“Sir, with all due respect, I don’t -”
“Now.” The overseer is getting on my last nerves. He and the other guards are making Clover tense and reactive, and after that last comment, I don’t blame her. However, I desperately need her help, so I figure removing them might sway her in my favor.
The overseer and his guards scramble out of the room at my stern words, leaving Clover and I alone. She already seems lighter without the other men’s presence.
“Accompany me back to the palace, and then we can take it from there. Help me find the relic, and I’ll reward you handsomely. I’ll provide funds for wherever you want to go, whatever you want to do. I swear on my honor.”
The King’s council had mentioned that Clover had been in the camp for a long time, so I assumed that she had nowhere else to go and had made the camp her home instead. I hoped that by mentioning the reward she might be more convinced to accompany me.
“Most people’s honor isn’t worth much,” she criticizes, but it carries less fury than her other statement did.
“Let me prove that mine is.”
A sudden pulse of bravery shoots through me, and I take a step closer to her until we share each other’s breath. I surrender to my impulse and lift my hand to remove Clover’s hat. Her long dark hair tumbles down, ending at her lower back, causing a cloud of sand dust to form around her.
Clover raises her eyes to meet mine, and I gasp, disoriented. Her eyes are an iridescent color, as if the entire rainbow is being reflected in them.They remind me of a rainbow appearing in the mist of a waterfall. Every slight shift in the sunlight of the room changes how they appear.
“Beautiful,” I murmur. Then, realizing I’ve been staring at her for more than what is appropriate, I quickly add, “Your eyes, I mean. I’ve never seen anything like them.”
“You were saying something about going to the palace?”
I’m thankful that she glossed over my fumbling. I’ve somehow regressed into a nervous teenager again, bumbling around a crush. It was how I first acted around— I shake my head to clear that last thought, not allowing my mind to descend down that rabbit hole. It’s not the time nor place.
I clear my throat. “Come with me and help us. Please. Then you can be on your way. Unless you would rather stay here?” I raise my eyebrows in question, glancing at the sand that’s scattered across the floor in her wake.
Clover glances at the door the overseer and the guards left through, and I wonder if maybe there was something between her and that taller one, despite his comment.
“Fine.” She licks her lips. “But I’ll expect averyhandsome reward for my help. And the promise to never have to return here.”
Amusement tugs at the corner of my mouth at this sand siren, tempting me with her rainbow eyes and outspokenness. “Deal.”
“And my debt’s cleared?”
I’m not exactly sure what she means, but assume it has something to do with whatever sum I paid the overseer.
“Yes. It’ll be a fresh start.”
She hums. That seems to help her decide and I use her hesitant acceptance to stay on schedule.
“Now, not to rush you, but we really do need to start moving. We’re on a rather tight schedule and we’re already behind.” I eye her sweat stained clothes and the sand plastered to her arms and face. “You can clean up at our halfway point. Is there anything you need to grab before you leave? Anyone you want to say goodbye to?”
Clover’s eyes shift to the door again but almost immediately peels her eyes back to me instead, giving me a strange sense of satisfaction.
“No. I own nothing. And there’s no one I care about here.”
Maybe I was wrong about the guard.
She takes a few steps towards the door then stops, as if second guessing whether she is actually going to leave or not.
I gesture for her to follow. “Come on, I don’t bite.”
I see the gears in her mind working then, and watch as she straightens herself out, shoulders back, and leaves the building without a glance back.
She stops where I’m waiting, and leans in close, lips barely brushing my ear. I still as she opens her mouth, her warm breath caressing my ear, the roughness of the sand coating her lips.
“But maybe I do,” she whispers and has the audacity to wink at me as she continues walking with a noticeably lighter step.
I should have listened to Hanson. Thiswasgoing to be harder than I thought. And I can’t help but wonder what exactly I have gotten myself into.
