What he said was, “And the rift in the ground?”.
Elyria’s shoulders sagged, visible relief flooding her face at the subject change. “I sealed it up. The labyrinth didn’t complain. And we’ve been dithering about here since, waiting for you to wake from your beauty rest.”
Emotion flickered in her eyes even as she made light of his injuries. He knew it had been bad. He just didn’t know why she cared. And Cedric couldn’t resist. “Beauty rest, huh? So...you think I’m beautiful?” he said, smoothing down the arm of his doublet, then fiddling with the end of the sleeve at his wrist.
She huffed, and Cedric couldn’t quite tell if it was with irritation or humor. “I thinkyouthink you’re beautiful.”
His chest swelled.
“And I also think you’re not nearly as funny as you think you are.”
“I never claimed to be funny,” he said, grinning.
“Ah, but how did you put it? You’re considered by many to be ‘positively delightful,’ yes?”
His grin widened. “That is, in fact, precisely how I put it. And consider mepositivelydelightedto know I made so great an impression that you memorized my words verbatim.”
He would’ve sworn he saw her cheeks turn a shade pinker.
“Well, don’t,” she said simply.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t think you’ve made that much of an impression.” But the edge of her lips quivered, and satisfaction spread through Cedric’s insides like warm honey. “Anddon’tlook so satisfied with yourself,”she added.
Cedric stared at her.
“What?”
“Nothing. Just, sometimes it feels like you can read my thoughts. You can’t, can you?” He narrowed his eyes in mock suspicion.
She snorted. “I hardly need to be a mindwielder in order to be able to tell what you’re thinking.”
“Is that so?”
“Everyone else may only see the stoic knight in your visage, but I’m afraid I find you incredibly easy to read. I don’t even need to be like Leona to discern your thoughts.”
The air was pushed from his lungs. “What? Leona?”
“Right. You were still getting thatmuch-neededbeauty sleep when I told everyone else.” She smirked at him. “Turns out she was keeping quite a secret from the rest of us. The mindwielding bitch nearly managed to melt our brains before the ground split. Not fun.”
She gave him a moment for that to sink in. Cedric thought about the times when he felt like Leona looked at him a little too long, the knowing way she’d taunted him about the Trial of Spirit, the silent communications he’d witnessed between her and Belien. Of course. Not just an advanced sorcerer, but a sage. No wonder she had gained such notoriety. He almost had to respect the fact that she’d so successfully kept her telepathic abilities a secret for so long. Couldn’t have been easy.
Cedric frowned. Now he was feeling posthumous pity for Leona? Of course he was. Abhorrent as she’d been, she was still human. In the grand scheme of things, they were here for the same reasons. They had been cut from the same cloth, had the same goal.
And now Cedric was all who remained.
“You aren’t the same as them,” Elyria said quietly, and for the second time in as many minutes, Cedric found himself staring at her in disbelief.
“Stop doing that,” he said.
She arched a brow. “Doing what?”
Cedric bit the inside of his cheek. “Seeing right through me.”
At first, she didn’t say anything back, just returned to staring at that spot of empty air in front of her, brow furrowed in thought.
Cedric leaned his head back against the wall, his eyes roaming tothe tall, curved cavern of the ceiling.
