Page 48 of Fly to Fury
Tenian Daefiel snapped the book closed, as if satisfied he’d made his point. Facing forward again, the elf actor took the photograph from the next person in line and flashed that smile again. “I apologize for the delay.”
The authoress bent over Ellie’s books, signing each of them rapidly before she shoved the whole stack toward Fieran. “Thank you. I hope your sister enjoys the latest book.”
“I’m sure she will.” Fieran claimed the books and joinedPip to one side as they waited for Merrik and Lije to get their books signed.
As they waited, Fieran watched Margaret Grey and Tenian Daefiel. It must be an interesting tour, indeed, with the two of them stuck together so long.
Pip clutchedtwo massive paper bags of popcorn as she edged along the seats crowded with flyboys until she reached the empty seat Fieran had saved for her between himself and Mak. Merrik had the seat on Fieran’s other side. With a sigh of relief, Pip all but collapsed onto the hard metal chair. “It’s so crowded in here.”
And she hadn’t had her cluster of tall men to use as a shield this time. With all the lines so long during the intermission, they’d decided to split up to each wait for a different snack. Mak had retrieved the donuts, Fieran the drinks, Pip the popcorn, and Merrik had saved a section of seats.
“We were beginning to worry.” Mak took one of the paper bags of popcorn.
It seemed popcorn was a required snack while watching any kind of show here in Escarland. It hadn’t caught on in Tarenhiel or Kostaria yet, but Pip was looking forward to the snack now that she was in Escarland again.
“I was about to go looking for you to make sure you hadn’t gotten run over.” Fieran leaned down and retrieved a brown glass bottle from where it had been set beside the leg of his chair. “I got you a root beer.”
Her favorite. Perhaps the plant-base of the drink appealed to her elven side. Or the root to her dwarven side.Or maybe this was a preference that had nothing to do with her heritage at all, and she simply liked root beer.
“Linshi.” Pip claimed it, perching the bag of popcorn on her lap. “What did you get?”
“A new flavor. Berry blast.” Fieran held up the purple-colored soda in its glass bottle. He seemed to prefer the berry-flavored and ultra-sweet sodas. Although, this was Fieran. He pretty much liked everything and would try anything at least once.
“Is it any good?” Pip balanced the popcorn between her arms so she could use both hands to twist off the metal cap of her soda bottle.
“Yes. It’s more tart than I was expecting, but still sweet if that makes sense. Want to try it?” Fieran held out his soda bottle to her.
If it had been anyone else, she might have thought twice before just taking the bottle and sipping it. But this was Fieran, and somehow it didn’t feel weird to share a drink with him.
Holding her root beer in one hand, she took Fieran’s soda and sipped. The sweet, bubbling drink flooded over her tongue with the taste of raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries, yet it had an undertone of a crisp tart flavor that prevented it from becoming too overwhelmingly sweet. She nodded as she passed it back to him. “I like that one. Better than that raspberry one you like so much.”
“The candy in a bottle?”
“That one.” How Fieran could stand something so sweet it made her teeth ache was beyond her.
She tilted the popcorn bag toward Fieran, and he grabbed a handful, popping some into his mouth.
In the row ahead of them, many of the elven pilots held bags of popcorn as well, though several of them werecurrently trying to eat the popcorn with spoons to avoid touching it with their fingers.
At the end of the row of elven pilots, Lt. Rothilion had given up on his spoon and instead primly picked up a single puffed kernel at a time with only his thumb and index finger. He popped each into his mouth with all the manners of someone having afternoon tea with the elf queen.
With a huff, Merrik leaned across Fieran and retrieved a handful of popcorn as well, though he directed his eyeroll at Fieran rather than Pip.
Oops. Pip had retrieved only two bags of popcorn since they were so huge they contained too much for one person to eat. She’d figured they could share. She probably should be sharing with Mak and Fieran with Merrik, but…well, she’d rather share with Fieran than with her brother. That way her and Fieran’s fingers might accidentally brush, and they could lean a little closer together under the pretext of sharing.
Ridiculous, really. Especially since she hadn’t had that talk with Fieran yet about the status of their relationship. She shouldn’t be acting like they were in a relationship when they weren’t. And might never be, if Fieran didn’t respond well to her confronting him.
Mak heaved a sigh, gathered his drink and popcorn bag, then stood. “Shift down, Pip.”
Pip hesitated, not quite sure what Mak was going to do. Was he going to sit in between her and Fieran? She hadn’t thought he would go so overprotective big brother on her that he’d resort to separating them.
But instead, Mak kept going, edging past Fieran and Merrik before halting and waiting.
Pip slid over a seat, as did Fieran and Merrik. Mak sat in the seat Merrik had vacated. The two of them passed thepopcorn bag back and forth between them, as if they’d rather go through that extra step than risk accidentally reaching for the popcorn at the same time.
Pip stuffed back her grin and tried to settle in more comfortably on the hard metal seat, resisting the urge to use her magic to make it more comfortable. This was even better. Now she could flirt with Fieran without her big brother looking over her shoulder as she did so.
On the stage set up on the far side of the mess hall, the liaison officer tasked with organizing this tour stepped forward, motioning and asking for silence.
