Felix almost laughed at the absurdity of it.
“Take this, just in case.” she handed it to August. “I’ll meet you in the market square in one hour.”
August attached the sheath to his trousers and agreed.
“If you aren’t there, I’m sending every last guard to track you down.”
She said it to August, but Felix knew the threat was meant for him.
After the door closed behind her, he rounded on Felix, the anger radiating off him in waves.
“You had no right to do that.”
“I only—”
“Don’t,” August cut him off, stepping in close. “It’s not your place to force me into things like this.”
The words—so similar to the ones Sarah had spat at him—hit with enough force to knock him back a step.
You’d do well to remember your place.
Perhaps August wasn’t so different from the rest of them after all.
“I’m terribly sorry,Mo Aesling.” Felix dipped into a bow, bitter eyes locked on August’s from beneath his lashes. “I forgot my place. Next time, I’ll ask your permission before I speak.”
The response seemed to shake August free from his anger. He rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on, you know that’s not what I meant.”
Marlow scoffed from the booth.
Felix straightened, his thoughts a maelstrom inside his head. “I think for the first time since I met you, you saidexactlywhat you meant.”
August may not have thought he fit in with his family, but he was an Ellingwood through and through. He and Sarah andevery other noble in this godsforsaken city, they all assumed that just because they had their titles, they were better than him, and he was so sick of having to pretend they were.
Magic buzzed beneath his skin.
He closed his eyes, trying to stop himself from slipping, from losing control, but the images he found behind his eyelids only dragged him deeper.
His best friend’s swaying corpse. The blackened skin of his own leg.
He bit his cheek until he tasted blood, then forced his eyes open again.
“Felix,” August said softly, desperation in his voice. “I’m an idiot. You already know that. I say things without thinking. I’m a big, dumb…” He gestured with his hands, searching for the right word. “I don’t know. What’s something really stupid?”
Felix glared. “You.”
Marlow snorted a laugh.
“Exactly,” August said. “That was dreadful and tactless, and I’m so sorry.”
The apology seemed sincere, and it was more than he’d ever gotten from one of them before.
“Never speak to me like that again,” Felix growled.
August nodded, and Felix relished the nervous twitch of his lips.
The aesling was afraid of him.
Alright, that’s enough now.
