A dark figure stood in the middle of the cobblestone street, mists drifting around his feet. Broad-shouldered, he dwarfed the townsfolk who walked around him. The man took a step towards her, and the light from the streetlamp caught his face.
It had only taken two and a half months.
Caspian had found her.
Chapter 46
Caspian’s Heart
Elizabeth took a step forward, knowing that running was futile. She had been so careful, and he had found her anyway.
Caspian prowled towards her. His flared nostrils were the only indication that he was angry.
“Why hello, Elizabeth. Fancy seeing you here,” he growled.
“Hello, Caspian.”
“It’s been a while.”
“Yes, it has.”
“You’ve been a very hard woman to find.”
She clenched her jaw.
He tilted his head, his expression unreadable. “Let me take you for dinner in the city?”
She blinked. Of all the things he could have said, that was the last thing she expected.
He stood close to her, so close she could smell him. She loosed a shaky breath. Why was he asking to take her for dinner, instead of dragging her back to his castle?
She searched his eyes. “To what end?”
His gaze softened. “Please.”
She had never heard him utter that word once. “Alright.”
They wandered the city side by side till they arrived at a lavish restaurant of dark stone with ivy clinging to the walls. Bronze frames held oil paintings, and the tables were set with flickering candles and expensive-looking crystal goblets.
Looking around self-consciously, Elizabeth tugged her cloak around herself to hide her plain cotton dress.
Caspian snapped his fingers at a serving woman, demanding they be given a place by the window, where they could see the city street with rain-slicked cobblestones.
The serving woman ushered them to the table in question, and Caspian insisted on pulling out her chair. As she smoothed her skirts under her and sat down, she glanced up curiously, but his expression was wooden.
Caspian sat across from her and crossed his arms, looking away from her as though he still didn’t know what to say.
The serving woman came back, filled their goblets with wine, then left and returned to place a basket of bread on the table. The aroma of fresh bread wrapped around her, giving her a small comfort. Caspian scowled across from her. “Eat.”
Tentatively, she picked up a bun. It was still warm from the oven. Elizabeth felt strange being out in the city with him, sharing a goblet of wine at a restaurant like they were two normal people. Like he wasn’t a demon that drank blood, and she wasn’t his human mistress who had been hiding from him for the past few months.
After her day of practicing magic, her mother would have scolded her for the way she tore into the bread, nearly emptying the bowl. To his credit, Caspian said nothing and only raised a hand to ask the serving woman for more bread.
She smiled at him gratefully, and he only blinked in answer.
The candlelight flickered across his face, and the rain came down harder outside, sluicing down the windowpane in fat drops.
Finally, Caspian spoke. “You look well.”
