He looks at me like he doesn't understand.“Was I meant to do that?”
“Yes, Alaric, you were meant to cook, because I was going out all day to teach the children.”
“That doesn't sound like something I'd agree to,” Alaric says with a frown as he raises a goblet.Although I can't really tell if the frown is at me or at the fact that his goblet is empty.He truly is drunk now.“Anyway, why go out and spend the day teaching children the difference between a squirrel and a bear?”
“That's not what I was doing, and you know it,” I retort.Already, my patience is wearing thin with him.It seems more fragile with every day that passes.
“I don't really knowwhatyou were doing,” Alaric says.
“Because you don't pay attention to what I'm doing,” I reply.He hasn't taken an interest in my attempts to teach the children in the village.He hasn't offered to help.
“That's not true,” Alaric says.“I pay attention to you whenever you're around.There's not a movement you make that I don't want to watch.”
“Is that meant to be some kind of endearing line?Because it hasn't worked as well as you want,” I say.
It also doesn't tell me anything I don't already know.IknowAlaric continues to be interested in me physically, and I must admit that he's still probably the most beautiful man I've ever seen, but that doesn't count for everything.It isn’t enough when Alaric doesn't seem to truly want to settle in my home.
“I'm sorry,” Alaric says, raising his hands.“But you know what I mean.We could have spent the day with one another, but instead you were off teaching a bunch of children.”
“Because I want to do something useful with my days,” I say.“Why aren't you trying to do the same?Why aren’t you trying to fit in here, Alaric?”
This is dangerous ground.It's the start of an old argument between us, one we seem to be having more and more as the days pass.
“What would you recommend I do, Lyra?”Alaric asks.“Take up farming?Learn to weave fishing nets?”
“You could at least step outside of the house occasionally,” I counter.
“I do,” Alaric says.
“Heading over to the local tavern doesn't count,” I snap back.
“I'm confused, don't you want me to make friends in this village?”
If that were what Alaric were doing it would be fine, but it's not.I've seen him in the tavern before.He sits alone, and he has the knack of being so caustic that people don't want to be near him.It's a talent he used back in Ironhold to make sure nobody got too close to him.He was convinced if he cared about anyone, it would make it more likely he would die there.Now, it feels like an old habit that's outlived its usefulness.
“You aren't making friends,” I say.“And the barmaids staring at you and occasionally offering to bed you isn't the same thing.”
“I always turn them down,” Alaric replies, as if that makes him a paragon of virtue.He really is impossible, sometimes.Sometimes I suspect it’s deliberate, pushing me as if he can’t believe we’re together, wanting to test the limits of our relationship.
I move over to him, sitting at the table, and putting my hand over his.“I just don't know why you're doing this to yourself,” I say.“You still train, but beyond that-”
“Because I'mbored," Alaric says sharply and suddenly.“Is that what you want to hear, Lyra?I'm bored here in this village.”
“Because you don't even try to find a way to fit in,” I say.
“How would I fit in?”Alaric demands.“Am I meant to entertain small children with illusions?Am I meant to spend my life attending noble gatherings that don't exist here?When I went with you, I thought it would be for a life of travelling and adventure, not just to settle down and play at being ordinary.”
“So, you're too good for this village?”I say.“For the place where I was born?”
“Yes!”Alaric looks me straight in the eyes, taking me by the arms.“Webothare.We both fought our way through the Colosseum.We both have powers that most people here can only dream of.I’m a noble of Aetheria, not some…”
“Some what?”I shoot back, But Alaric doesn't continue.We both know that if he keeps talking, he'll go too far.I've known for a long time that he thinks he's too good for a place like this, that he's only here because of me.
“Some villager,” Alaric says, and somehow, he manages to turn that into an insult.
“I'm from this village,” I point out.“My mother is a villager.”
“Your mother's the healer everybody relies on back in Seatide,” Alaric says.“And you… you went through an experience no one else can imagine here.You fought your way through the arena.And let's not pretend that you're just a simple villager.You're the greatest beast whisperer the world has known for generations.”
