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"You are free to eat what you wish. I just did not want to have to pull your lips from my prodigy again."

Abel flushed, but after stealing a peek up at Kirin, he noticed that the lawman's cheeks were tinged quite the color as well.

Grinning to himself, he finished swallowing the delicious piece of potato in his mouth and mumbled, "He has already kissed me five more times."

"F-four!" Kirin sputtered, pounding his chest a few times as he tried to swallow down a morsel of food that he was choking on.

The look on Lady Lelynn's face could have struck down the lawman if he had been paying her any mind. Instead, Kirin was highly focused on the squash on his plate once he managed to get his breathing back under control.

"You conniving varmint!" the old woman hissed before turning to Abel and squeezing his shoulder with a hand that appeared frail but held more bite than a feral dog. "Did he do anything else to you, sweetheart?"

Abel wasn't sure why, but he felt his own cheeks heat further at her question, even though he shook his head in response. "No, of course not." He hurried to stuff more food into his mouth, not wanting to continue the awkward conversation.

Of course Kirin would not do anything else to me. There is nothing else to do. I am a boy!

There was silence for several minutes as everyone digested what was said. Lady Lelynn's fork scratched against her plate gruffly while Kirin's barely made a sound. It seemed like he was hesitant to spur on any further talk of what had happened. As the time passed, Abel felt his head begin to bob as he continued to fill his stomach. By the time the conversation started up again, he had his head rested on the table, his right cheek pressing against the wood as he dozed in and out of consciousness.

"Is he asleep?" Came Kirin's hesitant question, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Of course he is. Can you not see? By god, how a man like you ever came to be the law is beyond me," Lady Lelynn retorted with a snip. Abel felt his mind fade out for a certain time before he heard their voices again.

"We need to leave now."

Kirin's voice...

"Like hell you do. Actually, yes, you do. Get goin'. I am sure you have got plenty on your plate to do."

Kirin heaved a frustrated sigh, and the sound of his boots moving around the table sounded as if they were getting closer and closer to where Abel rested.

"You best not take him! You said he slept during your ride, but judging from the look of his tired eyes and the way he is nearly snoring, he needs a far better bed than the back of a horse! And you are lucky he told me that a kiss is the only thing you took from him, too. The way he came waddling inside earlier, I swear I nearly thought to remove your boys with a pair of sheering clippers!"

There was a stifled and pained sound before he felt his body being lifted into strong, firm arms.

"We have two days, Madam. There is no time to stop and rest."

The woman cackled then. "Oh, there is plenty of time, Sir Squire. You have given the magistrate your portion of the reward for bringing the boy in, and if I add a small bit to it, he will, I'm sure, gladly tack on a day or three."

Exasperated, Kirin responded. "And if he decides that his coffers are plenty full for the moment?"

"Oh hush. That tub of a man is greedier than the king himself. Now get that boy upstairs and tucked into a proper bed. He deserves a real night's sleep before he is toted off tomorrow by an unchivalrous lawman."