Josias and Teodoro froze. They hadn’t expected anyone to be eavesdropping on their private conversation. Josias’s blood boiled when he realized it was Jeremiah who had dared to laugh at his expense.
“What’s so funny?” Josias demanded, swallowing a half-chewed piece of bread and bolting upright from his chair.
“You!” Jeremiah doubled over, clutching his stomach as if in actual pain from the hilarity. “Saying you’re still a virgin!”
“Jeremiah, that’s enough!” Teodoro ordered, his voice echoing in the small kitchen. “The boy is eighteen. He’s young.”
Jeremiah fought back his laughter just long enough to sneer. “At eighteen, I already had plenty of experience. Josias is lagging behind! And then he has the nerve to talk about my father? Clearly, his own father didn’t teach him how to be a r
