He found her in the kitchen, her hands wrapped around a mug. She glanced up when she saw him, then looked down at the mug.
Feeling miserable and awkward, he leaned against the counter. "I… ah… picked up some bread at the baker's." When she just nodded, he winced. Still pissed off at him. "I also picked up this." He called in a box, set it on the table near her, then stepped back. When she opened it, her lower lip trembled.
Hell's fire. Being whipped didn't hurt this much. Chocolate fudge was the bribe when it came to being forgiven for doing something stupid and male. At least, it usually worked with Jaenelle and the coven. He knew Marian liked fudge because she'd bought some from that same sweetshop in Riada, but she wasn't giving in enough to even taste it.
Looking around the kitchen, he spotted the kettle. "You made stew."
"Actually, your father made the stew," Marian said. "He showed up a little while after you left."
Lucivar clenched his teeth. Well, wasn't that just fine and wonderful? If he'd offered to help make the stew, she would have snapped at him. But his father could walk in here and make the damn thing without so much as a yip out of her.
And, damn it, he was not going to be jealous of his own father. Of course he was.
"You let him make the stew."
"I didn't let him do anything," Marian said, sounding testy. "One minute he was criticizing you for getting me upset and the next he was making the stew. I think."
"You think?"
"I don't care if he's your father, he had no right to criticize you about what you do in your own home. And when he gave me the carrots to cut up…"
"Wait." Lucivar raised a hand. "He gave you the carrots?"
Marian bristled. "What's wrong with that? I'm perfectly capable of cutting up a few carrots."
He held up both hands in a placating gesture. She did get feisty when she was riled. "I didn't say there was anything wrong with it. It's just not the vegetable I would have given a woman who was holding a sharp knife and was pissed off at men."
When she gave him a blank look, he decided to move the conversation along before she figured out what he meant. "So you cut up the carrots and… ?"
"And I was so annoyed with him, I didn't pay attention to what he was doing, and the next thing I knew the meat was cooking and the rest of the vegetables were ready to go in when it was time." She frowned at the mug. "And he made this brew for me."
Lucivar waited. "So what did he say about me?"
She shrugged. "Doesn't matter. He didn't mean any of it. He told me so after he made the stew."
He didn't appreciate being criticized, but wasn't it interesting that it had annoyed her enough that she hadn't paid attention to what was going on in her own kitchen?
"But then he said…"
Lucivar studied her. She looked so baffled. "What?"
"He said if I wanted to be kind, I would let you make the biscuits… and let you fuss over me a little."
"I can make biscuits."
She shook her head. "You bought some bread."
Not sure how she'd respond to him, he moved closer to her and ran a hand over her hair.
She looked up at him. "Why did he do that?"
"Make the stew?" He leaned over and kissed her forehead, hoping she'd take it as a friendly gesture…and wanting to kiss her in ways that had nothing to do with being friends. "He's a Warlord Prince. I guess he couldn't stand seeing you work when you were hurting." He eased back a little to look at her. Her eyes held a female awareness of a male that eased one kind of tension in him and created another. "So. Are you going to let me fuss a little?"
"I've never been fussed over before."
He smiled. "Think of it as an adventure. It will be easier that way." And until someone, like Jaenelle, told Marian the rules about fussing, he was going to make the most of his hearth witch's ignorance.
FIFTEEN
« ^ »
Marian crouched behind the shelves of dishes and glassware. How soon before the shop's proprietor remembered he had another customer and started wondering what she'd been doing all this time?
She wasn't hiding, exactly. She just didn't want to deal with that Roxie woman.
Thank the Darkness she'd been examining some plates on the lower shelves when Roxie walked into the shop. There'd been no mistaking that voice, and one quick look had convinced her she didn't want to meet Roxie when she couldn't slam a door in the woman's face. But having spent the past hour carefully making her selections, she was not leaving without her cookware, which was stacked on one end of the large wooden counter that ran across the back of the store.
She peeked over the top shelf, then ducked back down out of sight. Poor man.
