Serpent & Dove (Serpent & Dove, #1)(68)

“Of course, of course. But you’re much too thin, child, much too thin. Here, let us fatten you up with a bun.” He turned back toward the counter, but halted when he finally noticed me. He raised his brows. “And who is this?”

Lou grinned, devious. I braced myself for whatever scheme she’d concocted—praying it wasn’t something illegal. Knowing it probably was.

“Pan.” She took my arm and tugged me forward. “I’d like you to meet . . . Bas.”

Bas? I looked down at her in surprise.

“The Bas?” Pan’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.

She winked at me. “The one and only.”

Pan scowled. Then—incredibly—he rose to his toes and poked a finger in my chest. I frowned, bewildered, and made to step back, but the man followed. Poking me all the way.

“Now you listen to me, young man—yes, I’ve heard all about you! You don’t know how lucky you are to have this cherie on your arm. She is a pearl, and you will treat her as such from this point on, do you understand? If I hear differently, you will answer to me, and you do not want Pan as an enemy, oh no!”

I glared at Lou, indignant, but she only shook with silent laughter. Useless. I took a quick step backward. Too quick for the man to follow. “I— Yes, sir.”

“Very good.” He still eyed me shrewdly as he fetched two sticky buns from behind the counter. After handing one to Lou, he promptly threw the other in my face. I hastened to stop it from sliding down my shirt. “Here you are, my dear. You have to pay,” he added, glaring at me.

I wiped icing from my nose incredulously. The man was a lunatic. As was my wife.

When Pan retreated back behind the counter, I rounded on her. “Who is Lucida? And why did you tell him my name is—is—that?”

It took her several seconds to answer—to chew through the enormous glob of sticky bun in her mouth. Her cheeks bulged with it. To her credit, she managed to keep her mouth closed. To my credit, I did too.

She finally swallowed. Licked her fingers with a reverence that belonged in Mass. No—with a reverence that most definitely did not belong in Mass. I looked anywhere but at her tongue. “Mmm . . . so territorial, Chass.”

“Well?” I asked, unable to conceal my jealousy. “Why would you tell him I’m the thief?”

She grinned at me and continued licking her thumb. “If you must know, I use him to guilt Pan into giving me sweets. Just last month, the wicked, wicked Bas tricked me into elopement, only to leave me at the dock. Pan gave me free buns for a week.”

I forced myself to meet her eyes. “You’re deplorable.”

Her eyes glittered. She knew exactly what she was doing. “Yes, I am. Are you going to eat that?” She motioned to my plate. I shoved it toward her, and she bit into my bun with a soft sigh. “Like manna from Heaven.”

Surprise jolted through me. “I didn’t realize you were familiar with the Bible.”

“You probably don’t realize a lot of things about me, Chass.” She shrugged, stuffing half the bun into her mouth. “Besides, it’s the only book in the entire Tower except La Vie éphémère, Shepherd, and Twelve Treatises of Occult Extermination—which is rubbish, by the way. I don’t recommend.”

I hardly heard a word she said. “Don’t call me that. My name is Reid.”

She arched a brow. “I thought they were the same person?”

I leaned back, studying her as she finished my bun. A bit of icing covered her lip. Her nose was still red from the cold, her hair wild and windblown. My little heathen. “You dislike the Chasseurs.”

She fixed me with a pointed stare. “And I tried so hard to hide it.”

I ignored her. “Why?”

“I don’t think you’re ready to hear that answer, Chass.”

“Fine. Why did you want to come out today?”

“Because it was time.”

I suppressed a sigh of frustration. “Meaning . . . ?”

“Meaning there’s a time for mourning, and there’s a time for moving on.”

It was always the same with her. She always hedged. As if sensing my thoughts, she crossed her arms, leaning onto the table. Expression inscrutable. “All right, then. Maybe you are ready to hear some answers. Let’s make a game of it, shall we? A game of questions to get to know each other.”

I leaned forward too. Returning the challenge. “Let’s.”

“Fine. What’s your favorite color?”

“Blue.”

She rolled her eyes. “Boring. Mine’s gold—or turquoise. Or emerald.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

“Because you aren’t as stupid as you look.” I didn’t know whether to be insulted or flattered. She didn’t give me time to decide. “What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?”

“I—” Blood crept up my throat at the memory. I coughed and stared at her empty plate. “The Archbishop once caught me in a—er, compromising position. With a girl.”

“Oh my god!” She smacked her palms against the table, eyes widening. “You got caught having sex with Célie?”

The people at the next table swiveled to stare at us. I ducked my head, thankful—for the first time ever—I wasn’t wearing my uniform. I glared at her. “Shhh! Of course not. She kissed me, okay? It was just kissing!”