Maddox sighed. “Please behave.”
“This again? I always behave.” I rose up to brush our lips together. “And stop worrying. I’ll be fine.”
“Who says I’m worrying?”
“That crease in your forehead.” I poked it. “Riiiight there.”
He snatched hold of my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing my middle fingertip. As his ocean blue eyes held my gaze, my belly flip-flopped. Damn him and that smolder.
“There you are, dearest Evan.” Finnian neared us with a mountain looming behind him. A mountain whose face softened as he looked at me. “I wondered if I’d need to locate another fruit stand in order to find you.”
“Fruit stand?” Maddox asked.
“Ah, yes.” Finnian laughed. “When Ban and I found Evan in the market, he was hiding behind one.”
Callum frowned. “You were in the market earlier?”
“Oh. Um. Y-Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “Had errands to run. Almost had to fight off a hot pirate captain with a bread sword. You know, normal muffin lord business.”
“Why were you hiding behind a fruit stand?” Maddox asked, still stuck on that one detail.
“Um, do you hear that?” I curved a hand around my ear. “I think I hear Miles calling for me. A carriage was sent to pick him up and bring him here. To help me with the dessert. For thefeast. I should get to the kitchen. There’s so much to do. The cake won’t bake itself, you know.”
“Evan…” Maddox gave methe look. “Why were—”
“Love you lots!” I rose up on my tiptoes and pecked a kiss to his jaw. “Be careful doing knight stuff. Okay. Gotta go!”
I then high-tailed it from the area before he could stop me, heading toward the massive entry doors. Once at a safe distance, I slowed my pace and chuckled to myself. He was going to punish me later.
I couldn’t wait.
“Halt!” the guard outside the entrance exclaimed, moving his spear to block my path.
I nearly ran into said spear but skidded to a stop inches from it.
“State your name,” he barked.
“He’s cleared to enter the castle,” another voice chimed in as Finnian and Ban reached me. “He’s preparing food for the feast this evening.”
“Oh.” The guard blinked. “Apologies.”
Ban stepped forward and roughly moved the spear aside, a growl building in his chest. His gray eyes then lowered to me. Other than his mouth, they were all I could see through his helmet. And despite his anger at the guard, they looked so warm right then. Like a rain shower in summertime. Slowly, he lifted a hand to my cheek before quickly withdrawing it.
“I’m okay,” I told him. “Promise.”
After another lingering stare, he faced the guard. The younger man visibly shrank beneath his ire.
“We’ll escort you to the kitchen,” Finnian said before guiding me forward.
“Thanks.”
Ban kept pace on my other side. We passed more guards along the way. A lot of them I didn’t recognize.
“Are there more guards than usual?” I asked.
“Some came from Voltas with Lord Norwood,” Finnian answered. “Others were handpicked by the royal family.”
“Because of the infiltrators?”
