“Well, I could.” Orick spoke, and I wondered if perhaps our exchange had made him uncomfortable. I hoped that it hadn’t; something about him made me like him immensely. “I dinna get to eat at the castle.”
“Great.” I pointed to a seat and turned to make my way into the kitchen. “Take a seat and I’ll bring you some stew.”
There was still some warm stew from when I’d fed myself earlier, and I quickly spooned a hearty helping into a bowl to return to Orick. When I stepped back into the dining area, I saw him chewing on a chunk of bread with an expression of pure agony.
“Thank ye, lass, but I believe my stomach tricked me. I am no as hungry as I thought.”
I snatched the bread out of his hand and sat the bowl of stew down, despite his objections.
“It’s terrible, I know. That wasn’t meant for you to eat. I shouldn’t have left it out. That was the worst batch, by far. Don’t worry. I’m rubbish at baking, but I have discovered that I am pretty darn good with a piece of meat. You’ll enjoy this…I think.”
I watched nervously as he lifted the bowl to his mouth to taste it and breathed only after he nodded in acknowledgement, throwing me a polite wink to let me know it was edible.
“’Tis delicious, lass. Thank ye.”
I turned my head to find Adwen staring enviously at Orick’s bowl of stew, and I smiled apologetically at him.
“Sorry, that’s all that’s left.”
“Ach no, ye speak in jest, aye? The smell of it has made me hungry once again.”
I shrugged, moving backward to lean against the wooden bar area that separated the dining room from the kitchen. “Nope. No jokes, here. It’s really all gone.”
Adwen’s face dropped like that of a small child’s, and he stood from his seat sulkily before replacing his frown with that same friendly smile he’d had on his face every time I’d swatted his hand away earlier. Moving with the authority of a king, he neared me, trapping me against the bar so that I couldn’t slide either direction without bumping into one of his arms. I leaned far back over the bar to avoid him.
“Just what do you think you’re doing?”
He laughed and reached behind me, presenting the rag I’d dried my wax-scorched hands on.
“Ye have some flour on yer brow, lass. No doubt from when ye were baking the poisonous loaves of bread.”
I closed my eyes, permitting him to brush the flour away. “They weren’t poisonous—just disgusting.”
“The smell of Orick’s food has made me verra hungry, Jane. If ye have no food to feed me, perhaps ye can help me find satisfaction in some other way?”
Orick burst into laughter first, and it was only a second before I joined him. I doubled over with giggles, placing one palm on Adwen’s chest to push him away. I tried to speak in between bouts of unstoppable laughter.
“Did you…Adwen, you can’t be serious? Was that like a move or something? Were you hitting on me—asking me to sleep with you?”
He looked as if I’d slapped him, and I couldn’t hide the satisfaction I felt at his irritation. Still, I had to admire how forthcoming he was with his answer.
“Aye, lass. I doona understand why it humors ye so, but ’twas precisely what I meant to ask ye. I think ye are beautiful, Jane.”
I held up a hand to silence him. “Stop. Please, don’t say anything else. Does that usually work for you?”
Orick’s deep laughter seemed to echo off the walls. I feared he was close to the point of having stew come out of his nose. Adwen seemed to be unable to hear it.
“Aye, always. There has never been a time when it has no worked for me. Can I ask ye something, lass?”
In truth, I felt rather sorry for him. The look of shock and hurt on his face at my laughter and rejection was so genuine that I couldn’t help but pity him. I’d not intended to hurt his feelings, but I’d sincerely thought him joking.
I pulled myself together and resumed my stance of leaning against the wooden bar. “Of course. Ask away.”
“Have ye been in recent contact with a man named Griffith? He’s a young lad, no more than seventeen. Did he agree to pay ye to deny me?”
I closed my eyes, pinching my lids together as I shook my head in astonishment. “What? No. Of course, not.”
“Ye swear to me, lass?”
“Yes. I swear it. I have never met this man Griffith, and I am denying your offer of sex wholly without the incentive of payment.”
Orick stood, finally gaining control over his own laughter as he walked to stand near us. He clasped his hand on Adwen’s shoulder, seemingly as pleased as he could be.
“What did I tell ye, Adwen? She is too smart for ye. She willna fall for yer sweet, meaningless lies. She is no so desperate to fall into bed with a fellow like yerself.”
“Fine.” Adwen brushed Orick’s hand from his shoulder, stepping back a pace to regard me at a safer distance. “Perhaps she’s not like most lassies I’ve come across. I shall have to try honesty with her then.”
“Honesty?” I looked back and forth between the two men, waiting for further explanation. “About what?”