother’s help in perfecting her methods.”
“It sounds somewhat different from what your father did. He researched, didn’t he?”
His laugh was rough. “You could say that.” Swiftly, he unhooked the kettle from the rack that supported it and poured the steaming liquid over the sieve. He collected the covered tin before returning to her, mug in hand.
Lilac scooted back, supporting herself on her arms against the pillow as Garin perched onto the side of the bed.
“I would’ve guessed the salve recipe, either way. Our sense of smell is extraordinary when it’s not hindered by a thrall bond waiting to snap in place. For instance, tonight I can tell which ingredient your loyal handmaiden had forgotten. Pennyroyal is most potent and will relieve abdominal cramping caused by menses, swiftly and efficiently, by soothing the muscles of one’s uterus.” He cocked his head, considering. “I can tell when it’s about to rain.”
“I can do that, too.” She enjoyed this version of Garin. It was one she’d never truly seen. Unguarded and free, safe enough to tell her about his family and brag about his abilities.
“I can tell,” he said, placing the mug onto the tray and walking his fingers up her shin. “That you’re on the first night of your bleed. I thought I might’ve sensed it last night based on your taste, but blood was everywhere.” He shrugged. “I was too distracted to ask.”
Lilac’s smile faded as she struggled to keep her eyes off of his full lips.
“I can tell you were caught by surprise. Stress can bring it on early, orcause delay. You’ve been under large amounts of pressure lately and are in need of much reprieve. Relief.” Garin slid his hand over her hip, leaning over her. Boxing her in. “Which, normally I’d be more than happy to provide you. But I’d consider myself a monster if I didn’t warn you of my potential disservice.”
“What disservice?”
“Helping you in the way you suggest will naturally drive you to offer yourself up to me, either your throat or your body, one consequently leading way to the other, given the bond you chose to enact with me.”
Her irritation only made her want him more. “You are the one who first suggested it.”
“I did no such thing.”
“You asked if I’d ever touched myself during my bleed, immediately after we discussed you feeding. You said you didn’t want anyone else's blood.”
“It was a simple question. I did not infer anything you didn’t already know: that I’d topple kingdoms for your blood. All I said was, as it stands, that I will not bite you.” He pursed his lips, an animalistic smile on the brink of breaking through. “If anything was amiss, your carnal human mind filled in the gaps for you.” The ghost of his smile then vanished. “You have made it clear what you are comfortable offering me, and what you are not. I am grateful for all of it and do not wish to cross those boundaries with you.” His words were genuine, making the hunger in them all more saccharine.
Lilac swallowed thickly. “Then don’t cross them.”
“As you’ve noticed is not so simple. With our thrall bond, it is better to avoid me sinking my teeth into you,ortaking it by other—” His eyes sank appreciatively to her throat, lingering over her breasts, then lower— “Other means. Unless you decide you want me in all the ways I wish to devour you, because that is what it will inevitably lead to. I’m sure you’ve noticed how painstakingly easy it is for those lines you’ve precariously drawn to become blurred. Fortunately for you, I am honored to do it whether I am your husband or not.”
“That’s never stopped you before,” she said, her head pounding. “The true honor is having my hand. Which, you do not.”
Something—amusement? Disappointment?—flashed behind thoseprobing eyes. “Maximilian wouldn’t be pleased with any of this, would he?” His look turned patronizing, but it seemed forced. “My sincerest apologies, Your Majesty.”
“Don’t flatter yourself. A hot towel and a croissant would be just as satisfying, if not more.”
Even as he rasped a chuckle, the teasing faded from Garin’s expression. He leaned in and planted a kiss on Lilac’s forehead, murmuring against her skin. “For now.”
Lilac jumped; two slicked fingers slid below the peeled lip of her dress and undergarment. She couldn’t help the soft moan that escaped when he swept them from her navel to just above her pubic bone.
“It will help ease your pain, as promised,” he said, scooping another dab of Isabel’s concoction and taking her by the hand, prompting her to lean into him.
She pressed her face into his shoulder, savoring her cheek rubbing against his barely-there stubble. Garin’s forest cologne made her head spin, his hair tickling her forehead as he kneaded intentional, firm circles along the base of her spine.
