“Excuse me?” I frowned at him as I pulled on my boots. “I thought you wanted me to wear these clothes?”
“I know that you're trying to seduce me, Shane. Stop it.”
“I'm trying to seduce you bygetting dressed?” I gave him a baffled look.
“By the way you're—never mind, just hurry up.”
I blinked at Tae, my confusion slipping into hope. I hadn't been trying to be sexy at all, but he thought I was. Which meant that he still wanted me. Enough so that it made him angry. Good. Angry was better than indifferent.
I stuffed the clothes I'd been wearing into the satchel and slung it over my shoulder before I walked out, striding past him without even a side-glance. I heard him make a frustrated sound, then start following me.
“I have to cut the lesson short today, Avanla.” I hugged my teacher goodbye. “I've been summoned to dinner with the King.”
Tae started walking down the hall, not bothering to wait for me.
“Oh, all right.” She pulled me into another hug to whisper in my ear, “Mention hulrine potion to the Princess and see how she reacts.”
I nodded to her, though I had no idea how I'd bring that up in conversation.
“Perhaps imply that there's a record of the purchase, and we've found it,” Avanla whispered as she stepped away. “Scholars excel at research.”
“Thanks, Ava!” I kissed her cheek. “Leave it to you to come up with a plan on the fly.”
“I work best under pressure.” She winked at me. “Speaking of flying; fly high and strike hard, my sweet boy. No mercy tonight; they deserve to go down in flames for what they did to you.”
“No mercy,” I agreed, then strode after Tae.
I didn't rush even though I lost sight of him. It wasn't as if Taeven were going to leave me there, not after coming specifically to fetch me. Sure enough, I found him waiting in his carriage at the foot of the Academy stairs, the door open expectantly. I got inside and, for the first time ever, sat across from instead of beside him. I saw the skin around his eyes twitch just before he knocked on the carriage wall to let the driver know we were ready.
“You're doing well with your lessons, or so I've heard,” Tae noted crisply.
“Are you blind?” I shot back. “You were watching me hold Master Rundel aloft, weren't you?”
“And I saw you slam him into the ceiling.”
“Because I was surprised to see you.”
Tae stared at me, his mouth tight. I looked away.
“Have you remembered anything?” he whispered.
Holy shit.I went still. Should I tell him the truth? I couldn't lie to him, but I didn't want to hear him call me a liar again. Then again, lying so I wouldn't be called a liar was a special kind of irony, wasn't it?
I looked Taeven in the eyes and told him the truth, “I remember it all. I've remembered since the day after it happened.”
“What?!” Taeven leaned forward furiously. “And you didn't tell me?” Then his face fell. “Because you remember fucking him, don't you?”
That question sent me into such a rage, that I had to take a few deep breaths to calm myself. Tae leaned back, his eyes widening as he beheld my fury.
“No, I absolutely did not fuck him,” I said in a low, dangerous tone. “I did nothing sexual with Thalsar at all.”
Taeven just stared at me.
I turned my head to stare out the window. I knew it. I knew that he wouldn't believe me. Not without hard evidence.
“And yet you didn't declare your innocence until now?” he finally asked.
“I declared my innocence that very day!” I snapped. Then I took another deep breath and went calm again. “You know what, Tae? That is all I'm going to say about it to you. I refuse to beg you to believe me. I told you the truth and that should be enough. Now you have to decide whether to believe me or not. Take some time. Think it over.” I looked back out the window. “Let me know when you've made a decision.”
