Page 162 of I Ran Away to Evil 2
Penelope opened her mouth to reply but was cut off.
“Wife, your timer just rang.” A bear beastman stuck his head out of the window leading into the kitchen.
“Can you take the buns out of the oven?” she asked, her voice loving and lovely. Brownie longed to sing a duet with the fox … and she would. If Penelope managed to go the whole evening without bursting into song, it would be a first. The princess told the bard, “She’s made a concoction of rosehip and nettle, topped with a whipped foam on warm milk from the kettle.”
After the day they’d had, a hot drink sounded wonderful to Brownie. “Thank you, that’s perfect.”
Penelope dipped into a curtsy then danced back to the kitchen. She stopped just outside as the two bluebirds alighted on her extended index finger. They chirped a fond farewell to their princess, and she bid them both goodbye with a kiss.
A squirrel arrived to start its own shift. It put on a tiny apron Penelope handed over and then got to it, removing dirty plates and cutlery to a trolley that followed it around.
“I love a four-hour workday,” Rufus remarked, also staring at the birds. “It’s the perfect amount of time to get things done and still have energy to enjoy the day.”
Brownie laughed at her beastman. “Youwork only four-hour days? Really?”
“What does that mean?” He raised an eyebrow at her from across the table.
Brownie teased, “How is this quest a four-hour work day? ”
“I used to work more.” Rufus shrugged. “Now I take off weeks at a time to visit your shows, so it all balances out in the end.”
“I don’t think it does.” Brownie shook her head. “I’m not saying that a four-hour work day isn’tnice.I’m saying that I haven’t seen you stop working since I met you.”
“I’m literally sitting in a restaurant with the most charming companion a beast could ask for,” he stated. “Notworking.”
“Rufus, you’reliterallyon a quest! Right now!” Brownie countered. She smiled at her beastman.
He frowned. “This doesn’t count. I’m normally happily tucked away in my dungeon around this time with a good book and a fine beverage. And I will be again, once I’ve locked up Duke Lector and straightened out our resident poisoner.”
The image of Rufus in a dungeon was tempting, but the fact that she was going toonlysee him in a dungeon was not. At that moment, their future didn’t seem as solid as she wanted it to be.
What was she going to do, just stop in from time to time on her travels?
She didn’t want to let her reservations dampen their already rain-logged evening.
“Rufus?”
A voice cut into her thoughts, and the pair of them looked up. A golden-haired beastwoman with sharper canine features than her travel companion and an obvious resemblance had shed her own coat and walked up to their table.
“Hello, sis.”
Rufus stood up and added a chair from an empty table to their own.
“I came as soon as I found out you were here!” the beastwoman said, taking the offered seat.
Rufus made a long-suffering sigh at her words but smiled at his sister. “Jessica, this is Bronwynn. We are courting. Bronwynn, this is my sister, Jessica.”
The beastwoman flashed the bard a smile that showed a lot of teeth. “It’s nice to meet you!”
CHAPTER 99
He Beat Everyone
Rufus
It had been a long time since I’d directly visited Gren’s Keep. Or my family here.
Being the most powerful beastman in the Dark Enchanted Forest meant that a lot of people wereinterestedin me. Needless to say, if I wasn’t traveling with Bronwynn and could use her as a shield against unwanted attention, then I would have rather slept in the wet bushes than chance coming here.
