She’d never believethatlie.
He certainly didn’t.
With a sigh, Kinlear donned his runed Eagleminder cloak, warmth flooding his tired bones.
You’re going towards something greater than Eagleminding now,he told himself, as he left his quarters behind.You are alive to see another day with the first Raphonminder Lordach has ever known, and that, above all else, is a gift.
He reached the snow, and looked out upon the tall, dark temple in the sky.
And for the first time in weeks, Kinlear Laroux smiled.
The walk up to the Aviary took twice the usual amount of time, and more sips of his vial than he’d remembered needing to takebeforethis particular episode. But he’d made it, and he sat waiting for her before the entrance to the catacombs, his heart in his throat.
What would he say when she arrived? Would he stand up, or would he remain sitting?Couldhe stand, if he even wanted to, after that march up the cliff?
And better yet...
What the hell was he supposed to do with his hands? Hold the cane, not hold the cane, give her a thumbs up.Gods no, get it together.
He was so stuck in his mind, rotating through every possible scenario, that he missed the Aviary doors opening. He didn’t even notice she washereuntil he heard her voice right in front of him.
“Oh,” she said. “You’re back.”
He felt like he’d been shoved into an ice bath. All his former thoughts went out the window, his hands went numb, and...
She wasn’t smiling.
A spike of disappointment went through him, because...
Because of course she isn’t going to feel the same about you,Kinlear reminded himself.You’re the Veilborne dreamer, and she...
She lookedhighlyannoyed. To the point of punching him in the face.
Mask of indifference it is, then,Kinlear decided.
“Oh?” he said, as she came to a stop in front of him.
Her hair was braided to the side, the better to show her trio of shadow wolf scars. He wondered what she would think, someday, when she saw how utterly ruinedhisbody was. How deeply marred he was by penance marks. His entire body was a collage of old and new brands alike.
Would she be disgusted when she saw them? Would she even want to touch him, or would she be repulsed by the mere thought of her hands on his skin?
She was staring down at him. Waiting impatiently, and for good reason.
He swallowed and re-focused himself. “That’s all you can say after a millennium apart?”
“It was hardly that long. And forgive my disappointment,” Ezer said, and placed her hands on her hips, “after receiving your handwritten threats. And I amnoteasily appeased by gifts.”
Gods be damned.
The gifts had been a mistake. But...he’d seen the way she looked at the books the other times they’d met in the library. He saw how she gazed at them like they were old, trusted friends.
“Then I suppose I’ll take the books back,” he said, biting back a smile.
She gasped. “You wouldn’tdare.”
He chuckled at that, his laughter light...joy rising in his chest. Shelikedto play games, this Minder.
She liked to spar with her words every bit as much as he did.
