Stolen by the Rebel King

Chapter 13: Yuletide Generosity

Daphne laughed awkwardly while shooting daggers with her eyes. "Thank you for reminding me, darling." She stressed the last word, basically spitting it out like it was a mouthful of venom.

Reaching up, she snatched the pouch from Atticus's hands. He simply let her, spreading his fingers casually the second she had a firm grip on the coin bag, grinning.

"Aren't you pretending to be a peasant?" Daphne hissed in his ear as she fished for coins in the pouch. "Stop flaunting your purse!"

"If we were real peasants, we'd be working here instead," Atticus retorted cheerfully.

The man's face grew darker as he overheard the comment.

"Mister," Atticus said cheerfully, "don't yell at my wife. She was just excited to try out your new recipes."

There was a note of warning in his voice. His gaze darkened.

"Come to think of it, didn't this amount of food only cost 35 coppers last year? What happened?"

Daphne watched as the vendor's Adam's apple rolled up and down. A bead of perspiration trickled down his temple despite the cooling atmosphere.

"Supplies are getting expensive," the vendor said, looking anywhere but at Atticus. "Booth rents are also much steeper this year as compared to the last festival. We store vendors have our hands tied too, mister."

"Oh, really?" Atticus smiled.

He nodded at Daphne, prompting her to hand the coins over to the store vendor, who all but snatched the money as he chucked her purchases at her. No doubt he had something to hide and wanted them gone as soon as possible, Daphne deduced as much. She silently examined Atticus's behavior. However, he didn't do much, simply thanking the store vendor before reaching for Daphne's spare hand, gently leading her away from the stall.

"How's the food?" he asked once they were a short distance away, right as Daphne bit into the grilled pork.

"Surprisingly mundane," Daphne answered, her nose wrinkling. She held out the money pouch, returning it to its rightful owner. "It smells much better than it tastes."

"I'm not surprised," Atticus commented knowingly, taking the bag of coins. He leaned in and took a bite out of the food, licking the sauce from the edge of his mouth. He made a face, seemingly in agreement with Daphne's opinions. "If the other vendors are the same, I might have to get Jonah to rehaul the store vendors of this fair."

"Dishonest vendors?" Daphne asked. She had her own guesses.

Atticus merely nodded, choosing not to reply.

In front of them, there was a mother who bought only one stick of food from a different stall to share among the family. Daphne watched as her children, a boy and a girl, squabbled over the sole stick.

"No, this is mine!"

"You ate it already! You ate two bites!"

"You took three!"

"My bites were tiny!"

"They were not!"

"Children, please." Their mother sighed. "If you can't share, we're going straight home."

"Mom!" The children whined in dismay. "Can we have one more? Please please please?"

The woman shook her head, and her children fell silent in disappointment. Daphne didn't miss the hurt on the woman's face, and how she patted her pockets. Clearly she didn't have enough money to buy enough for three people, and she decided not to eat so her children could have more.

Daphne's heart ached. This was a struggle unfamiliar to her. She had to help.

"I'll buy you one." To her surprise, she wasn't the only one who spoke. Daphne whirled around to find that Atticus had already produced several silver pennies for the shopkeeper.

"Two portions please! One for my darling wife, the other for the two cute children waiting in front of me."

"Oh! I couldn't possibly―" the mother replied, flustered by the sudden generosity. Then she saw Atticus and her face promptly grew five times redder.

How could such a handsome man exist? And he's so kind-hearted too!

His wife was also a great beauty and she watched their clasped hands with no small amount of wistfulness. What a loving couple they made!

Next to him, Daphne was struck dumb with astonishment. Atticus, doing good deeds? No, that could not be true, but her eyes didn't lie. Atticus handed her one of the grilled meat portions and gave the other to the young girl.

"Thank you, sir!" They both chorused, staring at him in reverence. Daphne meanwhile, stared at Atticus with great suspicion.

"Thank you for your generosity. I really can't repay you." The mother was helpless in front of her children's happiness.

"Consider it Yuletide generosity. I know what it's like to feel hungry as a child," Atticus said, causing Daphne to raise an incredulous eyebrow. He was a king, most likely a prince before he rose to the throne. What lies was he spouting? "No child deserves that."

The mother smiled at them both. "I'm sure any child you and your wife have would be very well-loved indeed!"

Daphne nearly dropped her food on the ground as she choked on the fresh bite of meat. She coughed violently as Atticus gently patted her back in an attempt to soothe her.

"My wife is expecting, actually," Atticus smoothly responded, causing Daphne to cough even harder. "That's why we decided to drop by the festival a little earlier this year. Cravings, you know?"

When Daphne had finally cleared her airways of the lodge of food, she glowered heavily at her brazzen husband. The hand that was still in his tightened, squeezing his palm as hard as she could. She knew it did nothing much, judging by the passive look on his face, but Daphne found great joy in causing him even the slightest bit of inconvenience.

"Oh my! That explains the radiance on her face!" the woman crooned, delighted. Her eyes practically had stars in them. Daphne wondered if she had sight problems. "There's a stall further down that is selling children's toys and clothing. Perhaps you both could check it out. They have quite a few beautiful knick-knacks, all handmade, apparently."

"That's a wonderful suggestion." Atticus beamed. "Thank you. We will have a look at it for sure."

When the woman walked off with her two children, Daphne turned sharply, hissing. "What are you babbling about now, with all these lies―"

"Sunshine, I will be simply elated to make a truth out of that lie, if you're willing to," Atticus smoothly cut in. He wore a debonair smile, tilting his head slightly to one side.

"Ugh!" Annoyed, Daphne shook off Atticus's hand, aggressively biting into the rest of the food that had started to turn cold. All the while, she could hear Atticus's laughter trailing after her like a ghost of the past that could never be banished.