Page 57 of War Bound

“Yes.” Farrendel’s mouth twitched.

Great. He was laughing at her again. Essie gave him a fake glare before she turned to the girl running the shop. She couldn’t be more than fifteen or sixteen, and she was staring rather unabashedly at Farrendel. Essie wasn’t sure if it was because Farrendel was an elf or because he was good-looking.

Essie turned on her brightest, professional princess smile. “Do you offer samples we can taste before we make our purchases?”

The girl blinked, started, then swiveled so quickly that she nearly toppled from her stool behind a small countertop. “Oh, right, yes.” The girl took a deep breath, and a professional mask settled over her face. “We offer samples of all our coffees, teas, and hot chocolate varieties. What would you like to try, Your Highness?”

“What would you recommend for the hot chocolates?” Essie softened her smile, hoping to put the girl at ease. This had always been her job as a princess. As king, Averett couldn’t mingle with the people the way she could and, when he did, he needed to keep an extra layer of regal professionalism in place. Edmund and Julien could be charming when they wanted to be, but they didn’t love mingling with people the way Essie did.

As the youngest, Essie had more freedom. She could be the approachable princess who felt more like one of the people than the rest of her siblings.

The set to the girl’s shoulders relaxed, and she smiled. “The double chocolate supreme is my favorite, though a lot of people also like the dark chocolate delight and caramel chocolate craving.”

“We’d like to try all three, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”

After tasting the samples with lots of chatter on Essie’s part and nods from Farrendel, they settled on two packages of the double chocolate and one of the dark chocolate. As they paid, Farrendel eyed the shelf with the packages of hot chocolate, as if he wasn’t sure three would be enough.

Essie leaned closer and whispered in elvish, “We’ll get more at another booth.”

The furrow between his brows disappeared, and he nodded.

This was the reason she was glad she’d married another member of royalty. She didn’t have to explain to him that they needed to spread their patronage out between shops.

They left the shop with Farrendel hugging his paper-wrapped mug to his chest like it was the most precious gift he’d ever been given. She took his free hand, swinging their clasped hands slightly as they weaved into the traffic in the aisle.

It was getting more crowded, and Farrendel’s fingers tightened on hers, his shoulders tensing.

He was probably nearing his people limit by this point. He’d put up with a lot of noise and bustle for her. It was probably time she found him a little peace and quiet.

She steered him toward the stairs to the loft section that stretched across the far side of the space. “There’s a full coffee shop in the loft by the artists’ booths. We can get a table by the railing in a quiet corner, sit for a moment, and look for Edmund and Jalissa. Once we’ve found them, we can leave the market and go for our ride.”

Farrendel gave a large nod. “Yes.”

He must be ready to be done with people. Together, they climbed the stairs and strolled to the coffee shop in the far corner. This shop was busier and didn’t offer the free samples nor did it have as many specialty items. But it had a good, creamy hot chocolate that Farrendel and Essie savored while they searched the crowd from the balcony.

“I don’t see them.” Essie scanned the crowd bustling back and forth below. Jalissa’s long, dark brown hair should have been easy to spot, flowing down her back as it was instead of pinned up. Plus, there should have been a cleared space in the crowd where the people gave her brother and Jalissa room.

“They are not down there.” Farrendel’s tone was calm, not worried. As if he knew something she didn’t.

When she glanced at him, he pointed past her. She turned to see Edmund and Jalissa strolling toward them from an aisle between the artists’ booths up here.

She should’ve guessed Jalissa would prefer strolling the art gallery rather than the bustle of the booths below.

Edmund flopped into the chair near Essie. “Well, that was an enjoyable morning.”

“It was tolerable.” Jalissa perched gracefully in a chair near Farrendel. Her gaze swept over him, as if making sure he was all right.

He smiled and tipped his head as if to reassure her.

Essie held out her mug of hot chocolate. “Do you want a sip of hot chocolate?”

Jalissa’s nose wrinkled, as if the thought of sharing Essie’s mug disgusted her. But she took the mug and delicately sipped. Her eyebrows arched. “This is good.”

“Would you like your own?” Edmund started to push himself to his feet.

“No, but thank you.” Jalissa swung her gaze from Edmund to Essie. “Are we done here?”

“Yes. We’d like to leave for our ride, if that sounds good to you.” Essie reclaimed her mug and gulped down the rest of her cooling hot chocolate.

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