Roxie had been sneering at his merchandise since she walked in the door, proclaiming loudly that the aristo shops in Doun had much better fare. But that hadn't stopped her from plunking several items on the counter. And now…
"What do you mean I can't put it on the account?" Roxie's voice rose toward a screech. "He told me I could buy anything I wanted and put it on his account."
"Unfortunately," the proprietor replied, his voice condemning in its politeness,
"Prince Yaslana has not informed me of that fact."
Marian winced. She'd bought a few things at the shops she usually patronized, but then it had occurred to her that all the merchants would owe a tithe to Lucivar, so she'd taken one of the horse-drawn cabs over to this side of the village to spread her spending around a little. She'd felt self-conscious about walking into a shop that so obviously catered to the aristo families in Riada. Only the fact that she was buying these things for Lucivar's home and Lucivar's table had kept her from walking right back out.
That and the books. The merchant's shop she usually went to had a small selection of books, and most of them were used…and there'd been nothing there that she hadn't already read since Jaenelle was very generous about loaning her books. But there'd been so many to choose from in this shop, she'd lost track of time as she browsed the shelves. If she'd simply picked one that had interested her, she would have completed her purchases and been out of the shop before Roxie came in.
"He's hardly going to tell every merchant in the village that we're lovers," Roxie snapped. "Especially since we've tried to be discreet about our liaison."
Marian swallowed wrong and almost choked, so she didn't hear the proprietor's response.
"Oh, very well," Roxie said. "You can open an account for me, and Lucivar will settle it with you later."
"I am sorry, Lady, but I cannot open an account for you on the expectation that Prince Yaslana will pay it."
"I told you, we're lovers."
"And it has been my experience that a man who is willing to share his bed may not necessarily be willing to share his purse. If you do not have the funds for the purchases, I can hold the items for a few days."
"Don't bother," Roxie snapped. "The merchants in Doun wouldn't treat me this way."
"Then I suggest you do your shopping in Doun."
When she heard the door open, Marian rose from her crouch. But Roxie hadn't quite left the shop. For a long moment, their eyes met. Then something outside caught Roxie's attention, and she left the shop in a hurry.
Working to steady her nerves, Marian approached the counter.
"Have you found everything you wanted?" the proprietor asked.
"Yes, thank you," Marian replied, trying not to stammer. She swallowed hard.
"Prince Yaslana instructed me to have the household purchases put on his account."
"I see." He flicked a look at the door as someone entered the shop. Why had she come to this part of the village? Why hadn't she kept to the shops where she felt she belonged? Why— "What's all this?"
Jaenelle was suddenly beside her, looking at the cookware with a gleam in her eyes that was downright scary. "Lady Angelline," Marian said.
Jaenelle smiled. "You finally informed Lucivar that he wasn't getting another dinner until you had the proper tools to cook with, didn't you?"
"Not exactly," Marian muttered.
"You're Lady Marian?" the proprietor asked.
"Yes." Maybe she shouldn't be surprised that he'd heard her name. After all, she and Lucivar were the only Eyriens living near Riada.
"Are you sure you have everything?" Jaenelle asked.
"Yes, I'm sure. I thought about—"
But Jaenelle was already heading toward the part of the shop that held household goods, and remembering their last shopping trip, Marian rushed after her.
"I don't need the large- cheese grater," Marian said a few minutes later, trying to keep her voice from edging toward desperation. It wasn't a question of taste, as it had been when they'd shopped for Lucivar's furniture, it was Jaenelle's unflagging idea that if Marian needed one of something for the kitchen, two would be better.
"Why not?" Jaenelle said. "You only have the little one."
"The smaller one is all I need. Really." She took the cheese grater out of Jaenelle's hands and put it back on the shelf.
Since she couldn't hold Jaenelle back, she tried to steer the direction of that energy and enthusiasm, so it wasn't really her fault that they ended up buying a set of dishes… and glasses… and silverware… and a corner shelf for what use she didn't know except Jaenelle thought it would look nice in the kitchen.
Numbed by the sheer quantity of purchases, she watched the proprietor tally up the cost and wondered how many years of tithes had just been eliminated.
Then the proprietor turned to the smaller stack of items on the counter.
