Page 34 of Kill the Queens

"Table for two." Shelby held up his fingers letting a frail looking blonde woman lead them to a table.

The booth they were offered pretty well had the permanent imprint of ass cheeks in the wood, curvature and all. Ace scowled but slipped quietly into her seat.

"Water would be nice." He gestured at the two of them. Ace made herself busy staring down at the wood grain.

The waitress nodded but looked over at Ace. "It's considered rude to keep your hood up while indoors."

Before Ace could come up with a retort Shelby was already answering for her. "Trust me, you don't want her to take that hood off." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "She's hideously ugly."

A growl was already burning its way up her throat. She gripped the table instead, ignoring the waitress’s chuckle as she left and the way the wood popped as if it might crack under the pressure. When the woman was out of earshot, Ace looked up from under the hood.

A large smug smile had spread across Shelby's face. He was looking down at his hands where he was picking at his fingernails. He was proud of his little quip.

"Why would you say that?" Ace hissed.

"What? It's a good reason to not want to see someone’s face." He was trying to force that stupid smile back down. "Don't worry…"

Here it comes, Mina said joyfully.

"...you're not ugly," he finished.

She wasn't sure how that made her feel. So she wasn't ugly; did that mean he thought she was pretty?

"That was so rude," she said. Then the waitress was back and Shelby was thankfully ordering them pancakes, sausage, and eggs.

“So we’re not chasing after some mystery mananymore?” Shelby folded his hands on the table.

“Huh?” Right. The orange eyed man. “Oh, we will after we see whatyou know whowants.”

“Really, both sound like terrible ideas.”

“The best ideas are often called terrible at first.” She smiled as the food was brought to the table. Shelby shook his head and then neither of them talked as they scarfed it all down.

When her plate was empty and her stomach was rounded with a full meal she leaned back in the seat. Air worked its way up her throat and she tried to let it out in a slow ladylike breath. Well, as ladylike as a burp could be.

"So, now we head for Tarshton?" Ace whispered. Shelby nodded, setting his fork down on the plate. "I'm sick of walking."

"Me too."

She thought for a second. "We could steal a horse."

"No. No stealing." He crinkled his nose, pushing his plate forward. "Why is that always your first suggestion?"

She shrugged one shoulder. "What about magic? I don't think you have to worry about other warlocks running into our trail." Warlocks were typically only owned by the queens or the wealthiest of citizens. The people in this little podunk town probably couldn't afford one. "Can you just convince one of the men to give us a horse with some freaky mind stuff?"

"Freaky mind stuff. No. I stay away from that when I can."

"So, what do you want to do?"

"I could duplicate some tallens…buy a horse off of them," he said slowly, the idea forming in his mind. He frowned. "What if I catch the table on fire or something with my magic? Don't you think that would be noticeable?"

"How much magic do you need to duplicate some coins? Can you make it fast? And small?"

"I don't really know. It's not like I've been practicing sinceI came back as…” he gestured to his eye, "this."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. Just give it a go and if you catch yourself on fire I'll break your concentration and get up and do a dance to distract everyone or something."

"Maybe I'll mess up just to see that." He looked down at his palms before he reached into his pockets for the bag of stolen coins.