Page 25 of The Flame and the Forsaken

“Aye, but... I’m not asking you to lessen what I did. I can admit my own faults.” Her mouth puckered in what was nearly a grin. “For what few I possess.”

There was something almost charming about her when she wasn’t trying to take his head off. “This will get easier if we’re on the same side.”

Mariel nodded at the ground. “But then you’ll have to stop telling tales to your conquests.”

Erran shook his head wildly. “I truly don’t ken what you’re?—”

“I don’tcarewho you dodder, I told you.” She looked up. “But if they’re people I have to see day in and day out, women who serve me food and prepare my clothing, then I’ll thank you not to make it harder for me.”

He had no idea where she’d gotten the idea he’d been snogging the entire kitchen staff and then some, but she wasn’t going to believe him no matter what he said or how he said it. “And I’ll thank you not to hide things from me.”

“For the second time in our marriage, it seems we agree on something.” Her smile was so forced this time, he laughed. “You aren’t going to try to be chivalrous and offer to escort me back, are you?”

“Well, we are going the same way, and itisrather dark...”

She scoffed, mouth twisting. “I draw the line at taking your arm.”

He snorted. “Wouldn’t dare offer it.”

Mariel grinned.

Erran shook his head and held his arm out, gesturing for her to go ahead. “After you.”

Chapter5

Amateur Outlaws

Erran noted it right away. It wasn’t merely the energy at the brightly accoutred breakfast table on the lower veranda, subdued and solemn, because that wasn’t unusual. The mood of all who lived the Spires followed the mood of the steward, and Rylahn Rutland was often a quiet and intense man when not at sea, favoring his own company to that of others.

It was more the furtive glances passed between Erran’s parents, who often conducted their most important conversations in the subtext of charged silences, but rarely in a way that left Erran feeling squarely on the outside of whatever was happening.

It was just the four of them that morning—he, Mariel, and his parents—as Sessaly was engaged in one of her many pre-wedding appointments. It was just as well. She wouldn’t have resisted the urge to call out how strange their parents were acting, and that never went well.

Erran waved a hand over his plate to indicate to the maid passing by that he needed no more pork. Whether he could eat any of it at all would depend on the first words spoken, and as he watched his mother and father pull sips from their morning tea or stab the contents of their plates, he wagered who would go first.

It turned out to be the last person he expected.

“I wanted to... ah... thank you both for such a lovely evening,” Mariel said.

From the startled looks they shared, his parents were just as surprised, like they’d been stirred from a long sleep.

“It’s so good to have Erran back home, where we can focus on...” A stretch pulled her jaw taut, but it was so quick, he could have just as easily missed it. “Starting a family of our own.”

“Aye.” Rylahn wiped his face on his napkin and tossed it beside his plate. His coiffed hair shimmered on the balmy, plummy breeze passing through the portico. “You have a full season before he returns to sea, and I’m encouraged to hear you intend to make use of it.”

Hestia casually watched the conversation, despite her obvious interest.

Erran went from concerned to suspicious.

“We do. We very much do.” Mariel reached for her tea, her hand briefly forming a soft fist before wrapping around the goblet. “In fact, we’ve already started.”

Erran choked on his tea, waving a hand when his mother shifted her attention to him.

“I trust if you require anything, you’ll let my wife know,” Rylahn said, without looking up from his plate. His gaze swung briefly aside, fork paused midair, but his thoughts seemed to be anywhere but the bedroom activities of his son and Mariel.

“The stewardess has been generous with her kindness and advice, and I will not hesitate to speak up should there be needs I cannot meet.”

Erran wrinkled his brows until they ached, but neither of his parents seemed overly suspicious at Mariel’s turn of mood. Her acting was damned near convincing. If either of them had seen how she spoke to him in private though, they wouldn’t have bought a word of it.

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