Ire Taverness's Arc

Chapter 16 of 19

The morning after Kael learned about the baby, Ire tied her apron and reached for the ale keg. Kael took it out of her hands before she got a grip. He set it behind the bar and shook his head once. "No," he said. "It's a keg, Kael. I've moved a hundred of them." "Not this one." She put her hands on her hips. Her tail flicked once against her skirt. He did not move. His ears stayed forward, and his orange eyes held on her face without blinking. "I have a tavern to run," she said. "You have a boy, a cook, and a floor girl. They run it. You sit." "Kael." "Sit." His voice went clipped the way it did when he was finished talking. He pulled a stool from the wall and set it behind the bar for her. "Count coin. Talk to the drivers. Don't lift." She sat because arguing with him took more than she had that morning. Her stomach was already turning at the smell of yeast from the kitchen. She watched him roll the keg to the tap himself and tap it clean on the first try. By the end of the week, she stopped reaching for the heavy things. The second cook took the crates from the cellar without being asked. The floor girl carried the plates two-handed and never let Ire near a full tray. The widow's boy swept the yard and hauled the water before she came down in the morning. Kael moved through the room like he had always worked there. He poured. He carried. He counted the till at close and set the coin bag in her lap so she could count it again. On the seventh night, she sat at the corner table with her hand on her stomach. The room was full. Two caravans had come through in one day. The kitchen ran clean. Kael brought her a bowl of broth and set it in front of her without asking. "Eat, baby," he said. "You've been doing this all week." "I'll do it every week." "I'm not sick, Kael. I'm carrying." "I know what you're doing." He crouched beside her chair so his face was level with hers. His hand went flat on her belly. "That's why you sit." She looked down at his hand and smiled. She loved how he took care of her. She loved the nights they spent together. She picked up the spoon. "Fine," she said. "Until the baby comes. Then I'm back on the floor." "We'll see." "Kael." He smiled and stood up and went back to the bar. She ate the broth. Her tail curled around the leg of the chair and stayed there.