Mina twisted around, placing her drink on the ground. “Why wouldn’t you want to enter?”
“It’s been years. I’m out of practice.”
She recognized my excuse as exactly what it was. She lowered her voice. “Competing in the games would be a great way to make people question their opinions of you.”
She was right, but it was hard to work up any enthusiasm. Competing would draw attention toward me. For years now, attention had been the last thing I wanted. Even before Powell, I had never sought attention, though I hadn’t shied away from it.
I glanced around. I—we—were already attracting attention. A relationship between Mina and me might have nothing to do with blacksmithing, but it didn’t fit neatly into the villagers’ impression of me. It was enough to cause cracks in their certainty about my worth. I wanted to drag them all to the forge and show them that I was a skilled smith, but a direct confrontation wasn’t the way to go.
Mina licked her lips, and I focused once more on her. Only her. The hand not holding mine rested on my thigh, as if she needed the support to stay balanced as she turned back to speak with me. Her voice dropped even lower. “Weight-throw sounds like a very muscle-dependent game. You did say I could make use of your muscles however I wished.”
“Mina!” Surprise made me say her name at a much louder volume than she had used. I flushed as everyone looked my way.
Mina turned back around, patting my thigh as she did so. “Sorry, Cole. Alan decided he is going to compete.”
Cole raised an eyebrow. “Did he now?”
I cleared my throat. “I did.”
???
The next hourpassed more comfortably than I expected. Mina tried to steer the conversation so that I would have openings to talk, but didn’t seem surprised when I rarely engaged. Cole kept giving mestrange looks, but Gemma was too polite to do anything other than accept my presence. Then Hannah and Phillip left to spend some time alone, and I almost relaxed.
That, of course, was the moment Cole addressed me directly. “Alan, why don’t we go gather some food from the stalls while the ladies enjoy the opportunity to chat without us around?”
Gemma kissed his cheek and slid off his lap. “Thank you.”
I pressed a kiss to the curve of Mina’s neck. “Any requests?”
“A slice of Mistress Hervor’s pie.”
“If I can manage to get a slice of her pie, Cole will devour it before we get back.”
Mina laughed. “Then get me whatever the tastiest thing is that will last the journey.”
I stood up, her happiness enough to carry me well into the crowd without worrying about what people were whispering when they noticed me. Then Cole pulled me in the opposite direction from the food stalls.
When we reached a relatively empty area, he spun around to face me, crossing his arms in front of himself. “What in Telika's hell is going on, Alan?”
“What do you mean?” I asked cautiously.
“I mean, you’ve barely spoken to me or Jeff for years, let alone come to a festival day, yet now you are here and cozy with Mina? How do you even know her?”
I ignored his question about Mina and mirrored his stance. “Am I the one who stopped speaking to you? Or did you stop speaking to me?”
“You stopped speaking to us. Jeff and I knew you needed some time and space after your mother died, but then—” Cole stopped, and I could see him recalling that time and realizing that I wasn’t the one who had severed our friendship. He tried again, less certain. “You were grieving, and then it was so embarrassing to associate with you, because you were such a disappointment...”
“In what way?” I knew the echoes of magic still held Cole in thrall, but I couldn’t stop my anger. “Name one way I was a disappointment, Cole.”
“You were a disappointment as a smith. Everyone knows you only made journeyman status because...” His eyes narrowed. “You couldn’t even make...”
I waited. Without the charm, my old friend noticed that his words made no sense. Would he realize that his emotions didn’t either?
He uncrossed his arms and rubbed his face with one hand. “You can make just about anything. I still carry the throwing dagger you made me. The workmanship is excellent.”
“Not as good as what I can make these days.”
Cole huffed. “You don’t make anything these days.”
