Meat Cute: The Hedgehog Incident by Gail Carriger

Meat Cute: The Hedgehog Incident by Gail Carriger

Author:Gail Carriger [Carriger, Gail]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-944751-21-0
Publisher: Gail Carriger LLC
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00


There was a murmur of masculine voices as she ran away, Professor Lyall’s quiet and reprimanding, Lord Maccon’s louder and militant.

Of course, she forgot how exactly to get back to the house and promptly got lost in the grounds, finding herself eventually at the center of a small maze sitting hunched on a stone bench.

Which was where the hedgehog found her.

She sat very still as he emerged out of the bushes from the direction of the Grecian folly, and approached her with all the shy sweetness of his species.

No doubt this was where he was fed regularly by the household. Hedgehogs could be tamed, and this one seemed accustomed to human company.

She bent over, emotions mostly contained by now. Her temper had flared, and her feelings were injured by Lord Maccon’s calling her a bare-faced liar. But here was the hedgehog and Alexia, at least, knew the truth. She held out her hand, bare, for now she had most assuredly lost her gloves. The little creature snuffled at her fingertips.

A rumbling from the shadows did not disturb him, although it slightly startled Alexia.

“Miss Tarabotti, I must apologize. Your hedgehog hallucination would appear to be a reality.”

She did not look up at him, because the hedgehog was gracing her with his presence. Climbing into her open palms.

“I assure you, Lord Maccon, I am not the kind of girl to go around hallucinating hedgehogs all willy-nilly. And I resent that you should think so.” She lifted the small animal carefully and then rested him on the stone bench next to her, allowing him to sniff her hand further.

Lord Maccon came forward out of the maze. “I dinna mean to imply that you lied merely to test your preternatural strength against me. Willing victim or no. I only meant to suggest that perhaps your interest, with me in particular, was in seeing me become, weel, not a wolf at that moment.”

“I don’t take your meaning,” said Alexia, because she didn’t.

“Aye,” he replied, almost kindly, “I can see that you dinna. Och, weel. My loss, eh?”

He lumbered over and made as if to take a seat on the bench next to her.

“Wait, no!”

But it was too late. So she poked him hard on the posterior. Startlingly firm it was, to be sure. Instead of sitting entirely on the hedgehog, he lurched sideways in surprise, grazed the top of the little creature, and slid off the side of the bench to land hard on the damp, loamy earth.

Fortunately, the hedgehog seemed only confused by its brush with the nether regions of a werewolf. Alexia was not so complacent, since she’d just prodded an earl.

“Really,” she said to the little creature, who didn’t seem to comprehend his peril, “I believe Lord Maccon has it out for you.”

Lord Maccon sighed, stood, and brushed himself off. “Dinna see the wee beastie there. He’s hurt?” He didn’t attempt to check for himself.

“No, near thing though. You aren’t going to make amends?”

In the light of the floating dirigibles, his face looked strangely sad for a moment.



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