Page 136 of The Discount Damsel

Bradley didn’t reply, just lifted the mug, his mug, to his lips for a cautious sip. The full force of dark roast with a touch of unctuous cream swirled across his tastebuds. It was exactly how he made it himself, except it was somehow richer because she had made it.

And made it well. There was no hint of tea or tisane on the back end, no scent of it rising with the steam either. She’d cleaned out the coffee pot. Really cleaned it, with vinegar and as many water rinses as it took to get rid of any residue.

The attention to detail had his OCD singing with joy.

He couldn’t help himself. He quickly lifted a teacake from those remaining after Dirk’s culinary massacre, dipped it into the coffee, and quickly set it into his mouth before it could dissolve midair. Sweet mother of pearl, it was glorious. It was such a simple thing, spice and sugar and butter and the punch of coffee, but coupled with Millie’s thoughtfulness and his discovery of the Tianzi Toad, the peace it brought was magnified.

Bradley hadn’t known his eyes had fluttered shut until the princess’s voice sounded startlingly close. “Are they as good with the coffee as they are with the tea?”

The apprentice would’ve dropped the plate and mug right then and there and pulled her into a deep kiss where she could taste the cake and coffee lingering on his tongue had such an act not disrespected Master Excelsior’s workroom or the princess herself, who had gone through all the trouble of baking and brewing.

So he dunked a teacake into the coffee and offered it to her. She ate from his hand, before the teacake could dissolve into coffee-soaked pudding. Her lips brushing against his fingertips caused something to burst in his chest, releasing a hive of honeybees that set his whole body to buzzing.

Covering her mouth with her hand, Millie mumbled, “Oh, that’s not half bad. Definitely bring those, Mr. Donmarin.”

“Call me Bradley.”

Her cheeks pinked. To be on such familiar terms with a member of the opposite sex who wasn’t her family or her fiancé would have had Miss Cordelia setting aside her fan for the guard’s spear with which to reprimand them. Millie loved it.

She loved the warmth in the apprentice’s bright blue eyes even more.

Sneaking another teacake off the plate, Millie turned back to the trapdoor. “Alright.”

Bradley, balancing the plate, was able to open it ahead of her, which earned him an appreciative smile that sent sparks all the way down to his toes. By Caelus, when had she become so beautiful?

“I found the cat,” Dirk shouted from the stairs below, hoisting Duchess up like a sacrifice to an angry god. The fluffy white Persian was unamused, tail flicking. He wouldn’t let them pass until Bradley had traded the plate and mug for the cat. “Go on, get you a sniff. You’ll feel loads better, I promise.”

“Um, okay.” The dragon was so convinced with the benefits of sniffing a cat that Bradley tentatively raised Duchess to his face.

“Thank you, Master Dirk.” Millie slipped around him and began her descent. “Now come along, we need your nose.”

“For optimizing the spice blend in those lovely teacakes?” He quickly demolished what was left on the plate, the coffee, too. “You did a simply marvelous job, but I personally think we could go a little heavier on the clove.”

“No. We’re hunting magical objects.”

Dirk balked, first because his ability to sniff out magical objects wasn’t as keen as it once had been, and second because if Bradley was finally leaving the workroom . . . “We? What we?” He zoomed close to whisper in her ear, “Shouldn’t you stay behind and snoop in the library?”

This was the perfect opportunity to do so, but Dirk hadn’t seen the bewilderment in Bradley’s face when Millie had told him she’d help him. She’d never had a friend before, but this seemed the logical first step—Assistance in the Pursuit of Another’s Goal without Any Personal Gain, for Beginner Friends.

Except she doubted a friend would envision him kissing her with the same fervor with which he’d just devoured those chai-spiced teacakes.

“You’re red again,” the dragon pressed. “Are you overheating? Do you need a snack?”

Snack conjured a whole host of scandalous imagery, all of which included the muscular apprentice minus his robe and the rest of those teacakes, that Millie forced from her mind. She fanned herself with a hand. She could control this.

“No,” she whispered hotly. “And stop talking about snacks. I’ll snoop through the library later. Might not even need to.”

“What?” Dirk pressed.

She snuck a glance over her shoulder to check if Bradley had noticed her inflamed cheeks. “Stop sniffing the cat, Mr. Don— Bradley. This is your treasure hunt, so you should take the lead.”

At least if he was in front of her, she wouldn’t fantasize about him capturing her from behind and pulling her down onto his lap for a proper snogging.

Crone’s Crooked Tits, what was wrong with her? He’d given her permission to use his birth name and now she was consumed with thoughts of snogging? She was never going to make pastry or coffee just the way he liked it ever again, not if it led to more of this. Piss and plagues, she was going to be a pirate! What pirate baked and snogged?

The One in Ten can do whatever she likes, a traitorous thought told her.

Shut up.