“Besides,” he said, chuckling bitterly at the coils of black snake curled up at his feet. “Vesper has been keeping a very close eye on me. Sometimes I think she worries over me more than you do.”
So, begrudgingly, Adrissu gave word to Shima he would return to his post at the Academy sooner than expected, though when he arrived that day, he got little work done and was constantly on the alert for any sense from Vesper that something was amiss. But the first day passed without incident, and the next, and the rest of the week. By then, Pollux was a bit more at ease, though still often restless. He wanted to start taking walks in the city instead of pacing the tower endlessly. Adrissu was uncertain of this as well, but figured if they were together, it would be alright.
Their first walk was just around the Academy grounds and back to the tower, which was a short and familiar route. The next day they ventured a little further, and on the third day, they walked down to the town square to buy some vegetables and look at vendor stalls. It was late in the afternoon, so it wasn’t especially crowded, and the heat of the late spring day was finally beginning to ease up. Pollux was mostly amicable and conversational with the people they saw and the shops they visited, and his bouts of irritation and frustration had been short-lived when they did crop up. Regulating his emotions had been the slowest change to start improving, so that alone was progress Adrissu was happy to see.
Their last stop for the day was a pastry stand. They each got a sweetbread, and Pollux stopped to say hello to the proprietor, whom he knew in passing, who remarked that she hadn’t seen Pollux in a while.
“I was ill,” Pollux was saying to her between bites of pastry, as Adrissu looked on from a few steps away. “But I’m doing much better now.”
Being out and about with his mate, comfortable and happy, knowing he was already adjusting to being a dragon—and that now there was nothing that could separate them ever again—Adrissu couldn’t recall ever feeling happier in his life. Pollux, sensing his joy, glanced back at him with a soft smile.
His eyes flickered to a point behind Adrissu, and his smile faltered. Adrissu turned back to find what he was looking at: a guard was approaching them, one with the modified Blackthorn weapon at his side. One of the Elafaer family’s personal guard, then. He stopped next to Adrissu, nodding at him and Pollux.
“Headmaster,” he said, his head bowed as he greeted them. “And Mr. Blackthorn. The Lord Representative would like to speak with you. She’s in the Poppy and Pomegranate just down the road. Would you be so kind as to join her?”
Adrissu suppressed the urge to roll his eyes; the restaurant was a newer one, but already known for being overpriced and pretentious, so of course she would be there. He did not want to go, and he could tell Pollux did not want to go from the dismayed expression that crossed his face, but he doubted Willow would take no for an answer.
“Unfortunately, we were just about to head home,” Adrissu said anyway, lifting the bag of sundries that he’d been carrying to emphasize his point. The guard hesitated, then bowed his head once again.
“I’m afraid I must insist,” he said, sounding just as displeased about it as they were to hear it. Adrissu sighed, and behind him, Pollux huffed in vexation.
“Fine,” he said, taking Pollux’s hand. “Lead the way, then.”
The guard nodded quickly and led them back the way they came until the restaurant came into view on their left. A few people were seated outdoors, but he did not spot Willow until the guard brought them inside. Near the window, Willow Elafaer sat alone at a table set for four. Adrissu clocked another of the Elafaer family guard standing against the wall a few paces away, though this one did not appear to have a Blackthorn weapon on him.
“Gentlemen,” Willow said in a far-too-friendly tone, beaming up at them as they approached, as if she had been expecting them all along. “Thank you so much for joining me. Such a sudden invitation is a bit uncouth, I know, but I spotted you walking by at the window and just had to get a hold of you while you were here. I recently sent a messenger to your home, but they tell me you’ve been rather sequestered as of late. So it seems fate has brought us together in this way instead.”
Adrissu sat down directly across from her, Pollux at his side, hoping that he could help deflect the brunt of whatever it was she wanted. Already, he could feel annoyance roiling off of Pollux in waves.
“Thank you for the invitation,” he said as gracefully as he could manage, hoping Pollux’s stiff posture and sour expression were less obvious to her than they were to him. “We have been rather difficult to get a hold of, this is true. We went on a small leisure trip, but unfortunately fell ill while returning home. But as you can see, we are doing better now. How can we help, Lord Representative?”
“I was hoping to talk to you about another possible job, Mr. Blackthorn,” she said, barely glancing at Adrissu. He felt Pollux tense next to him. “The Elafaer family are big fans of the weapons you’ve made for our guards, and as you know, we would really love to own more. My father agrees with me that we’d benefit from equipping more of our guards with the Blackthorns. He’s provided me with a significant sum to offer you, in addition to what I had paid previously, if you would take on another contract with us.”
“Not interested,” Pollux said sharply, and Adrissu winced. Willow paused, obviously taken aback at the sudden rejection.
“I—well,weare prepared to offer triple what I paid last time,” she continued with a nervous, uncertain smile.
“I’ve told you before, I don’t want to make any more of the damned weapons,” Pollux snapped. “Is this really why you interrupted our afternoon?”
The surrounding tables seemed to have grown deathly quiet.
“I’m sorry to have interrupted, Pollux,” Willow said in a smaller voice, brows furrowing. It was the most frustrated Adrissu had ever seen her, but to her credit, she was obviously still trying to be polite. On the other side of him, though, Adrissu could feel heat rising from Pollux’s tense form. “Perhaps it was shortsighted of me to ask you here.”
“Perhaps it was,” Pollux replied.
“It’s been a long day,” Adrissu interjected quickly, keeping his voice smooth and even. “Maybe we can revisit this at a later time.”
“Revisit?” Pollux snapped, whirling on Adrissu. “Revisit? Are you not going to take ‘no’ for an answer anymore, either?”
“Pollux,” he said softly, an edge of warning to his voice. Pollux seemed to catch himself then and scowled, looking away in obvious embarrassment.
“I...” he started, then stood up abruptly. “You’re right. Long day. We should—”
“Are we going to have a problem?” The guard who had escorted them had stepped closer to Pollux—one hand on his weapon, the other reaching out to grab Pollux’s shoulder. Adrissu swore under his breath, but already things were escalating faster than he could manage.
“Don’t touch me!” Pollux snapped, wrenching his arm away from the guard. The entire restaurant had gone eerily silent now, patrons and workers alike pausing to take stock of the scene.
“You two should probably go,” Willow said, her tone still aggravatingly chipper, and Pollux snarled down at her.
