Page 20 of How to Woo the Undead

Austin chuckled, shaking his head. “No, Lord Rosemont would say your body proportions would not support longer legs or a taller torso.”

“And what do you say?” Hyacinth cocked her head an inch to the right. Those soft palms of hers planted on her hips.

Austin lost all the air in his lungs, then his blood, then his head for a moment. All of it seeping out of him till he was forced to inhale sharply and confessed, “That you’re perfect.”

Hyacinth’s brows shot up on her face, warmth blooming in her cheeks. “That’s simply not true.”

“Yes it is,” Austin huffed playfully.Can you not see yourself in a mirror? Are you part vampire?

“Define perfect,” she rebutted, throwing her hands out to her sides. He eyed her, trying to find more eloquent words for it. If he ever spoke fancifully, it was never his own words. No matter how often Greggory or Lord Rosemont or even the Lady Rosemont read to him, the words he came up with never felt as frilly.Not well dressed.But then, a smug smirk crawled onto his face behind his tusks and he stated his thought, point blank.

“You.” Austin rolled back his shoulders proudly.

Hyacinth narrowed her eyes on him, “You are being sarcastic, aren’t you.”

“Not even a little bit.” Austin studied her face as she sighed, snapping her fingers.

“Damn, I was so sure that time I’d spotted it… Hmm,” she hummed with a disappointed shake of her head. Only, her gaze flickered back up to his face, and her smile returned broadly. Especially as she studied him with those glittering orbs of hers. They lingered there, in the orange glow of the sunsetting on Rosemont Manor, the windows all glittering in the house with magic and floating wisps. Candles began to hiss, flames coming back to life throughout the house. And when she spoke, it made his heart skip a beat again. “I like your tusks.”

“Oh,” Austin laughed dizzily, hand reaching up to his face. He admired her greedily for a long moment before some sensescreamed at him from the back of his skull.Compliment her back! Be a hunk!“I—er, really like…your eyes. They’re so pretty.”

She brightened, hands taking up her skirt happily. Hyacinth opened her mouth to speak, but there was a commotion coming from behind him and they both stopped to glance in the laboratory door’s direction. It crept open, screaming the whole time on old hinges, as Kevin and Carl stepped out. Greggory followed, coughing up a lung. Only after they both emerged did Austin see the smoke.

“My lord!” Austin roared, rushing across the foyer to the stairs.

“Austin, my boy,” Sebastian choked as smog cleared around him. It billowed out behind them before Sebastian kicked the door shut and magically sealed it. “Do me a favor and do not go down there for the rest of the day or evening.”

“What happened?” Hyacinth was at his side, one hand to his arm and Austin was trying to focus on Sebastian.But her hand is touching me and it’s so soft.

“The dryad was not done, it seems.” Sebastian pulled off his mask to use it like a fan in front of his face.

“We had to burn it,” Greggory croaked from beside Lord Rosemont’s calf, having finally recovered from his coughing fit.

“I’m airing out the lab, set all the vents to out, so it may be best if we eat dinner on the lawn.” Sebastian rubbed his eyes with his fists. “Dahlia, my love, how do you feel about a picnic?”

Austin lingered in that spot as Sebastian walked around him, Greggory stumbling after him in search for water. Kevin and Carl slumped down against the side of the stairs, looking far too tired. When Austin finally glanced at Hyacinth, he found her right there. A hand to his forearm, her gaze lingering on their maker’s retreating form.

“Hyacinth?” He blurted out, waiting till her attention darted back to him. She snapped out of it and beamed up at him. It made his stomach flip around so violently he almost didn’t manage to speak the next few words. “Did you cast any magic lately?”

Hyacinth shook her head, blinking at him twice before she answered. “I do not think so. Does it take magic to make a cat shaped puff pastry?”

“Depends on if you’re Melody or not, I suppose.” Austin shrugged, grimacing as his attention returned to the kitchen. “Someone turned those body parts into a dryad and it tried to bite me.”

“Are you alright?” She grabbed onto him tighter, twisting so that her sole attention was on him.

Austin scrambled to speak, laughing sheepishly, “Hunky dory.”

Hyacinth once again, went blank, studying his face. After a beat, she blurted out, “I have no idea what that means.”

Austin wheezed, “It means I’m fine.”

“Oh! Okay.” She sighed with relief. Softening her touch on his arm, her gaze roamed him again before her eyebrows scrunched. “Austin, what’s a picnic?”

Chapter Eleven:

Hyacinth

Hyacinthsatontheblanket beside Austin while Melody and Smith regaled the entire family with their findings. She truly tried to pay attention, but there were so many words she didn’t know likeferris wheel,andwhack-a-mole, that she stopped asking. She was only getting in the way of Melody telling Dahlia and Sebastian about the ‘murder spree’ at the carnival grounds. Apparently, there was blood everywhere and no bodies. That felt important and she really didn’t want to ask Melody to explain why it mattered that the blood smelled rotten, or to explain what ‘Aravis being Aravis’ meant.