At least Cassian had spoken with her this evening, which set aside some concern that she had done something wrong. She had also been surprised when he took the vacant chair at the end of the settee where she sat. Then again, there were no other chairs available so perhaps he would have sat elsewhere had it been possible.
Goodness, she had fallen into his lap. She certainly would not have done so without the push from Petra and now wondered if her friend had done it on purpose. She had teased her about Cassian, not that Samantha had admitted anything, which could be the only explanation for her actions. Otherwise, all she had to do was sit in the chair first, which she was likely to do anyway, and Samantha would have paid some form of forfeit.
Oh, she had wanted to kiss him…
She sighed again.
It was clear that Cassian only saw her on the friendliest of terms, maybe no different from one of his cousins, which meant that she had no hope of a kiss from him ever. If he had developed even the slightest interest or affection for more, he would not have avoided her today.
Except, he hadn’t. At least not after they finally gathered in the drawing room. Still, it wasn’t the same as the night before when he had followed her out of the church because of concern, or understood when she explained why she did not like to pass too close to Castle Keyvnor and was in the group that took the longer route to avoid the troublesome ghosts. They had talked and laughed. Today, or yesterday as it were, she might as well have been invisible.
He had also appeared not necessarily unhappy, but not in a pleasant mood either because when he entered the dining room at the beginning of the day, his face had been impassive and there was no light in his grey eyes.
Cassian was the most confusing man she had ever met and she had to wonder if this was how everyone who didn’t have the gift of hearing a soul’s music or seeing their aura felt like—always guessing to what a person was thinking or feeling or if they were even telling the truth. If so, living without such must be quite exhausting.
When the terrace door opened, Samantha almost stepped into the shadows because she couldn’t imagine who would be out so early and then realized that she had nothing to fear from anyone inside and waited to see who the long shadow belonged to.
“Have you come to watch the sunrise?” She asked Cassian, who took a step back as if startled.
She supposed she may have been a surprise, though he should have guessed that she’d want to wait for the sun instead of slumber for only about an hour then come back out.
“No, I was leaving,” he answered.
Where could he possibly want or need to go at this hour? Oh, she wanted to know but what if it was a mistress who waited on him. Given that he always entered in the morning from outside instead of coming down the stairs, she could only assume that he slept there.
“You seem rather perplexed,” he said after a moment.
“Yes, well, I suppose. I find it odd that you would need to be anywhere at this time, but it is also none of my concern.”
Cassian chuckled. “I am not going anywhere but home to sleep.”
Home? “I know that you once lived with the Cardwells as you were raised there and assumed that since they had chambers here, so did you.”
“My home is over there.” He pointed to the Sacred Grove. “I live in a cottage situated at the very end, above where I took you to see the dolphins.”
She had no idea. Then again, why would anyone tell her and it wasn’t a question she would think to ask because she had simply assumed.
“That is why the Dryads allow you to come and go, though I am surprised that they allowed you to live there to begin with since they prefer no men in the grove.”
“That is a story for another day,” he chuckled right before he yawned.
Oh, she did hope that he would tell her one day. Yes, she could ask anyone residing at Nightshade Manor, but she wanted Cassian to tell her. She wanted him to want to take the time to tell her.
“Well then, I will bid you goodnight, or good morning.”
He pulled out a timepiece and stepped closer to the house so that he could see it by lamplight.
“What time is the sunrise?”
“Near seven thirty,” she answered.
“Well, as it nears that time, I do believe I will wait with you.” Cassian tucked his timepiece away and joined her, much to her happiness and the two fell into a comfortable silence as they made their way through the Witches’ Garden and to the bench that faced east just as the day began to lighten, making way for the reds, golds and oranges blanketing the horizon and bringing with it hope and the promise in a new day.
“That was truly lovely,” Samantha whispered because she did not want to disturb the peace.
“It was,” Cassian agreed quietly.
It was also time for them both to find sleep.
