I squeaked and flung around, losing my footing in the process. As I fell to the dirt, the basket tumbled with me. The lidsmashed open upon impact, and the last of the muffins rolled out. On my ass, I peered up into the irritated face of my least favorite knight. “Oh. Hey, Roth.”
Roth sneered down at me. “You have no business here. You’re a distraction none of us can afford at this time, especially the captain. Be gone with you.”
He wasn’t my biggest fan, but I wasn’t special in that regard. He was an asshole to everyone. He’d mainly kept his distance from me over the months, but from the little I’d been around him, I’d learned a few things. One, he was an asshole, as previously mentioned. And two, he hated demi-humans. Like, a lot. So much so that he believed they should all be slaughtered.
Which, considering all the demi-humans I loved, didn’t make mehisbiggest fan. So the feeling was definitely mutual.
“Be gone with me?” I huffed. “You make it sound like I’m an evil spirit you’re about to expel.”
“More so, a meddlesome pest.” Roth stepped closer, bringing that annoyance with him. “We’re on the brink of war, boy! Haran looms on one side, and the demons wait on the other. We soldiers need to focus on our training and prepare for the battles to come. Too many lives have already been lost in this fight. We don’t need you and your damned basket of dry muffins showing up and being a nuisance.”
“Wow,” I said, appalled. “Did you just insult my muffins?”
Some of Roth’s ire left him.
“Was that a smile?”
“No.” He scoffed and flung out his hand toward me. “Here. The captain will have my head if he walks past and sees his precious boy in the dirt.”
Precious boy? Why did that make me all fluttery?
“Thanks.” I grabbed his hand and allowed him to pull me to my feet. Like the rest of him, his palm was rough and calloused. Isuspected there was a decent man beneath the asshole-ness. One deep, deep down.
“Is there a problem here?” one of my favorite voices in the whole world then called from nearby. Maddox approached from the path leading from the barracks.
“I tripped on my way to find you,” I said. “Roth happened upon me in the dirt and provided his chivalrous knightly services to help me up.”
Roth glanced at me, as though surprised.
Had he expected me to rat him out to the captain and say he was a big meanie? It was tempting, but maybe keeping that detail to myself would help sway Roth to like me a little better. Or, at least, make him not want to shoo me away like a fly each time I graced him with my presence.
“Much appreciated.” Maddox nodded to Roth. “Will you escort Captain Braun to the mess hall?”
“Yes, sir,” Roth responded.
“Who’s Captain Braun?” I asked.
Just as the question left my mouth, I saw a man standing beside the nearest tree, one arm behind his back and the other dangling at his side. He had short blond hair and facial hair reminiscent of a goatee and appeared to be in his early to mid-thirties. His uniform clearly marked him as an officer, nicer than those of the knights who’d come to Briar’s clinic earlier but still showing signs of wear.
This Braun guy had that look about him. The look of a man who was no stranger to battle. Or pain. Like my own captain, the evidence lay in the hardness around his eyes and the deep wrinkle in his brow.
“You must be Evan,” Captain Braun said, his expression unchanging. “I’ve heard much about you and your café.”
“Yep, that’s me. You should visit soon. Let me know your favorite flavors, and I’ll be sure to have something prepared.”
Maddox glowered at me.
“You’ll still get first dibs on the muffins,” I said in a not-so-quiet whisper. “Stop snarling.”
Captain Braun pressed his lips together as Roth joined him by the tree. The two then left the area.
“Sorry if I’m interrupting your work.” I wrapped my arms around Maddox’s thick waist. “I just wanted to tell you and Briar about my meeting with the lord mayor. Which went awesome. I think.”
“You think?”
“Well, I have to leave in about two weeks. It’s kinda soon. A lot needs to be done before then. I need new clothes. My wardrobe isn’t exactly winter ready. I’ll need to make sure the cottage is stocked, check our inventory of coffee beans and baking supplies, give Miles instructions on—”
Maddox silenced my rambling with a soft kiss.
