I set down the bowl I’m holding. “Really? I missed him?” She looks over at me with interest. “I was going to demand he take me with him today. Where did he go? Maybe I can catch up to him.”
“He left hours ago, and you can’t go with him to where he’sgoing today.”
“Why not?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “You just can’t.”
I study her, but she doesn’t say anything else. “All right. I guess I’ll move on to my other plan then.”
“Which is?”
I grin. “Teaching Auri how to defend herself.”
“I really don’t think that’s a good idea,” Elowen says with a worried frown.
“It is,” I argue. “For a lot of reasons. But for right now, it’s a way for her to release some anger and tension.”
“I don’t know. If Rauk finds out...”
“He won’t find out.” I cross my arms and level a look at her. “Right?”
Her lips tighten. “All right. Fine.”
I can’t help my smile. “Perfect. Thanks. Now, let’s get Auri to come eat breakfast so we can get to work.” When I get to her room, she’s in a little better mood than yesterday. “Morning, Auri. You hungry?”
“Yes.”
“All right. Let's go eat, so we can get to the fun stuff.”
She fixes those dark eyes on me. “Fun stuff?”
I rub my hands together. “Yes. Let’s get to it.”
I walk behind her and open the door for her when she needs, but other than that, she doesn’t really need me. As soon as she’s in the kitchen, I head back to Rauk’s room to get the weapons I need from his stash. When I try to open his door and find it locked, I shake my head. “That’s not going to keep me out,Rauk,” I mutter as I use my two daggers to pick the lock. It goes pretty smoothly, and soon I’m opening the hidden door to his weapons room. I take my time studying the weapons again. It doesn’t escape my notice that his halberd is missing, along with several other weapons. I absently wonder if he’s training, or if he simply was worried that I’d touch them again. That thought makes me laugh. If he’s training though, I should really ask him about getting in on it. I haven’t trained for a little while, and I don’t want to lose what I worked so hard for. I finish choosing a few weapons for Auri to try. Then with weapons in hand, I head to the kitchen. “Are you done eating?” I ask, as I push open the door.
Auri takes in the weapons in my hand but doesn’t react to them. Elowen, on the other hand does. “What are you doing?”
“Just some training,” I reply easily.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she repeats herself from earlier.
“I’ll make sure she doesn’t get hurt.” Not wanting Elowen to talk Auri out of it, I stand and wait for her. “You done?” She nods, and I walk towards the door. “Let’s go then.” As soon as we’re out of the kitchen, I face Auri. “Does your brother have a place where he practices with these?”
“He does.”
“Good. Where is it?”
She lifts her chin. “In the basement.”
“Hmm. Well, that won’t work.” I turn in a circle, trying to think through where we could practice with weapons and not ruin anything. “I’ve got an idea. Follow me.” I walk over to thedoor we went out yesterday. I push the button, disengaging the locks, and hold the door so she can wheel her chair out. “All right. We'll make this work.”
“There are stairs,” Auri points out.
“Yes, there are.” I look at her and try to think through the best way to do this. “I’ve got a plan. Give me a minute.” I open the heavy door once again. “Elowen.” She appears a few moments later. “Will you help me?”
Her lips tighten, and I know she doesn’t want any part in this. “Look, if Rauk ever finds out, I won’t dime you in.”
“He will find out,” she says in return.
