He was such sweetheart to set all of this up for her, sacrificing a portion of his counters to create a mini coffee bar.
"Head out to the table dear, I'll be bringing out breakfast in a moment," Cord said, steering her toward the door. How he had managed to watch her like a hawk and still prepare a full breakfast was nothing short of a miracle.
"Thanks Cord." She walked out and when she entered the dining room, the men stood. Instead of making her feel awkward, she felt special.
"Good morning," she said brightly.
A round of greetings sounded off, but her attention was on Meryn. The little nut was sitting back in her chair, eyes closed, clutching her cup of coffee.
"Iz, Iz!" a tiny voice called.
"Good morning, Creelee!" She held out her hand and he flew right to her. "Did you have a good time with Feris, Finley and Felix?"
"Nice," he said, rubbing his cheek along her finger.
"Creelee is fun," Feris chirped.
The sprites had made their way over to Meryn and were sitting on her shoulders. Every time Feris went to poke Meryn's cheek, Felix stopped him, shaking his head.
"Thank you for looking after him, Felix."
Felix blushed and nodded.
She looked down and noticed that the boys had also given Creelee some of their clothes. The sleeves and pants were cuffed, but he looked adorable in his brown pants and cream tunic.
"Boys, thank you for giving Creelee some clothes, that was very kind of you."
Finley nodded. "Stay warm."
As everyone enjoyed their coffee, her eyes strayed to the newcomers. She nudged Oron with her elbow.
He smiled down at her. "We were waiting on you to make introductions, especially considering Meryn hadn't had any coffee yet and would have probably been a wasted effort."
Meryn simply nodded her agreement, eyes still closed.
"So who are these handsome devils?" she asked, watching Meryn.
Meryn's eyes popped open. "Handsome?" she looked around and noticed the new men at the table. She turned to Aiden. "Warrior peeps?"
He nodded. "Baby, I would like to introduce you to Ari Lionhart, the Tau Unit's acting unit leader, also Rex and Declan's brother." Ari smiled at them. "Next to him is Gage Fabre. His father is the Fabre Noble Family head who reports to Simon and Leana." The gorgeous warrior winked at them, causing Aiden to glare at him. "This is Priest Vi'Aerdan, you've heard a bit about him." Izzy gave him a little wave, which he returned. "Last but certainly not least is Kincaid Bayberry."
Both she and Meryn turned to look at the last warrior who was visibly pale and staring at the end of the table.
Meryn pointed to him. "Why does he look like he's gonna pass out?"
Kendrick coughed into his fist. "I think that may be because of us," he said, indicating to himself and the Ashleigh brothers.
Meryn tilted her head. "Why?"
Law chuckled. "She's really good for the ego."
Kincaid ripped his eyes away from Kendrick to turn to Meryn. "Kendrick is a legend amongst warriors. He managed to smuggle out some of the best offensive and defensive spells from Storm Keep to send out to the warriors, those spells have basically kept us alive." With a trembling hand, he pointed to the brothers. "The Ashleigh brothers are ghosts. They appear whenever they are needed and destroy ferals. How could you not know this?" he asked, still looking wide-eyed.
Meryn shrugged. "Kendrick's my big brother-cousin and Thane is my athair, so I don't really get the whole 'being in awe' thing."
Kincaid looked like he was about to swallow his tongue. "What?"
Meryn blinked. "What?"