Page 36 of Invidia

Outwardly, she scoffed, giving nothing of her feelings away. “Yes, I’m sure they’ll all feel perfectly comfortable telling the giant, brooding Guardian of Darkness to get stuffed.”

Judging by her tone, she hadn’t meant the description as a compliment, but I took it as one anyway. Guardian of Darkness had quite the mysterious ring to it.

“Do you really want to settle for a mate who isn’t brave enough to stand up to me?”

She mumbled something into her goblet, something that sounded like, “I don’t want to settle at all.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing.” She shook her head. “This is just a favor for the king and queen. I’m meeting Shades for them.”

“And no part of you is hoping that you might meet someone you actually like?”

I picked up the top plate, filling it with a selection of delicacies from the tray in the middle and passing it to Tallulah before repeating the process for myself. She nibbled daintily at the edge of a cake, watching me through narrowed eyes.

“I don’t know. Maybe I did think that. Now, I’m thinking of focusing more on healing my inner child and loving myself.”

“Those sound like good uses of your time, too.”

Tallulah laughed, though she did her valiant best to suppress it. “You know we’re on a date right now.”

“It does appear that way.”

“That’s something new and different for us.”

I hummed in agreement, trying to make sense of her tone. It almost sounded like that was something she’d wanted. That I’d been the one denying it to her.

“This is someone else’s date. If it were my date, I would have waited for you at Elverston House, told you how magnificent you look—you do, by the way—and brought you somewhere far less… on show than this.”

A faint blush stole across Tallulah’s cheeks, and her scent sweetened again in spite of the irritated glare she was trying to maintain. On reflection, I had never complimented her as much as I should have. I’d been physically attracted to her—to the point of madness—and I’d lazily relied on that to demonstrate that I found her beautiful.

I wished I knew what I was doing. I had almost no experience in anything that even resembled flirting. And yet… would it have been so hard to just say the words too? Why hadn’t I done that? I could have given Tallulah that.

“What have you been doing today?” I asked, knowing that once I happened upon the right topic, Tallulah would lose herself in the conversation.

“Spending time with Iris, mostly. Getting her set up.”

“Is she settling in comfortably at the palace?”

I fancied Tallulah looked a little gratified at the question and cursed myself silently again for not taking more of an interest in her life and friends in the past. I hadn’t even known the name of that ex-Hunter when I’d found her half dead in the in-between.

“Yes, I think so. She didn’t really have a lot of the stuff she needed, so I went through it with her today, making lists of what we had on hand and could provide, as well as a list for Astrid to take with her on her next supply run.”

“I’m sure Iris appreciates all your help.” My chest was tight, the overwhelming affection I felt for Tallulah coming back in full force at the reminder of her kindness.

She was just so very good, right down to her soul.

“It’s nothing, really. Damen has really taken it upon himself to help her get settled in at the palace.”

“Damen?” I repeated doubtfully. I knew him well enough to know Damen had it in him to be decent and helpful and generous. Usually, he just… didn’t bother. I supposed he had no need to—his life was going to be comfortable and easy either way.

“I was surprised too,” Tallulah admitted. “He needed a little encouragement, but he’s really stepped up.”

“And who provided him with that encouragement?” I teased.

Tallulah groaned, hiding her face in her hands, and peering out at me between her fingers—impossibly endearing, as always.

“I don’t mean to insert myself into the middle of everything, I swear. It just keeps happening to me.”

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