“Oh!” I huffed for it. “S-Stop traveling into every terrible crevice you can fit your head into, you snake! Gentleman, you say, but opposite, you act. I am not as corrupt as you, Mr. Evergreen. I am a?—”
“A lady? Yes, yes. And my, it shows, doesn’t it?” He glanced over my shoulder and through the door. “Pray tell,LadyEisson,who might I thank for agitating you like this?” His gaze skirted over me once before he sarcastically offered me his hand and promptly ushered me toward the other steed. “Was it Miss Jocelyn? No, she wouldn’t hurt a fly. Perhaps it was the ever-cheerful Ser Elías? Or maybe,” he shrugged. “Maybe you just want to?—”
“Iwantto ride Ice,” I said. “She’smine.”
“Tell you what…” Cyrus’s eyes narrowed. “Ride Tails now, and?—”
“I want?—“
“Andifyou allow yourself to smile by the time we get to the farm, I’ll concede her willingly. On my honor.”
“…You mock me,” I hissed. “What honor?”
“You’re rather sharp today, aren’t you?” he asked. “And here I thought I was the Blade.”
“You’remockingme,” I said.
“No. That’s not what’s happening here,” he explained. “I’m bartering. Vastly different.”
He went to help me onto the stallion, but I was too angry and too proud to allow or want his assistance. His hand lingered in my shadow for a moment after I had scaled Tails and before he got onto Ice.
“Right. Where to, love?” he asked.
Isaac was, as usual, peaceful beneath her rider. She was not at all the rioting animal that he kept trying to convince me that she was. She was well-mannered and did most of what he asked her to do, which was more than other horses might agree to on routine. That gave us the ability to trade mindless questions back and forth. Each held no real destination, nor did they matter beyond filling the silence, but their existence quelled part of the worry I carried for Mr. Evergreen…for our dynamic. I hadaccused him of being my only companion and, after I’d suspected that he’d wanted to kiss me, insulted him. Hewantedto kiss me, though. Or hehadwanted to. I was pretty certain that I was certain, but I had also denied the act.I had denied him. Because of that, I could not be sure if he felt solely obligated tojoin me at risk of my wrath, or if he had ultimately decided that traveling together was his only means of entertainment.
I peered at him as we rode; I inspected his every answer and twisted feature in an attempt to determine if he was tense or annoyed, and I thought about the way we’d parted before he’d left for his hunt.
“I’ve got one, then,” he said, near-startling me from the drift of what his mouth might feel like.
I tsked. “You know it’smyturn, correct?” I waved it off. “Isn’t it?”
“Is it?” he asked.
I wasn’t sure.
“It’s a good one,” he added. “I think you’ll like it.”
“...Fine. Go on. I shall allow you to break the rules this once if you believe I’ll like it.”
“Oh, I do think you like breaking rules,” he muttered.
“What?”
“What is your most prized possession?” he asked.
“My most prized possession?” I checked. “That’s a good question to you? What in the world does that even mean?”
“Come,” he insisted. “Don’t be shynow,you’ve already told me the color of your shift.”
“You can see the sleeve,” I reminded him, holding up my arm. “Besides, a man like you could guess.”
That made him laugh. “The color of your shift? You flatterer. Or perhaps you meant your favorite item? I’m afraid either gives me too much power here. I can guess neither.”
“Now you’ve changed the question,” I said. “Most prized and favorite are different things.”
“Princess.”
I didn’t give another response.
