“Very last-minute, is it?” She shook her head, bringing a hand to her chest. “A man who listens. Will wonders never cease?”
He chuckled, though the sound quickly faded, thick silence resuming between them once more.
Elyria swallowed, her eyes darting to the doorway. Trying her best to keep her voice even, she said, “Well, I’ll leave you to it.”
But before she could brush past Cedric, his hand gently caught her wrist. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“I’ve been doing no such thing.” She scoffed. “We just saw each other at The Keg.”
“Thanks to your guard friend, I suspect, not due to your own intentions. And what about the rest of the week? The entire time you’ve been here?” He loosened his grip, turning her hand over in his, running the pad of his finger over the blue veins streaking through the pale skin on the underside of her wrist.
Her traitorous heart stuttered. “I’ve been perfectly agreeable in adhering to your king’s wishes to?—”
“You know that isn’t what I meant. I’ve been looking for you. I’ve wanted to talk to you, wanted to?—”
She inhaled sharply but didn’t pull away. “Well, you found me, didn’t you?”
“Only because Nox showed me precisely where to look.”
“You still found me.”
Cedric paused, a beat of silence thrumming between them. “What are we doing, Elyria?”
“I’m leaving,” she said quickly, nodding at the door—though her body refused to move. Her wrist stayed captured in his hand, his fingers still brushing her skin in delicate, maddening circles.
“Now that your compatriots have arrived, we’re both leaving, aren’t we?” Cedric said, voice soft. Sad?
His words set her teeth on edge, that dark fire flickering back to life inside her. “Compatriots,” she repeated, the word sizzling off her tongue. Anger flared sharp and bitter in her chest. Good. Anger was easier than this aching gravity that pulled her toward him with every breath.
She finally withdrew her hand from his, and she hated how the loss of his touch felt like a sting, even though she’d been the one to break contact. She hated that he didn’t try to stop her again. She hated herself for wanting him to.
She busied both hands with smoothing down the front of her blouse before saying, “It may still be a few days, but yes, as soon as your king gives the word, I’ll happily be on my way. And given just how imminent your own departure is, allow me to give you the chance to get the tutelage you so desperately need. I’m sure Nox will be here shortly.”
Cedric cocked his head to one side. “Why do I feel like you’re mad I called on Nox for help?” he asked. “Is that notpreciselywhat you told me to do?”
She shrugged. “You are good at following instructions.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that the lord paramount should be very proud.”
“And now you are mad at me for, what, doing my job? Respecting my lord? My benefactor?”
“I’m not mad at you,” she said simply.
“For someone who doesn’t like being called a liar, you certainly seem insistent on proving me right.”
“No one here is lying,” Elyria said with a huff.
“Then why won’t youtalkto me?” His voice rose, and it was clear that his frustration was quickly coming to a boiling point too. What was she doing? Was this really how she wanted to leave things between them?
Before she could second-guess herself, she stalked over to the battered weapons rack and yanked two practice swords from it. She tossed one to Cedric without warning. He caught it, blinking down at it in confusion.
“You wanted to talk?” she asked, raising her blade and levying its dulled tip at him. “So talk.”
She struck.
Their weapons cracked against one another as the knight scrambled to block her first blow. Elyria followed it with another, and another, striking in downward arcs and forward thrusts.He managed to block each blow, though barely, until she offered him a lazy swing that he was able to meet with gusto, finally getting enough leverage to shove her back a few steps.
