Noblesse Oblige

Chapitre seize

Author stuff: Y'all, communication is key to every relationship you have. Romantic, platonic, or familial. You need to communicate with the people in your life if they are important to you.

Puppy update! So, we heard from the radiologist after I got my second covid vaccine. Thankfully, no abnormalities were found elsewhere in her body, so the cancer is only located in her toe. She's definitely going to have it removed (scheduled for early August), and my sister and her husband are going to be helping out while the rest of us are at work. Thank you for sending good vibes her way!

Chapitre seize

Of Butterflies and Foxes

Chapitre seize

Of Butterflies and Foxes

"Apologize?" Chat said, blinking down at her. "What for?"

"For," she said, licking her lips. What could she apologize for? A lot of things, now that she thought about it... "For the way I've treated you, for one. You've been nothing but kind to me, and you're willing to risk your life to help my father."

"For you, Princess, I would climb the skies to retrieve the sun and moon if you asked."

"And I wanted to apologize for telling the Duke about your favorite food. I was stupid, and I was being selfish –"

"Princess, please paws right there," he said, placing his hands on both her shoulders. He slid them down the lengths of her arms and took her hands. She hadn't even realized that she'd been twisting her skirts around. She looked up, meeting his eyes. "You really have nothing to apologize for. You are in a stressful situation. I've had time to sit down and think about it, too. I probably would have done the same."

"Really?"

"Really really."

"Chat," she said, looking down at her feet and then up at him through her eyelashes, "is there any way I could make it up to you?"

"D-don't worry about it," he said, turning to look away from her.

She chewed on the inside of her cheek. Why did he always do that? Why did he always turn away from her when she asked questions? She sighed, resigning herself to the fact that she may never learn.

"Here." She brought out the cheese and bread she'd thought to bring with her for a late lunch. She broke the cheese and bread into uneven sections, hoping he'd take the larger pieces. Better to share it than let it go bad, right?

He looked down at the offered food, unsure.

"If you don't want it," she said, "I'm going to eat it all."

He gently plucked the smaller pieces of bread and cheese from her hands. She rolled her eyes and switched them around, giving him the portions he left for her. He was about to protest, when she said:

"You need it more than I do. So, you better eat it all and don't let any of it go to waste."

He didn't so much as let a single crumb drop as they headed back to the old prisons.

"So," she said, "tell me about the robbery."

"It wasn't a robbery," he said, nibbling on the cheese. He seemed delighted by the taste.

"What?"

"It wasn't a robbery. We were gathering information."

"But you took things from that man."

"Things that were unjustly taken from the people of Rochers. That man stole. We only take back stolen goods."

"You just said you were gathering information."