Her eyes burned into me when I replied, “Lie about what?”
“About what she is to you? This whole situation reeks of strangeness. It’s out of your character, and I don’t like it.”
She suspects,I couldn’t help but worry.
I smirked. “You don’t have to like it.”
Lydrasa harrumphed, rolling her eyes.
“I would never lie to you,” I lied, purring. “Don’t you believe me?”
“No,” she deadpanned.
“Good.”
Then I left House Azola.
CHAPTER 17
ERINA
Kaldur never came to my room that night even though I waited into the early hours.
Nor did he come to me the next morning. When I went to go search for him, I ran into Maudoric inspecting one of the rooms in the South Wing. She told me she hadn’t seen him, studying the dark circles under my eyes and the clothes I’d been wearing yesterday. There was a distance in her that hadn’t been there before. A polite aloofness, usually reserved for Kaldur’s guests when they came to the keep. I almost preferred it when she was berating me.
I went about my day even though his absence struck me as odd. Had he…had he not come back to the keep last night? And if not, where had he been?
I frowned, allowing myself to imagine it for just a moment. Kaldur with another female, perhaps even Lydrasa again. Unfortunately I had an exact image in my mind of what they would look like making love together.
“Enough,” I whispered to myself, feeling a pinching ache of jealousy and hurt, abruptly deciding to distract myself in the village today.
One of my favorite pastimes was sitting in the Southern village square on my days off and watching all the people that passed. Not only nobles and their companions, but farmers, craftsmen, merchants, travelers, soldiers, keepers. It would be a perfect distraction, I decided. A rush of inspiration always hit me for my stories after afternoons like those, and I was so close to finishing the final part of Kavelyn’s book.
After changing into fresh clothes and brushing through my hair, I gathered my satchel, patted my notebook into place, and made sure I had credits if I got hungry. Then I set off.
On my way out of the keep’s door, I spied Velle, wiping down one section of the stair’s banister in the atrium. I sucked in a small breath of surprise. She eyed me, pressing her lips together. Her hair was held back by her familiar headband, her sleeves rolled up, a bucket of sudsy water at her feet.
“Hi,” I offered, a small, hesitant smile crossing my features. “I?—”
She turned her back.
A sting of hurt reverberated through me, and I bit back a sigh. I’d tried to speak to her a couple days prior, and I’d gotten the cold shoulder then too. She hadn’t softened toward me, and truthfully I didn’t know if she ever would. Our realities were different now.
It made me sad—the potential loss of a friend. They were hard to come by as I got older.
Velle never turned back to me, her braid swaying as she scrubbed the white smooth stone, and I felt a little guilty, slinking out the door in broad daylight while she was working. I stood on the front steps, eyeing the grand entrance, the sweeping stone staircase which rippled out from me, leading to a grand circular fountain. Starwood blooms made a ring around it.
Beyond that was the path to the village down the main road, and I took off on foot.
It didn’t take me long to reach the main square, though I’dtaken my time meandering down the quiet path. It was a cool day, but I’d dressed warmly. I had a craving for a spiced tea, laden with sweet cream, and a fresh steam cake, and I went to a nearby shop, knowing they sold both.
Once, I never would’ve purchased something so frivolous and silly for myself. After Wrezaan’s, I had hoarded every credit I could. Even when I worked for Syndras, I kept a tight buckle on my credits. I’ve given a lot of my savings to Luc in Laras, knowing that he poured most of his into his merchant shop, which he still ran to this day.
It was only after coming to work for Kaldur, when I suddenly had a small padding of savings at my disposal, did I start to buy things for myself. A treat here and there. A new dress, but only if it was discounted at the shop because no one else would buy it. And yet to me, it seemed like a luxury.
The only thing I ever splurged on were notebooks and a steady supply of pencils. The special kind with highly pigmented charcoal that didn’t crumble even with a heavy hand.
I didn’t come into the village often, but now I made it a point to buy myself a small treat or a meal. I regretted the first time I’d tried the spiced tea…because I knew I wouldn’t be able to live without it. The aroma alone was enough to make my mouth water.
