Page 27 of Stolen Princess's Secret

‘I don’t even have to be there.’

‘Claudia, stop. Can we start this conversation again? This time without your push and my defensive indecision. I’ll start.’ He felt such a fool, talking to a machine, but he’d dug his own hole when it came to communicating with this forthright, challenging woman and it was up to him to find a way out of it. ‘Would you like to have dinner with me when I get to Aergoveny? Either somewhere in the village if there’s a tavern or restaurant or at my manor house if it’s privacy you prefer.’

‘There’s a tavern,’ she said. ‘We could meet there and keep plans fluid. The only thing I will ask from you now is a date and time. My calendar fills up fast.’

‘August the fourth at six p.m.’

‘A full moon,’ she said after a moment. ‘A blue moon, in fact.’

He knew it. But then, it was his business to know the wax and wane of those things that affected the creatures in his care. ‘Is that a problem?’

‘Of course not. Makes for an interesting night. Your apprentices are getting used to me dropping in on them.’

‘How’s the little peregrine with the twisted toes?’

‘She’s with me now. The others were picking on her.’

‘You imprinted her?’

‘I took her with me when I visited a school group the other day and have yet to return her into general care. She’s so sweet. There was a young girl there with twisted feet. Serendipity, but it started a discussion on limitations and potential and set me to thinking. What are your thoughts on putting together a travelling show for schools featuring little peregrine hatchling Suly and various other injured birds that the apprentices tell me can’t be released and are permanently in your care?’

‘I’ll consider it, but only if you stop stealing my birds.’ He probably shouldn’t be smiling so hard. ‘I start my new apprentices on those birds.’

‘You take one new apprentice a year, Tomas.’

‘And the years add up!’ He currently had four. ‘And I’m considering adding more.’

‘I do hope you include girls in those interviews.’

‘If they come, I consider them.’

‘If you invite them, they will come.’

‘Why does my brain hurt every time we talk?’

‘It’s expanding with possibilities.’

‘No, I think it’s you messing with me.’ He knew it was.

The drone flew higher. ‘You’re smiling again.’

‘I wish I could see your smile.’ The words flew out before he could call them back. ‘You sound insufferably smug.’

‘I’ll see you next blue moon. Don’t be late because I will be there.’

‘Can I shoot the drone now?’ Because he was really, really itching to.

‘You realise you could use one of these to get around all your golden eagle mating sites in an afternoon? You should get one.’

He withdrew his Ruger and took aim. Why on this glorious earth would he want to do that? ‘I hate progress.’

It only took one shot.

Claudia had a stomach bug. A three-day wouldn’t-go-away stomach bug that saw her lose the previous night’s meal before breakfast each morning and made her feel like a marionette going through the motions the rest of the day. She’d tried keeping her distance from others lest they catch the bug too, but this morning Ana and Sophia had brought a breakfast tray to her room and sat with her while she sipped at the thin chicken broth in a porcelain cup and pushed dry toast soldiers around a pretty fluted plate.

‘Why are you here? You’ll catch it too,’ Claudia protested for at least the tenth time.

Ana’s smile was just that little bit too knowing, and Claudia knew just what she was thinking. ‘I’m not what you think I am. I took a test.’

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