friend, Janice Edelman. Janice, this is one of my friends from the army.”
“Tiny?” she said uncertainly.
Tiny was already on his feet, bowing deeply. “Begging your pardon, miss. My proper name is John Shaw, but my friends call me Tiny. I’d be pleased if you did the same.”
A bit of color rose to her cheeks as Tiny straightened and Janice stared up at him, presumably stunned by his size. After a few seconds, she tentatively held out her hand. “Pleased to meet you, Mister Shaw.”
“Squire Tiny,” corrected Will. “I forgot. He’s been squired recently.”
“Just Tiny is fine, Miss Edelman,” said the big man, blushing.
“Janice will do,” she replied. “I think we’re all friends here.” She tore her eyes away from the giant and looked at the bowl Will had put in front of her. “What’s this?”
“Oat porridge,” said Will. “I made a second portion to put my man Blake in his place.”
“Your man?”
Blake entered the room and gave a quick bow. “Word, Blake Word, Miss Edelman. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”
A minute later and they were all seated. Janice was on her third spoonful of porridge, and Tiny was just finishing his cup, a mournful expression on his face. “What is this again?” she asked.
“Oat porridge,” Will supplied.
“Are you sure?” Tiny asked. “I’ve never had anything quite like that.”
“I don’t really like oats, usually,” said Janice. “Mushrooms? Why would you put mushrooms in?” She mumbled as she spooned in another large bite.
He smiled. “I take it you like it? I used mushrooms, onions, and salt pork, plus a bit of sage to lighten the flavor.”
“It’s terrible,” said Blake, spitefully.
“You really don’t like it?” said Will, surprised.
The manservant lifted his empty cup. “No, damn you. It was too good to resist.”
“I didn’t even notice the onions,” said Tiny.
“That was where the hint of sweetness came from,” Will replied. “I minced them before cooking them until they were dark. They almost disappear into the final dish.” While Janice was only a quarter through her bowl, Will had finished two-thirds of his own. He pushed the rest across the table to his large friend. It was a gesture familiar to them both from their time together in the army.
Tiny finished it with a grateful smile and no comments.
Janice leaned forward as she paused between bites. “I found some interesting information. Maybe we can talk privately after I finish this?”
“Is this about my vampire research the other day?” asked Will.
Janice glanced at the others, then relaxed slightly. “I guess they’re in this with you?”
He nodded. “No secrets here.” Then he paused for a second, thinking. “Actually, let me amend that.” He looked at Blake. “Just in case there’s anything I don’t want a certain someone to know, would you mind starting on those errands we talked about?”
Blake smiled. “Certainly.”
A moment later he was gone. Tiny frowned as he asked, “You don’t trust him?”
“I trust him,” said Will, “but I don’t trust the king. Blake still has to report to His Majesty, and Lognion is impossible to lie to. Anything I don’t want the king to know about I have to keep from Blake. Which reminds me, anything involving Selene is off limits around him.”
“But you don’t mind the king knowing you’re planning to hunt vampires?” said Janice.
“He already knows,” Will replied.
“Oh, well no use crying over spilled milk then.” She pulled out a journal and opened it on the table in front of her. “I did a little research after we split up the other day, and I took some notes. It turns out that there’s nothing in the library about vampires.”
“What little there is, is kept in the vault,” said Will.
Janice frowned. “And you know this, how?”
Will smiled mysteriously but said nothing.
She sniffed and returned to her journal. “Since I couldn’t find anything on vampires, I looked into the creator of that spell you wanted, Ethelgren’s Illumination. There weren’t many mentions