Chapter 8

I had two bushels of grumpackers bought before Brentley found me again.

As I handed over my coin to pay for them, he shook his head. “Grumpackers? That’s what you came here after? You should’ve told me that was your goal before we left on our jaunt. There are plenty of them at the castle if you wanted some, you know. All you needed to do was ask; we would’ve supplied them for you. There was no need to travel all the way down here to procure them.”

I shrugged and refrained from explaining that they were supposed to be a gift, a gift I’d felt the pressing need to purchase with my own gain. I mean, if a man couldn’t claim his one true love and be with her in every way he dreamed possible, then the least he could do was buy all the presents he gave to her in secret from his personal funds instead of having them given to him first. Right?

Curious, I took one of the grumpackers from its basket and studied the odd thing. “I wanted to explore the area, anyway,” I said aloud to Brentley, set