Page 23 of Midwinter Wiles & Valerian Dreams
The smile lasts precisely one heartbeat. Talvie—no,Val, I need to get used to that—is staring at me with the befuddled expression of one who’s just been asked to don a jester’s costume and join in on robbing the treasury.
“So… I’m sorry about all that.”
“About the proposal I apparently missed, or the weirdly excited man who nearly shook my arm off.”
“Um, both?”
Chapter 10
Talvie
“Come in and share our breakfast,” Lark offers with a grin. “It’s the least I can do after you helped me out.”
“I’m not sure what I helped with. I only wanted to apologize.”
“Apology accepted! Since you just saved my hide, I’m the one who owes you now…fiancée.”
“Right. Question…Are you insane?”
“Frequently!” His grin broadens to reveal dimples. “But I also have delicious-smellingkorvapuusti.”
I don’t know why I follow him inside. I don’t know what I say as excited voices surround us, or what keeps my feet moving until I’m sitting at the table with all these little people whose names jumble together in my head.
“What did the sentry say?” asks a petite teen with lilac hair braided over one shoulder.
“Nothing we didn’t expect,” Lark assures her. “He wants us to stay put for a bit, get a board together, do the hearing.”
She grimaces and tugs at her braid. The big guy I saw last night looks tense, too. Even the two slightly younger boys are watching the older ones carefully.
“Hey, relax guys.” Lark puts a hand on the shoulder of the energetic redhead before she tips the table over reaching across it with her whole body. “We knew CPS would find us. Val here helped, and now Niemi thinks we have a great shot. It’s all going to be fine.”
“Who is she?” asks a young girl bluntly. I think Lark called her Grumpy, but that can’t be her name, though her dour face lives up to it.
“Val works here. Mika and I met her last night, didn’t we?”
The boy, whose name I now remember is Mikael, gives a nod, but he still won’t look at me. Guilt twists in my gut again as he spoons mash into the baby girl’s mouth. At least she’s smiling today.
“See? Everything’s fine. We’re good here, and the best news is we’re going to stay longer than expected. We might as well make new friends!” Lark’s tone is upbeat, but I can’t help remembering the tension in his shoulders while he gripped my elbow, or the way his breath sounded tight in my ear that had me playing along with his crazy charade.
Somehow, I’m eating sweet pastries and piling cheese and cold cuts onto a thick slice of butterbread, taking a huge bite so I don’t need to talk. Not that I could get a word in edgewise with these kids all talking over each other.
Lark sits across from me, unfazed by the chaos.
He’s gentle as he helps the young girl cut her open-face sandwich. He’s easygoing as he gets the two boys to give up the container of cinnamon rolls they’re trying to commandeer. He laughs at something the eldest girl says when she passes him the syrup for his oatmeal. He passes an extra egg sandwich to Mikaelat the end of the table without him even asking, though it’s clear from his bashful smile that it’s appreciated.
Through all this, Lark catches my eye every so often with a quirked eyebrow, as if to ask ‘are you okay’, or to share a little ‘aren’t they crazy’with me. As if it’s a secret. This is all crazy.
It’s loud, and not polite at all, with everyone reaching over each other. I take an elbow to the shoulder when the hyper redhead gets so excited telling her brothers a story that she stands on her chair to act out a sword fight. It’s wholly undignified! If anyone acted this way at a dining table at the palace, they’d be carted off in restraints.
But it doesn’t feel wrong here. It feels…nice. Warm. Fun.
I’m on the outside looking in, but I don’t feel unwelcome. The hole in my chest—the one I’ve carried since Beron’s betrayal, or maybe even before—aches less the longer I sit here. This isn’t an experience I’ll have again, so I’m going to enjoy it. Wild as it is.
Helping Lark clear the table as the kids run off in every direction after eating feels like a natural way to show him gratitude for including me. I barely even feel the ingrained guilt at not having brought a gift when invited to someone’s home. But then I did bring breakfast, and this isn’t really their home, anyway.
“Your family is…” I’m not sure how to end that thought to convey all my feelings.
“A lot?” Lark finishes for me. “I know. Some days I have no idea how to keep up. Actually, that’s a lie. All days. It’s all days.”
