Page 26 of Carnal: The Beast Who Loved Me

“So…” she said, taking a bite.

After a minute, Dandy looked up from cleaning the ale tap. “So?”

“So, Carnal came home last night.”

“Carnal?” Dandy returned her attention to her task. “Did he?”

“Yes. Do you know him?”

Dandy looked at Rosie like she was slow. “I’m his brother’s Promise. Of course I know him.” As realization dawned, Dandy narrowed her eyes. “Oh. No. Do not think what you’re thinking.”

Rosie looked up. “I’m not thinking anything. Just asking a question.”

“Yeah. Well, I’m just saying. Do not ask any more questions. That boy goes through humans like corn shucks. You’re a good worker and I’ve gotten used to you. I don’t want anything messing with that.”

“Dandy,” Rosie laughed, “I think there was a compliment in there.”

“What was ‘in there’ was a good stiff warning, if you have any sense at all.”

“Okay. Okay. I hear you. Carnal is a bad boy. Play with fire, you get burned, and all that.”

“Play with fire, you get burned? I like that. And it definitely fits. Exiled females wouldn’t take Carnal’s escapades seriously, but human females are different. They get the idea that a fuck is a promise. Or so I hear.”

Rosie nodded. “Got it.”

“Good. Back to work. And forget about Carnal.”

“Right.”

“You’re not forgetting about him, are you?”

“I am.” Dandy raised her eyebrows. “I am! Really!”

Dandy shook her head and turned back to cleaning the tap. “Don’t say I didn’t tell you.”

The door opened, letting in the chill. Rosie looked up to see Carnal striding toward the bar looking for all the world like he owned it. And everything else.

“Speak of a demon on horseback,” Dandy muttered and Rosie made a mental note to ask how that had come to be a saying.

Carnal took a stool right in front of her. “Dandelion,” he said while looking at Rosie.

“Carnal,” she answered matter-of-factly.

“Rosie.” He said her name in a way that was teasing, but also like he’d known her for a long time, intimately.

“Carnal.” Rosie tried to mimic Dandy’s off-handedness.

“What do you need?” Dandy asked him point blank.

“Why so hostile, sister? Just stopping by to say hello and welcome Kellareal’s guest.”

“Kellareal’s guest is off limits to you.”

Dandy got his attention for the first time. “Why does everybody keep saying that? It’s not as if I eat young maidens.”

“It’s exactly as if you eat young maidens,” Dandy countered.

He laughed at that. “There’s nothing scary about me, Dandy. I’ve never forced anything on a female and I never would.”

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