Page 38 of Deadly Avarice
“He did.” Aurelia sounded pleased. “Peaches is an interesting master.”
The way she saidinterestingperked my ears. If anything, Aurelia sounded confused.
My earlier ire simmered, much like the soup. Holding Aurelia to societal norms and expectations wasn’t fair. In many ways, Aurelia was like a barely tamed feral creature. She’d been treated like a possession—used and abused—for millennia and she’d responded in kind. Thousands of years of abuse couldn’t be erased over a few months. There was no book, no guideline on how to integrate an ancient, all-powerful djinn into modernsociety. We were all flying by the seat of our pants, including Aurelia.
“Peaches seems like a good pixie,” I said. I generally tried to steer clear regarding discussions of Aurelia’smaster. “He never wanted to be your master. Peaches stepped in to help protect you.”
Aurelia’s lip curled. “He is protecting others from me.”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “I won’t argue that. But he’s also protecting you. It’s like two sides of the same coin. Peaches doesn’t want anyone else to have that kind of control over you. He doesn’t want someone else to make you do things you don’t want to do.”
Head cocked to the side, Aurelia’s unreadable mask was firmly in place. Her golden hoops shimmered from the edges of her ears as her head canted. After what felt like a lifetime, Aurelia answered with a simple “we will see.”
I nodded my agreement. “That’s fair.”
Aurelia’s eyes widened before she said, “You believe so?”
“I do. I imagine Peaches does also. Now, would you like to try some of the soup? It will be hot so you’ll need to let it cool a bit and then it should be safe to eat.”
“Hot soup would not damage me.”
It was easy to forget how invulnerable Aurelia was. “That may be, but is burning your mouth a pleasant feeling?”
“No.”
“Then there’s your answer. I’ll dish the soup out into bowls so it can start cooling. Franklin should be here soon.” No sooner did I say the words than I heard the front door open.
“Just me,” Franklin stated, his voice raised loud enough for me to hear.
“We’re in the kitchen,” I answered back. Aurelia remained silent. She’d moved closer to the cooling bowls of soup. Franklinwalked into the kitchen to the sight of Aurelia’s nose practically inside one of the bowls.
Eyebrows reaching for the sky, Franklin looked from me to Aurelia.
“Don’t ask,” I muttered while turning my attention to the fridge. “It will take some time for the soup to cool. Would you like something to drink in the meantime?”
“Lemonade,” Franklin answered. I’d started keeping it on tap just like Momma’s sweet tea. “Coming right up. Aurelia?”
“Water.” Aurelia wasn’t a fan of our sweet tea and didn’t seem to care for lemonade either.
“You got it.” Water for Aurelia, lemonade for my man, and sweet tea for me. Franklin helped me carry the glasses to the table. We each grabbed a bowl of soup. Aurelia followed our example. I’d already turned down the volume on the music and could now hear the hamster ball rolling around.
“I take it our furry friend is here as well,” Franklin said.
Aurelia waved a hand in the air. “The creature is currently content.”
I blew on a spoonful of soup before asking, “Still no name?”
Aurelia snorted. “The creature is too pathetic to warrant a name.”
I opened my mouth, ready to argue but simply shrugged. While I didn’t agree, I didn’t believe arguing would get me very far. Honestly, I was surprised Aurelia was still carting the thing around. She’d taken to Little Fang much better.
“How about Furball?” Franklin asked.
Aurelia blinked, head cocked to the side before nodding. “It is appropriate. A useless name for a useless creature.”
Franklin sat back. Unlike me, he wasn’t willing to let it go. “I wouldn’t go that far. Hamsters have their uses. And before you ask, no, I’m not certain what they might be beyond company. There are a lot of humans and members of other species thatkeep them as pets. Some find joy in their antics and pleasure in their soft fur.” Franklin shrugged. “Bringing joy to someone is far from useless.”
Aurelia stared long enough that Franklin fidgeted. I was about to say something—anything to change the topic, when Aurelia surprised me by saying, “It does not bring me joy, therefore, it is useless to me. But perhaps, it is not useless in general.”
