Page 51 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

I nodded and then brought the spoon to my mouth to taste the remnants of the soup and…him. His eyes traced my movement carefully and when I wrapped my lips where his had been only seconds ago, his jaw ticked. Dimple now fully in sight. “No, there is plenty of salt.”

After a few spoonfuls of the warm earthy soup, I poked a few baked potato squares with my fork and held them before him again. He ate that and I stuffed a bunch of those down as well. And then the pie. The odd olive bread I’d never had before. Some sort of aubergine dish.

“Woman,” he sighed. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“Death by pie would be very fitting to your image, Night King.”

He exhaled a long, slow breath and leaned back, looking at me, his tongue pushing on his cheek. “Not calling me Kilian anymore?”

“I’d rather not be on a first name basis with the man who sent his hound dogs to kill me when I was barely eleven.” All that salt and spice had bloated my stomach and parched my tongue and that meant I had to drink water. After I filled my cup, I held it before him. “Drink.”

“He already tried everything before you came,” Mal said, mildly entertained.

My arm dropped and I turned to him. “What?”

His mouth pulled to a wicked smile. “Heard me right, sister-in-law. Everything, from the soup to the condiments to the drinks was tried by him before you came.”

Slowly, my head turned to Kilian whose stark face was veiled in some amusement.

“You wouldn’t have believed me,” he said before I could say anything.

I nodded. No, I wouldn’t have. “When is this meeting?”

He cocked his head to the side. “Finish eating.”

“Finished,” I said, dropping the cutlery. Though my stomach protested that statement.

He shut his eyes and sighed, “Snowlin.”

A nerve jumped in my temple from the way he said my damned name.

Mal cleared his throat. “Actually, can we go now? I’ve got a lady clocking in at the inn with my hard earned money. It hurts me to see it go to waste.”

“Get a whore for your brother, too, it ought to lose that stick up his arse a bit,” I said, pushing the chair back and exiting the room.

I kept a healthy three feet between him and I, walking besides Mal while he led us to the meeting room.

“He does have a fascinating backside,” Mal murmured in my ear, and I elbowed him in the gut with all my strength.

“I’m certain all the ladies will say the same about yours when I put a pike through and through your naked body.”

“Ladies will be too busy admiring my front, sister-in-law,” the fool said, giving me a wink and trotting ahead.

Kilian pulled the two massive mauve doors and let his brother go in before shutting them right as I was about to enter. He chased my steps till my back met the cold wood and then caged me in. He was so close, too close. Gods, he smelled so good.

He chuckled a little and then looked down at the dagger I held to his gut.

My grip shook from anger—deep red anger that I felt more at myself than him.

He grabbed my wrist and dragged my hand up, resting the blade against his throat. “I’m a very difficult man to kill, love. I’d go for my throat first. It won’t kill me instantly, but I’ll surely bleed a little and weaken the magic protecting me. And then,” he said, bringing the tip of the dagger to his heart. “Then go for my heart.”

I tilted my head to the side. “Noted. Any other advice?”

“I’m sure you can figure the rest on your own.” He pushed a loose strand of hair from my face, tucking it behind my ear. “There are some very young people in there, I need you to be nice.”

I scoffed, sheathing the dagger to my waist. “Darling, I’m the nicest person I know. Do you know what it takes to resist committing genocide on an hourly basis?”

His warm breath fanned over my lips, shivers travelling all the way down to my spine. “I feel for you, love, truly.”