Arthur waved cheerily until she’d vanished around the corner. His hand dropped. “What’s up?”
“Mother hasn’t been playing with love charms, has she?” Taliesin asked point-blank.
The apprentice pulled a face. “No way. Those things are vile. Why do you...?” He trailed off. “Wait, you don’t think Lady Gertrude enchanted you, do you?”
“It’s the only explanation I have.” Taliesin blew the bangs from his eyes. “I’m not interested in others, but she’s...” He shook his head. “I kissed her the other day. We had fairy cider, and—”
“Maybe the Fair Folk were messing with you. They tend to like their heart beet juice.”
“You know as well as I do that that has no effect on me.”
“Then something stronger?”
“The Seelie Queen doesn’t normally play with that kind of magic.”
“Oh, that court.” Arthur drummed his fingers on the wooden table. “Ever think you just like her? I mean, she is pretty cute, and she seems sweet. Maybe she just does it for you. Or hey, maybe your lizard brain’s going off and she’s your true mate or something.”
Taliesin groaned. “Not helping, Arthur.”
“Just calling it how I see it,” Arthur replied. Then he added, “She’s lying about her name, you know. I can’t tell what it really is, but I can tell she’s lying.”
“I’ve known that for a while. I suspect it’s so her fiancé can’t track her down.”
Arthur hummed. “Is she really on her way to meet a lover? She looked embarrassed when you brought it up before.”
“She’s shy,” Taliesin insisted. “It’s possible the person we’re meeting is someone her father doesn’t approve of, considering he tried to engage her to someone else.”
“Oof. That’s rough. You probably don’t want to get involved with that, then. Most dads wouldn’t be too thrilled with a bard for a son-in-law, and with your lineage to boot.”
Taliesin heard Rhiannon’s return before Arthur could spot her. He gave a subtle signal to drop the subject and returned to his meal. Arthur nodded and carried his empty bowl to the sink. “Can I get you guys any more of anything?”
“No. Thank you, though.” Rhiannon sat down and took another bite. “This is quite tasty. Could I trouble you to know what is in it?”
“Sure. There’s a recipe in one of the cookbooks around here somewhere...” Arthur gestured vaguely around the room. “You know what? I’ll dig it up for you later.”
While he scrubbed at the bowl, he asked politely, “Do you often cook, Miss Sofia?”
“I’ve baked a few pies and the like, but never a whole meal. I wouldn’t mind learning.”
“Then this is a pretty good place to start. Other than measuring the spices, it’s straightforward and there’s lots of wriggle room. It’s sooo much easier than baking or potion making.” All at once, Arthur’s eyes widened. “Oh yeah!” He turned to Taliesin. “Speaking of potions, Lady Gertrude said she made one that I was supposed to drop off for Bellflower, but since you’re here, maybe you can do it. She said something about the slugs in the garden?”
“When did Bells...?” Taliesin shook his head. “Never mind. She has her ways. Sure, I’ll pass it along for her.”
“Great! Let me go get it before I forget.” He wiped the suds from his hands on a towel and hurried out of the room.
Rhiannon smiled. “He seems quite busy,” she observed.
“My mother is rough on apprentices,” Taliesin explained. “She’s a good teacher and doesn’t push too hard, but she’s always forgetting this or that or foisting tasks off on other people.”
“Ah, like delivering potions?”
“You’ve got the idea.” Taliesin picked up his empty plate and, noticing Rhiannon’s half-eaten supper, asked, “Are you feeling all right?”
She blinked. “Oh, um, yes. I just have a lot to think about.” She fiddled with the tip of her braid. “I wish I could have met the Lady Gertrude.”
“Why is that?”
“She seems like an interesting person.”
“She is,” Taliesin agreed, “if a bit much. If you thought Tabitha was exhausting, my mother is doubly so.”
Rhiannon giggled and stood to follow Taliesin with the remains of her unfinished dinner. “Then she sounds like a treat to be around.”
Taliesin took her bowl with him to the sink. “Pray you never meet her. She’ll talk your ear off and then some.” He set the dishes in the sink and then opened a cupboard. Inside, he found a chiffon cake, just as he expected. “Care for some dessert?”
“Won’t your mother miss it?”
“This cabinet always has sweets,” Taliesin replied as he opened another cabinet for the appropriate plates and forks. “She has a spell on it so it produces cakes and pies on its own. Admittedly not the greatest for your health, but once in a while it’s fine to splurge.”
Arthur returned with a large piece of parchment. His expression brightened considerably on seeing the dessert in Taliesin’s hand. “Ooh! It’s cake today? It’s been spitting puddings for the last week.”
“Magic takes a lot of energy,” Taliesin added as he set the cake stand and plates on the table and went to retrieve a knife. “Do you know if there’s any jam for our cake?”
Eager for sweets, Arthur yanked open another cabinet and retrieved a jar of orange marmalade. From another, he selected sweet cream already whipped to a perfect peak. Taliesin cut the cake. He passed a slice to Rhiannon first, and the next to Arthur. He did not, however, procure one for himself. Rather, he busied himself brewing a pot of herbal tea.
By the time tea and cake were finished, the hour had grown late. Taliesin offered to ready some rooms, and with her head already nodding, Rhiannon couldn’t refuse. Tucked into her bed, Rhiannon waited until the quiet of the night had seeped into the house before slipping out of bed. Silent as a mouse, she padded down the stairs to the bookshelf. Forewarned would be forearmed, she thought as she slipped a book on dragon behavior off the shelf. She could give it back to Taliesin before she met the dragon.
That was assuming they reached the mountains the dragon called home without Brodrick finding them.
And assuming the dragon didn’t come for her first.
Rhiannon took a deep breath and opened the book to its first page.