He swallowed, and his mouth felt like it was filled with sawdust. Finally daring to peek out from under the covers, he squinted against the bright light trickling in through his curtains.
“Oh good,” came a voice far too chipper for Cedric’s condition, “you’re alive.”
Cedric groaned, hurling a pillow in Tristan’sgeneral direction.
“You missed,” said the knight, approaching Cedric with amusement plastered across his face.
“I hate you,” Cedric rasped.
“See, you say that now, but last night as I was hauling your drunken ass out of The Cracked Keg, you were full of nothing but undying professions of your love for me.” Tristan plucked an apple from a bowl on a nearby table. “Said I was the best friend you’d ever had. That if you lived a thousand years, you’d never be able to properly express how much I meant to you.”
Cedric propped himself up on his elbows, eyeing his friend with a dubious expression. “Lies do not become you, Sir Hale.”
Tristan shined the apple on his shirt before taking an obnoxious bite. “You wound me, Sir Thorne,” he said, mouth full.
“Yes, you seem very hurt indeed.” Cedric scrubbed a hand down his face. “What time is it?”
Using two fingers to lift the edge of the curtain, Tristan peered out the window. “Oh, perhaps half-past ten or so?”
Cedric bolted upright, immediately regretting the motion as the throbbing in his head intensified. “What? Why did Addison let me sleep so late? I need to?—”
“Relax yourself, Lord Victor. I told Addison you needed your beauty sleep now more than ever.” He eyed Cedric speculatively. “I, for one, am relieved to know you finally got a little shut eye. I know you’ve barely been sleeping since you returned.”
Cedric knew his friend didn’t mean since returning from Paideus.
“Did I— Was there—” Cedric blinked, swallowed. “Help a man out, would you?”
“What, havingtroublerecalling what happened last night?” Tristan looked delighted. “I admit, I find that a bit difficult to believe. From where I was standing, the Revenant made quite the impression on you.”
“From where you were—oh, Noctis take me.”
“Yes. Stars above, the two of you, er, clashed so intensely that I thought the entire booth might ignite. I suppose I should be proud of how much better your control is over that power of yours that it didn’t.”
Cedric dropped his head into his hands. “Fuck.”
“No, no, don’t worry. You didn’t get that far.”
Another pillow flew at Tristan’s face. He dodged it with a laugh.
Cedric was silent as he attempted to recall the events of the evening more fully, to stitch together the patchwork of his drink-sodden memories. For a few moments, all he could recall was the feel of Elyria’s body pressed against his own, the softness of her mouth, the call of her magic whispering to his own.
And then the rest came rushing back. The accidental tug of a hood. The chaos that followed. The shouting, the flying mugs, the way Elyria’s wings had exploded into view before she soared out of sight.
He groaned again. “How much shit am I in, do you think?”
Tristan snorted. “Oh, who’s to say? According to Gregor and Addison, the rumors are already spreading like wildfire, but nobody knows what to believe. Some say the Revenant tried to burn down The Keg. Say that she hexed you, worked her ‘fairy witch wiles’ on our dear Lord Victor.” He grinned for a moment, before his upper lip twisted with disapproval, as though suddenly realizing the meaning beneath the words. “Personally, I like the story circulating that says she transformed into a giant bat and flew out the window with two unconscious men clutched in her talons.”
That drew a light laugh from Cedric, though even that had pain lancing through his head. He muttered a curse under his breath. “Do you...do you think she’s all right? With the rumors?”
The smug look on Tristan’s face as he took another bite of his apple made Cedric wish he could suck the question right back into his mouth.
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about the Revenant,” said Tristan, picking at his teeth. “Or about any of the Arcanians right now, really. I imagine their hands are quite full with the new arrivals.”
Understanding took an extra moment to dawn. “The final members of the delegation are here?”
Tristan nodded. “Got in late last night, right about the time I was pouring you into bed.”
Anxiety swelled in Cedric’s chest. He was already set to leave for Elderglade soon, but now that the Arcanian delegation was finally complete, would Elyria be leaving on her own mission even sooner? “I need to get up. Lord Church will need?—”
