Trystan just laughed again at her grumbling, because he was deliberately refusing to be irritated by her, sure that this tactic would annoy her more. (He was practised at this. He had been married almost twenty years to a woman infuriated by his mere existence.)
“Avery Davenport,” he repeated as she took his hand, committing the name to memory and turning it over on his tongue as if to test whether it tasted true. (A little research, and he was sure he could track down more about her, whatever her name was. He had not been an Auror for nothing.)
But he didn’t wait for her to complain again, just whisked them both into the relative furnace of the Leaky Cauldron. A fire blazing, the smell of pies and ale, a background hum of noise. “Well, there you are,” Trystan said, suddenly brisk as he freed her hand – pretending to be keener to leave her than he was. “Tell me where to take the horse, and I’ll be off.”
(And he would stop at the bar on his way out to insist that anything she bought – food, a drink, a room to change in – could be put on his tab, because he fancied this had been more his pleasure than hers.)
“Avery Davenport,” he repeated as she took his hand, committing the name to memory and turning it over on his tongue as if to test whether it tasted true. (A little research, and he was sure he could track down more about her, whatever her name was. He had not been an Auror for nothing.)
But he didn’t wait for her to complain again, just whisked them both into the relative furnace of the Leaky Cauldron. A fire blazing, the smell of pies and ale, a background hum of noise. “Well, there you are,” Trystan said, suddenly brisk as he freed her hand – pretending to be keener to leave her than he was. “Tell me where to take the horse, and I’ll be off.”
(And he would stop at the bar on his way out to insist that anything she bought – food, a drink, a room to change in – could be put on his tab, because he fancied this had been more his pleasure than hers.)
