I stand up straighter and join Ginna, hand clasping Elia’s tightly.
“We need your help, Rafe.” Ginna appears unfazed by Rafe’s startling presence again. Her one-track mind is focused solely on finding the lucky ring, unperturbed by her ex-best friend in front of her.
Rafe scoffs at her words, but his gaze is still directed my way, one I’m actively trying to avoid. My thumb rubs frantic circles on the back of Elia’s hand.
“I figured this wasn’t a social call.”
“Is there somewhere we can talk more privately?” My voice comes out stronger than I expected.
Rafe throws me one last hard stare before gesturing to follow him. “I have a room back here.”
The three of us follow Rafe into a cramped bedroom. A bed is pushed to one side of the room, opposite a small writing desk and chair. A stained rug covers the floor not occupied by the furniture.
Elia and Ginna take a seat on the side of the bed together, as if they know they’re going to be spectators in all of this.
Neither Rafe nor I take the chair at the desk, choosing instead to stand across from each other, arms crossed, on opposite sides of the fireplace, measuring each other up as if before a duel. I notice Rafe’s sketchbook open on the desk, and I strain to catch a glimpse of his drawings. Rafe notices and quickly slams the book shut and throws it in his bag. We remain in a stalemate.
Leave it to Elia to break the silent tension first.
“Okay.” She claps hands. “If we’re done with the pissing contest, let’s move on to business.”
“Sure,” Rafe starts. “Let’s start with the easiest part. Who the fuck are you?”
“She’s my girlfriend,” I interject before Elia can respond. “And don’t take that tone with her.”
This isn’t the same Rafe I once knew. The Rafe that gingerly bandaged all my injuries. The Rafe that would wink and blow me a kiss from across the throne room when no one was watching.
This Rafe reminded me of myself.
Rafe’s eyebrows raise. “A girlfriend? What an…interesting development. I would have thought you liked taking cock too much for that. Or was it just mine you liked?”
“That’s enough, both of you.” It’s Ginna this time to cut in. “We needyour ring, Rafe.”
“What ring?” Rafe asks. His arms are still crossed so I can’t see if he’s wearing it.
I doubt it. He probably tossed it over the side of the ship on his way out of Ashven. I wish there was a way to subtly remove the one he gave me on my pinky without him noticing; I don’t want him to know that I hadn’t taken it off in all the years apart.
“You know what ring. The one I gave you.” The one that meant something. At least to me.
Rafe tears his eyes away from me, turning towards the fire, bracing one hand on the mantle. There’s no ring visible on that hand.
“Why do you need it?”
I open my mouth to answer, barely uttering a sound, when Rafe cuts me off. “I’m asking Ginna, not you.” The rejection stings.
“That ring is a relic,” Ginna starts.
Rafe swings around towards Ginna as she continues. “One that provides the wearer with an unbelievable amount of luck. We need it to help us find something for the King. A relic we’ve been searching for years to find.”
“No one told me the ring was a relic.” He ignores me, still directing his words only to Ginna. There’s no ring visible on his other hand, either.
“I didn’t know it was a relic, either. Elia was the one who told us about it,” I chime in.
“And how do you know it actually is?” He towers over Elia who’s sitting unbothered by his aggression.
“I can read relics.” Rafe’s face doesn’t show any reaction to her statement and she hurries on. “When I hold an object, I can tell whether or not it’s a relic, and if it is a relic, I can read what power it has. I found that ring when I lived in one of the labor camps in the desert. I wore it, and it’s luck saved me.”
“We tested her with other known relics, and it’s true,” I add.
