Page 14 of Wanted: Rogues and Bards

“I-I-I’m so very sorry.” Maxie gasped several times, the sob-choked words nearly becoming lost in all the other noise he was making. “I never meant to hurt anyone. Cook-cooking always helps me to relax and I wanted to do something to-to repay you for saving my life.”

Fenric let out the sigh he’d been holding in. “So you didn’t try to kill a houseful of villains as some heroic deed?”

“No!” Maxie’s wail would have impressed a banshee. “You saved my life! I owe you everything. If you hadn’t rescued me, I would have suffocated, or at least starved to death, in that coffin.” Maxie’s head snapped up, revealing large, red-rimmed eyes so puffy they were almost swollen shut. Tears covered his blotchy face. It was hard to believe such a cute little guy could look so bad.

Fenric also learned he hadn’t braced well enough. Those woeful eyes stabbed him right in the heart, nearly knocking the breath from him. How was he supposed to kick Maxie out?

Fuck. What was he thinking? Possibly cursed and a poisoner. They needed to get Maxie out of the house this instant unless they all wanted to die a gruesome death not even Hapi could bring them back from.

But how could Fenric throw him out?

He was educated but helpless.

He was useless but eager to learn.

He was dangerous…but willing to do anything to stay.

Not to mention, the group still had the wager. If Fenric kicked him to the curb now, they’d never find out which of them was right.

Fenric violently shook his head and paced away from Maxie. Unfortunately, the bedroom provided very little space to move, containing a pair of narrow twin beds pushed up against opposite walls and a small path between them. He shared the room with Hapi, which meant the elf’s side of the room was kept tidy thanks to the skelebabies. Fenric’s side was more of a pigsty of dirty clothes, crumpled wanted posters, and various tools of his trade.

“I would understand if you’d prefer I left. I’m sure no one wants to live with the person who very nearly murdered them,” Maxie mumbled.

“There’s no nearly about it. You did murder us,” Fenric griped, only to have Maxie draw in a shuddering breath that threatened to cause another flood of tears. “Though it was accidental,” Fenric tacked on in an effort to shove a finger into the crack growing in the nearly formed dam holding back Maxie’s tears.

Clenching his teeth, Fenric balled up all the complicated emotions growing in his chest and shoved them down to the pit of his still-tender stomach. Yeah, he didn’t appreciate being killed, but wasn’t this possibly a sign that Maxie could make a damn fine villain one day? He could kill without trying! Just imagine what he could do if he actually put his mind to the task.

“Have the others asked you to leave?” Fenric inquired.

Maxie slowly shook his head, sending the golden-brown curls bobbing about his head. “No.”

By the gods, he could kill people with his heartbreaking sadness. That was plenty lethal, never mind his cooking. Fuck.

To whichever deity might be listening, don’t make him regret his next words.

“Then I’m not going to demand you leave either. You didn’t kill us on purpose, if your claims of no one else having tried your food are full truth.”

Maxie’s expression started to brighten. His shoulders straightened and he held his head high. “As I said, I cooked a great deal in the past. It was my favorite thing to do in the—” He stopped sharply and swallowed hard. “My favorite at home. However, I swear it’s as I said before. I never deemed my food good enough for anyone else to try, so I-I didn’t know.”

“And it’s not like he can poison himself.” Malfas’s muffled voice came through the door and Fenric rolled his eyes. He reached over and jerked the door open quickly, sending the nosy warlock nearly spilling over. Malfas took a couple of stumbling steps to catch himself and grinned mischievously at Fenric. “As I was saying, this little puppy’s poisoning skill isn’t based on ingredients but comes from an unknown, innate magical ability. He’s probably been like this for years, with the power growing stronger as he aged or possibly due to his recent stress. It was just unknown until now because no one had been permitted to eat the delicious but deadly food he cooked.”

“Poison is expensive.”

Fenric glanced up to find Hapi leaning against the doorjamb in a languorous manner. He was probably listening to their conversation as he waited for Rain or Belstrom to get out of the bathroom.

“How expensive?” Fenric lifted one brow as lucrative ideas flitted through his mind.

“Very. And I’m just talking about the poisonous ingredients I need for my work.” Hapi pointed a finger at Maxie. “But he turns every day, inexpensive foods into poison without needing to introduce actual poisons like the rest of us.”

“But it’s not like you can use a poison muffin in a spell,” Fenric countered.

“Imagine this.” Malfas jumped back in front of Fenric and spread his hands as if he were going to break out some spell for his presentation. “Say it costs half a copper to make a regular muffin. You sell it for one copper and get half a copper in profit. He makes a poison muffin for half a copper using the same ingredients as a regular muffin, and you can sell it for twenty times the price of a regular muffin.”

“Possibly even fifty times,” Hapi added.

“And who’s going to buy a death muffin?” Fenric sneered.

“A wife who’s pissed at her cheating husband. A worker angry at his boss. Someone who hates his neighbor. A husband who wants to get rid of his old wife so he can get a new, young one. A child who hates their abusive parents. Anyone.” Malfas counted each one off on his fingers.