However, the beast is insistent. Maddox’s burst of laughter from whatever he just said to Gryff sets me on edge. Whether Kerris meant them as anything more or not, they were still a gift, and throwing them out is such a waste.

Although I would rather give the things to my mount than any of the other males in the camp.

So I lift the lid once more and hold one out to Nyx.

He takes the thing between his big, flat teeth and grinds them to dust, spilling even more crumbs down my trousers. One after the other, I feed them to him until they are gone, and then he goes back to the patch of grass between my home and Maddox’s.

Maddox meanders over, flopping himself onto my bottom step and giving my knee a nudge. “All jokes aside, can I at least try one?”

“They are gone.”

“Liar.”

I show him the empty box.

“You are some bastard, you know that?” His scowl is short-lived, replaced by a glint in his eyes. “What is Leah Locke going to say when she finds out another female cooked for you?”

I had not thought about that.

If I am being honest, I have not thought about Leah since the moment I heard Kerris’s name. I fiddle with the hilt of my dagger, this close to ramming the blade into his thigh. Would serve him right for sticking his nose where it does not belong. “Who is going to tell her?”

“Everett Gathin!” A woman’s shriek pierces the overcast sky.

Maddox chuckles darkly, leaning back with his hands clasped behind his head like the fool he is. “Sounds like someone already did.”

Never one to run from a fight, I toss the empty box into my house and prepare for the inevitable argument. If I ever find out who told Leah, he is going to regret the day he was born.

Leah stalks down the lane, the bottom of her brown skirt sweeping across the muck. She looks fearsome, with her short, straight hair the color of a midnight sky swinging against her sharp cheekbones.

“What is this I hear about some Seelie bitch baking for you?” she snarls, coming to a stop at my bottom step, her dark eyes alight with fury.

“Leah…”

“Do not ‘Leah’ me, you lying, cheating prick.”

I might be a prick, but I neither lied nor cheated. “You and I are not engaged.”

Her nostrils flare, and her ears darken with anger. “You think I want to be reminded that you still have not accepted my proposal? I gave you that jerky three weeks ago!”

I push to my feet and offer her my hand. “Come with me.” There is no need to have this conversation where everyone and their brother can hear.

The problem with living in such close quarters to one another is that there is never any privacy.