Give Me by L. K. Rigel Page A

Cammy really did bat her eyelashes at Bausiney.
    “I don’t think it’s romantic at all.” His eyes flashed with exaggerated umbrage. “Infamous union! The resultant whelp grew up to become King Artros. A very bad beginning which explains his bad end.”
    “So you believe children should pay for the sins of their parents.” Bella said.
    “Pay?” Bausiney dropped the dramatics and grew thoughtful. “No. But we must try to atone for them.”
    “How dreary,” Cammy said.
    “True.” Bausiney gave her a sad smile. “Quite dreary.”
    Lilith thought of the picture of his mother. What could Bausiney feel the need to atone for? Or was he thinking of his father?
    “Which Tintagos love affair do you find more romantic?” Lilith asked. She couldn’t talk about the sins of parents. Practically speaking, she had only one, a mere cipher who had struggled to provide for them and then died just as Lilith was able to care for herself.
    Tragic but uninteresting.
    “I go with Tristos and Isolde,” Bausiney said, “despite their ending as vegetation. Utros, in my opinion, was no better than a rapist. He used the magics to don the guise of Igraine’s rightful lover—her husband.”
    “Quite so.” Bella glanced sideways at Cammy.
    Bausiney sliced a scone and put one of the halves on a tiny plate, thin porcelain painted with morning glories. His long fingers were oddly masculine in the delicate work. “I wonder how it was for old Utros.” He dipped a silver berry spoon with a gold wash into a fresh jar of strawberry jam. “To finally bed the woman of his dreams.”
    The way Bausiney spread the jam over the scone made Lilith want to be that scone.
    “Only to hear her call out another man’s name at the crucial moment.” He handed the plate to Lilith. As she took a bite, he winked and said, “Poor bastard.”
    “There’s another romance at Tintagos Castle.” Bella broke the spell of the scone. “The one the inn is named for.”
    “Indeed, yes,” Bausiney said. “The lovers of the tragic fall. And a sadder love story was never told, but this isn’t the proper setting. You’ll hear all over a pot of Earl Grey at Glimmer Cottage tea shop.”
    When they returned to the Tragic Fall, Bausiney handed them each out of the carriage and air-kissed everyone’s cheeks. He held Lilith back. “I’ll pick you up at nine tomorrow night. Casual dress. Something that can withstand a bit of dust.”
    “Bausiney, you intrigue me.”
    “It’s all part of the service, Evergreen.”
    When the carriage driver said walk on to the horses, Lilith realized it would be more than twenty-four hours before she saw Bausiney again. It felt awful. How had she let this happen? He’d slipped in way too close to her heart and was in danger of becoming essential to her happiness. She was glad for the time apart. She didn’t want Bausiney or anybody crawling inside and taking over her life. Not again—not ever.
    She wasn’t going to spend tomorrow with the French girls either. They were inside with Marion at the front desk. When they saw her, their conversation broke off abruptly.
    “You’ll be dining with us tonight, dear?” Marion said.
    “Looking forward to it,” Lilith said. “I’ve never had beef Wellington.”
    It was a good thing Bella and Cammy couldn’t really shoot daggers from their eyes, but Marion seemed upset too. That was unexpected. Lilith didn’t give a flying banana peel for the sisters’ opinions, but it would hurt if Marion thought she wasn’t good enough for Bausiney.
    “So,” Bella said. “Dinner with his lordship tomorrow?”
    “All part of the service,” Cammy parroted, smirking. They walked away to the lift.
    “Stuff them,” Marion said as soon as the lift closed. “If Cade wants to take you to dinner, who are they to judge?”
    “You don’t mind then?” But no matter what Marion thought, Lilith had no business flirting with Cade Bausiney. Lord Tintagos, great gods.
    “Of course not, dear.”