The male said nothing.
“I want it back,” she continued.
He blinked once, studying her in a way that made her want to stab him.
Again.
“No,” he finally said.
The word was so…simple. Spoken from a male who was used to being obeyed.
“No,” she repeated, her head tilting to the side.
His lips twitched in the smallest of smirks as he waited for her to make the next move.
“The arrow is mine. You have it. I demand you return it,” she insisted, feeling her ashes vibrate around her.
“An arrow that you tried to kill me with.”
Tried to…
“You’d know if I was trying to kill you,” she scoffed.
A perfect brow arched again in clear amusement at her, the little female speaking to a king.
That made her want to stab him even more.
“And how, pray tell, would I know? I assumed having an arrow shot at me was a pretty telling sign,” he drawled.
“If I were trying to kill you, you’d be dead,” she retorted just as simply as he’d dismissed her request.
“Is that why you stabbed me?”
“That was an accident.”
“You accidentally stabbed me?”
“Yes. It’s rare. Usually when I stab someone, it’s on purpose.”
A huff of laughter came from him, his hand dropping to the armrest. “What is your name?”
She clenched her fists tighter as she held his stare, fingers itching to reach for her blade.
His fingers drummed once on the chair. “I didn’t realize that was such a difficult question.”
“Ididstab you,” she snapped. “Providing my name doesn’t seem like a wise idea at the moment.”
“I think the actual stabbing was the poor idea,” he replied, getting to his feet.
Kailia lurched back. “What are you doing?”
He paused, both brows rising this time as he slowly extended a hand. “I was going to take you back to my castle.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s where your arrow is. If you want it back, you’ll need to come collect it.”
Pushing her braid back over her shoulder, she pursed her lips and eyed his outstretched hand. She didn’t realize her fingers were tracing the hilt of her dagger until his eyes dipped to the movement. She froze because normal people didn’t constantly feel the need to be caressing pointy objects, and she was supposed to be blending in.
