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“...it’s promised to be very lucrative. Those investors mean business, and I think if I can just get the ball moving in the right direction, we’ll have another profitable venture attached to the Ilnais name. It’s nice to have something for myself, you know?”
I nod along, looking up from mopping and smiling encouragingly when the conversation calls for it. It’s not that I don’t care about what Rhiucra’s talking about. He’s been a good friend to me ever since I started, and if I don’t let myself think too much about the little crush I fear he has on me, then his easy nature and the normalcy of spending time like this are soothing.
But it seems no amount of soothing can chase my shadow from my mind.
Rhicura would know who he is.
The thought occurs to me out of nowhere, and while I try feebly to push it away, not wanting to invite any more questions or scrutiny about my activities last night, my curiosity fights harder. Hewouldknow about a strange man in the house. Maybe he could give me some answers, or if nothing else, at least help me feel a little less crazy.
It’s only once I’ve decided to act on my impulse that I realize an uncharacteristically long silence has filled the kitchen.
“You’re distracted today. Something’s bothering you.” It's a statement, not a question. Rhiucra steps closer to me, concern pinching his features. “Is everything alright? Has someone –”
“No, no, of course not!” I cut him off, wanting to nip that thought in the bud immediately. If Rhiucra caught wind of anyone being untoward to me, it’d mean trouble.
Even if there certainly was someone… untoward with me.
“Was someone here last night?” I blurt out. I can’t help but inwardly cringe at my own lack of finesse, but oh well. At least I asked.
Rhiucra’s brows knit together at my sudden question, and he shakes his head slowly, a strange emotion flitting through his eyes too quickly to place.
“Not that I know of, but clearly, something happened. What do you mean? Why do you ask?”
“I just… I came down last night, to the kitchen I mean, to get a glass of water. There was a male here, a dark elf. I’ve never seen him before.”
“Nobody was here last night,” Rhiucra says, that same look crossing his face again. Didn’t he just say there was no one here that heknowsof? Why is he suddenly so sure?
“It seems like you might know what I’m talking about,” I point out, trying to contain the first sparks of frustration building in my chest as I search his features. “He’s hard to miss. Huge, with long black hair and dark gray skin. He has tattoos down his arm, a bunch of animals and symb–”
“There was no male, Neveah. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rhiucra snaps, a sudden harshness filling his features that renders him nearly unrecognizable. I nearly flinch back from his tone, so unused to hearing my light-hearted friend use a voice that’s so… unlike him.
“Okay, so you don’t know what I’m talking about, but I saw him. He was here,” I argue back. I’m walking a fine line right now, and I know it. Rhiucra might be my friend, but he’s still technically my master. He’s still a dark elf.
“What are you talking about?” Rhiucra demands. For someone who seems so sure that no one was here, he seems awfully concerned about what I’m telling him.
“I’m saying that Isawhim, Rhiucra. I talked to him. He was sitting right there in the middle of the night, completely at home,” I say, motioning to the chair at the table. “I talked to him. He… I don’t know how to describe him, but I know that I would’ve remembered him if I’d seen him before.”
“No one was here last night, Neveah,” Rhiucra says again, and the frustration that’s been growing within me since I brought this whole stupid thing up threatens to bubble over.
“Well, then someone is sneaking into the manor because he was here!” I exclaim, tossing my hands up in exasperation.
Rhiucra is on his feet in an instant, his hands held up in a placating way that has the exact opposite effect of what he’s hoping for.
“Nobody’s sneaking in, you’re safe here,” he murmurs placatingly. “You said it was the middle of the night, right? Perhaps it was a dream. This manor is a fortress. No one gets in or out without us or the zagfer knowing.”
“I…” I start, but I don’t know what to say to that. My frustration pops like a bubble under the weight of Rhiucra’s assessment. It was so real, he wasright there, but at the same time…
“Maybe,” I concede eventually. “But I don’t know how my imagination could have even come up with something so vivid. He was so…”
“It sounds like he was quite the intimidating character, especially if you’re so worried about it today,” Rhiucra says, his familiar smile teasing at his lips. “That sounds like exactly the type of thing your brilliant mind would dream up. Especially if it wasn’t occupied with, I don’t know, say, fairy tales?”
Despite myself, my lips twitch up at the corners, too.
“I guess so,” I say, shaking my head. In truth, I’m not convinced, but in the harsh light of day, Rhiucra’s explanation seems so much more logical. So much more real than some mysterious, knife-brandishing shadow of a male appearing just to work me up and disappear once again.
“Don’t let it bother you,” Rhiucra says kindly, placing a hand on my shoulder as he starts to move past me. “I’m sure it was nothing. You’re safe here. No big scary male is coming after you.”
I nod my thanks as he disappears from the kitchen, leaving me alone at the scene of the crime. My fingers trail idly to my stomach, where my shadow’s blade had pressed against my skin less than 24 hours ago.
