Page 25 of I Dated a Retired Hero

“He wasn’t. He’s alive, and he’s at the lab getting a going over. Dmitri and Nelith are with him, so he’s in good hands.” She shoved another dumpling into her mouth.

“Their hands were fine. Do you know someone named Kitten?” The low, soft voice spoke, and Litha winced. Her chipmunk cheeks were impossible to hide.

She looked at him, and he crouched next to her and laughed. He reached out, wiped the sour cream off her lips, and then cleaned his thumb off with his tongue.

Veru exhaled slowly. “General Midnight.”

He turned to her, his stellar eyes sparkling. “Hello, miss.”

“Veru. She is the wife of the head guy here.”

Veru was spellbound. Her eyes sparkled, and there was a flush in the exposed cleavage of her blouse.

Litha chewed and swallowed. “Does that happen a lot?”

Midnight looked back at her and smiled. “Sadly, yes. It was fun when I was younger but wore my nerves out.”

“Understandable. Khytten. Oh. That explains why you look better now.”

“Not so scrawny?”

She winced. “I did say something to that effect, but since I was plastered to you, you were really bony. Sorry.” She looked at him. “But now, you are much improved. Congratulations.”

She didn’t say that he looked edible in the open tunic, loose trousers, and the leather boots that the other men were wearing. He was crouched near her and started to snag stuff off her plate. He looked surprised when a fork embedded itself in the back of his hand.

He paused and removed her fork, returning it to her. “Did it slip?”

“Did your hand? I am an active, and I don’t fuck around with food.”

He blinked and shook his head. His black hair was bound in a slick tail. It was long but not as long as one would expect for a ten-year incarceration.

He grinned. “Your Erradian manners are lacking.”

“I live in Aksalla. It isn’t an issue. I am also wearing armour to a party. So... all kinds of wrong etiquette.” She forked up some of the pickled cabbage and winced.

“What does your spouse do?”

“Well, when I was five, it was a pony; when I was nine, it was a singer in a boy band, then another pony, and when I was fourteen, it was the hero teams and then... nothing.”

He was frowning.

“Oh, you didn’t mean in my imagination. Right. No idea what he does or even if he’s real somewhere in the world.” She used her tongue to go looking for the remainder of the zingy cabbage. “So, when do you start therapy?”

“What?”

“For being trapped in a canister for a decade.”

“I will work it out.”

“Wow. Your funeral. They made me do all kinds of crap, but now, I am homicidal and not suicidal, so that’s nice.”

He chuckled and then looked at her. “Oh, you are serious.”

“Oh, yes. My patience is this big.” She held her finger and thumb touching. “Glad you found some pants.”

He chuckled. “See? I knew you were looking.” He grabbed another dumpling, and she stabbed her fork right next to his hand. “You missed.”

“Did I? The target was so tiny.”

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