"No," Marian said. "Those don't go on Prince Yaslana's account. Those are my purchases."
As he tallied up her purchases, she called in the wallet she'd bought on her last shopping trip. Most of her wages were tucked in the back of the dresser drawer that held her underthings.The wallet held the funds she allowed herself to spend freely. She opened it and riffled the copper marks just as the proprietor finished his tally.
Heat flooded her face. Not enough. She hadn't come to the village to shop for herself and hadn't checked to see how much was in her wallet before she left the eyrie. And she hadn't expected to find that wonderful, soft wool material that she wanted to make into a robe for Lucivar as a Winsol gift. She could still afford the material, but…
After a wistful look at the two books she'd selected, she cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. I didn't bring enough with me."
"Perhaps the Lady would like to open an account?" the proprietor asked.
She just stared at him. Why would he give a housekeeper an account when he wouldn't open one for Roxie, who came from an aristo family?
"That's practical," Jaenelle said.
That settled it—at least as far as Jaenelle and the proprietor were concerned.
"Thank you," Marian said, after she reviewed the neatly written list and had initialed the paper next to the last item.
"It is my pleasure, Lady," the proprietor replied.
"So,"Jaenelle said. "Are you going home to play with your new toys?"
"They're not toys, they're tools," Marian replied as she vanished the material and books. Before she could deal with the rest of the purchases, they vanished.
Jaenelle smiled at her. "I'll come back with you. Then you can tell me what all of those things do."
"Do?"
"I'm not allowed in the kitchen at the Hall, so I don't see most of the things you bought."
"You don't know how to cook? Not at all?"
"No," Jaenelle said sadly.
Marian couldn't believe it. Lucivar could put together an acceptable meal, and he'd mentioned a few times that his father was quite a good cook when the High Lord felt inclined. Why hadn't either of them taught Jaenelle how to put together a simple meal?
"I can teach you," Marian said. "But we'll have to start with something very simple."
Jaenelle beamed. "Simple is good." The proprietor looked amused.
As she and Jaenelle walked out of the shop, Marian wondered how long it would take for the rest of the village to hear that Prince Yaslana's housekeeper was giving the Queen of Ebon Askavi a cooking lesson.
Since he'd been greeted by grinning merchants when he stopped in Riada on his way home, Lucivar expected to find Marian in the kitchen playing with her new toys. The counter was stacked with things, but his little hearth witch was just sitting at the table, frowning at two bowls filled with eggs. After studying the bottle on the table and considering the glazed look in her eyes, he doubted the two fingers of brandy in the glass near her hand was the first drink she'd poured.
Figuring he wasn't going to see dinner anytime soon, he pointed at the eggs. "Are those cooked?"
"Mmm," Marian said.
He took one from the nearest bowl and peeled off the shell. Just as he punched his thumb into the center to break the egg in half, Marian said, "No! Not…"
Raw yolk fountained up and flowed over his hands. Lucivar looked at Marian.
Marian looked at him. "You let my sister play in the kitchen, didn't you?" Which explained why his little hearth witch had indulged in several glasses of brandy.
Marian stared at the egg dripping off his hands. "She's the Queen of Ebon Askavi.
She's the most powerful witch in Kaeleer. And she can't boil an egg."
"I know. That's why we don't let her play in the kitchen."
Marian shook her head. "How can she not be able to boil an egg? You don't even need Craft for it. All she did was put the eggs in the water." She blew out a breath. "How can you end up with eggs that have the whites fully cooked and the yolks still raw?"
"I don't know. My father thinks it's because she's so powerful that some things don't react as expected."
"I thought I'd explained something wrong," Marian said. "So after she left, I cooked the rest of the eggs. They're perfect." She wobbled in her chair. "Jaenelle felt so bad when she left."
"Your offer to teach her was a kind gesture," Lucivar said. "But, Marian? This is a witch who, when she was sixteen, blew up the kitchen at the Hall because she confused the spell she was putting together with the casserole she and her friend Karla were making and put the wrong mixture in the oven. Think about that for a minute. Casserole. Spell. They couldn't tell the difference by looking at what was in the dishes."