“Making nails?”
“Oh. No. Rather quick, actually.” I cut him a narrow glance, then offer half a smile as I mimic his faint accent. “Want to learn?”
My father must have been gone for a while, because the flames in the forge have cooled to nothing. I strike a match to light it, very aware of the way the shadows skip along the walls of the workshop, turning Tycho’s hair to gold and making his weapons gleam. I was mostly teasing with my offer, but now he’s leaning against the table, waiting, while I’m sitting on a stool, fidgeting with my tools.
Well—I waspartlyteasing.
I inwardly sigh. If I’m being honest with myself, I wasn’t teasing at all.
I glance over. “I’m sure you have duties you should be attending to.”
He winces a little. “I’ll return to the Crystal City by tonight. I carry nothing of urgency this time.” He pauses. “I’m sure news hasn’t made it to Briarlock, but the queen intends to host a competition with Emberfall.”
I nod without thinking. “I’ve heard a bit about that.”
His eyebrows go up. “Really. Then wordhasspread quickly.”
I almost freeze. I forgot that I heard about the Royal Challenge from Lady Karyl.
Tycho and I spent an hour in the woods shooting arrows, and somehow I forgot that he’s an attendant to the king and queen, and I’m a poor blacksmith holding a note of treason in his pocket.
I’m such afool.
I swallow, then shrug and poke at the forge. “We see a lot of lost horseshoes and broken carriages this time of year. Travelers always want to talk.”
“I’m sure.” He says this lightly, without a hint of suspicion. I feel guilty anyway.
The forge has begun to glow, but it’s nowhere near red enough to heat iron, so I keep my eyes focused ahead and wish I had somethingto say. He’s quiet, too, but I can feel the weight of his gaze, and I’m suddenly self-conscious.
“I sense I’ve made you uncomfortable again,” he says.
“Oh,now?” I say. “Not when you were whacking me with an arrow?”
“Yes,” he says. “Now.”
I’m not sure what to say.
He’s studying me. “Is it the magic?”
I look up in surprise. “What? No.”
“Because it clearly unsettled your friend.”
I frown. “Callyn’s family has a bad history with magic.”
“And you?”
I shake my head. Maybe I’m being disloyal to Callyn, but it’s not the magic.
He frowns. “Do I make you nervous, Jax?”
Yes.For a thousand different reasons. But I don’t say that.
He kicks at a stool near me, beside the forge, and says, “May I sit?”
My heart will never settle. “Sure.”
He drops to sit beside me. “I spoke true earlier. When I came up the lane with Callyn’s apple tarts, I really was just going to apologize and leave the food.” He shrugs a little. “But … but then I saw your father.”
