Page 24 of The Night Prince 6

Talk about what? Finley wondered.

And to everyone’s surprise, Darcassan acquiesced. Delighted, Elasha now took Darcassan’s hand and she was flying him over to the food line. Gemma turned back to all of them.

At their wide eyed stares, she blinked. “Ah, what?”

“Darcassan? He… he appears…” Rhalyf stopped as if words failed him.

“Oh! That!” Gemma laughed. “He just needs someone to take charge. Then he’s like a lamb.”

“A lamb going to slaughter,” Rhalyf chuckled. “My Lady Gemma, I bow to you!”

And he did just that, getting up from his seat before doing an exaggerated bow. Gemma curseyed prettily before she sat down at the table beside her mother, already angling for half her biscuit.

“What did hanging out with one of the Aravae royals entail exactly?” Shonda asked her daughter.

But Gemma–whether intentionally or not–ignored the question and instead posed one of her own. Yet Finley wouldn’t forget this and would follow up later.

“Tell me that isn’t the cutest thing you’ve ever seen, Finley?” Gemma giggled as she pointed down the wooden picnic table to where Aquilan was sitting with a rib in one hand, a chin covered in barbecue sauce, and a rather adorable wide-eyed expression as the sugar and coffee in the sauce hit his system. “Oh, and there’s Declan to the rescue with a napkin! Will he clean off our dearest Sun King’s chin? Yes, yes, he will!”

“Perhaps instead of giving a play-by-play of what Aquilan and Declan are doing you clean your own chin, little miss,” Shonda said with a pointed look at the sauce crusted at the corners of Gemma’s mouth already from the rib she’d stolen.

“Oh, man!” Gemma grabbed a napkin on the table and scrubbed her face. “Well, I don’t have someone like Declan to watch out for me!”

“You’re too young for someone like Declan,” Michael said firmly, but then his expression softened as he looked at his beloved wife. He lifted a napkin and gestured towards her beautiful face. “You’ve got a little–”

“What? No, oh, well, maybe. These ribs are good,” Shonda said as he licked her fingers clean of burnt bits and sauce before she allowed Michael to clean her chin with a napkin.

“I wish we still had Wet Wipes. Those worked best for this,” Finley admitted as he stared down at his saucy hands.

“What are Wet Wipes?” Rhalyf asked with a curl of an eyebrow.

Unlike the rest of them, Rhalyf had used a knife to strip off all the flesh from his ribs and was eating it with a fork like a philistine–according to Shonda–but it did keep his fingers clean. Finley saw no chance to dab Rhalyf’s chin with a napkin. He shifted a little uncomfortably. Could he do that? What would Shonda, Michael and Gemma think?

They probably would believe he’d lost his mind. They wouldn’t believe that he had someone special. Not because they were unkind or thought he didn’t deserve someone or, worse, couldn’t even get someone. No, it was because he had made it clear as crystal that he had no interest in dating or even a friends-with-benefits situation like he currently had with Rhalyf. But, then again, Declan had been the least interested between the two of them and now? Now it was clear he was in love.

Finley gazed down the long table at his best friend again who was watching Aquilan as if he couldn’t quite believe his eyes. Everytime Aquilan glanced his way, Declan seemed to glow with happiness. He also continued to be quite protective. While his Blood Weapons hadn’t appeared in his hands, his eyes were constantly roving the crowds of humans. It likely hadn’t helped that he and Aquilan had been separated from the rest of their party.

The Bastons, Rhalyf and him were at the far end of the table while the three Tweedledums were clustered in the middle and then Aquilan, Declan and Rohannan were at the far end. Vex was not among them. In fact, Vex was nowhere to be found. Finley tried not to be nervous about that. What was the Night King up to?

When the Tweedledums had planted themselves right next to Rohannan, crowding Finley and the others out, Declan had stared hard at them, but Rohannan had clapped his shoulder.

“Let the boys keep close to me, Declan. They’re a little rattled after your takedown of me earlier,” Rohannan said with a mild smile.

Declan looked down at the hand on his shoulder with such intensity that Rohannan practically snatched it back as if it were on fire, giving a soft, uncertain laugh as he did so. But it was Rhalyf who, surprisingly, had defused the situation. Or maybe not surprisingly.

“Do not worry, Declan. We have them all between us. They can’t get away,” Rhalyf had said and electricity had crackled between his fingers.

The Tweedledums had gulped. Aquilan had shaken his head and sighed.

“There will be no need for that. We’re here to eat and listen to music. Fighting will just cause indigestion,” Aquilan had responded mildly and gestured for all to sit.

Shonda cast her voice low as she’d asked earlier, “What takedown was Rohannan referring to when we came in?”

One of the Tweedledums–Warren, he thought–was seated beside her. His beefy shoulder was turned so that he was all but ignoring her. That didn’t exactly help Rohannan’s claim that his wasn’t a racist and sexist organization. But, Finley supposed, it could also be, at least in part, because she was a Councillor on the Radiant Council while Rohannan was not.

“There’s no need to whisper,” Rhalyf told her. “I have our area of the table spelled. No one can hear what we’re actually saying. Even if they just read our lips, they’ll believe we’re discussing the food, the weather, etcetera.”

Shonda blinked. “Really?”