Pure (COMPLETED)

Chapter 24: The Breakfast Invitation

Maigred set the last plate of food on the table and looked around the table. The way Finten's men ate, she wondered how long it had been since they'd been fed properly.

It was late, so Cathal had carried Cara out to the dinning room, she and the rest of the inn staff were eating with Finten's men. Finten was still in the kitchen, having volunteered to help Maigred run the kitchen while the others ate. She didn't need the help, there were only a few customers left, but he had insisted.

Maigred checked on her other customers, musing over the the things she had learned about Finten in the last few days. She went back to the kitchen to get an ale for a customer. Finten was cleaning out the stove, his sleeves rolled up, smudges of black soot on his hands and arms as he cleaned out the ashes. He didn't look up at her as she went by him. She felt strangely pulled to touch his back as she passed, the way she might with Cathal. She didn't.

He wasn't the weakling she thought he was, hiding in the shadows from his shame, while his people suffered for his cowardice. He was a broken warrior. A man who had lost everything he had loved and fought for. A man who had given everything in his body and soul to ensure that his beloved's people would survive.

She didn't really understand why he had stayed to protect the people. Tarasque were driven by instinct and emotion, not carefully laid plans. Finten obviously had no long term plans, he was simply reacting to crises as they arose, giving whatever was asked of him to keep the people alive and the land thriving. But he was just surviving. Tarasque didn't live that way. They were wild and free, only the love of a fully devoted mate could bring out enough allegiance to make them settle down and call someplace home. A tarasque lord could temper the wildness of his tarasque men, but it was the love of his mate that pulled all of them to remain faithful to the land.

Caevah had been dead for thirteen years, and still Finten and his men were here, carrying the weight of keeping a people and land alive, barely surviving, but refusing to abandon the people to their fate.

Cathal had been right. Finten had refused her because he knew she didn't want him. She felt ashamed now about how she had approached him. No tarasque would have accepted a proposal from a woman who despised them. Caevah had taught her better than that, but Maigred had been blinded by her own bitterness, poisoned by her eagerness to blame someone for the suffering she and her people were drowning in.

Dinner was finally finished. Finten's men went home. He stayed to help clean up. After they were done cleaning up for the night, Cathal locked and barred the front door, while Maigred let Finten out the back door.

"Thank you for all your help today," she said.

He gave a nod. "It's the least I could do. I appreciate you all letting me stay here for the day."

"You'll all come back in the morning for breakfast?" Maigred asked.

Finten hesitated.

"You know, it was Cara who insisted. You don't want to get her riled up. She'll find you and give you a piece of her mind." Maigred smiled.

Finten blinked at her. "How? She can't walk."

Maigred laughed. "Do you think that will stop her? She's a woman with an iron will, Finten. She's stayed alive this long out of sheer determination. She's intent on seeing this inn passed to Eoghan and his future wife."

Finten smiled and it wasn't just his mouth that smiled, his whole face softened and brightened. It reminded Maigred a bit of how he had looked back when Caevah was alive.

"Alright, we'll be here. We appreciate your generosity."

"It's the least we can do, Finten."

His eyes searched her face for a moment. "You've given up on proposing courtship to me, haven't you?"