Wiping the blood from the boy's face, I gently touched his nose, checking to make sure it wasn't broken. “Are you okay?"
The relief came swiftly when it was just slightly swollen, and I moved my attention to his arm as he nodded. "Thank you, Miss."
I carefully felt around, my eyes narrowing at his wince, not missing the slight tremble of his words. Sitting back on my heels, his dark eyes were wide and glimmering with unshed tears.
"I don't believe it's broken, merely sprained, but it's best to go to a Healer tonight and have it taken care of." My explanation was quiet, strained with emotion that I tried to contain.
His lower lip quivered, eyes downcast. "The Master Healers don't take Solerian convert patients for another two days, Miss."
My head snapped to the side, intensity burning in my question. “The Healers have set days that converts can visit them?" I didn't wait fora response before I turned back and asked, "Do you deliver messages beyond the palace walls?" At his nod, I pulled a small piece of paper and a pencil from his satchel. Not wanting to cause him any more trouble, I kept the message simple, in case his mail was checked before going out.
I miss you. I am doing well. I hope you are well. There is something we must discuss when I visit.
S
Folding it, I tucked it into his pocket and said, “Take this message for me tomorrow and while you are there, my aunt will call for a Master Healer."
I gave him instructions on how to reach the shop, Merle's name, and made him repeat it back twice to make sure he remembered before I let him go. He thanked me before he left, scurrying into the servants entrance, his arm still cradled against his chest.
I kept my back to the Kinslayer, my eyes pinned to the doorway the child had disappeared into. Honestly, I hoped if I didn't turn he would simply get bored and stalk away, but I was never truly that lucky. He had been quiet throughout that entire exchange, perhaps a record seeing as he never seemed to shut up any other time I had been around him. No sharp words or low blows came from his lips tonight, at least not yet.
Arms crossing over my chest, guarded and untrusting, I finally faced him. He stared back, boring into me as if he were trying to splay me open and read my soul, to reveal the secrets I kept buried within.
I fought the urge to squirm beneath the scrutiny.
He made to speak, but I beat him to it.
"I believe there was a misunderstanding last night," I started and his mouth immediately shut. The last thing I thought I’d be doing tonight was apologizing tohim."I am sorry if you thought my reaction to being seen with you was becauseyou're Luanthian—”
"I'm not Luan—”
My voice raised, cutting over his objection. "Because you're aSolerianconvert," I corrected before continuing, "I do not care what you once were or what you are now. That is not why I dislike you."
He raised a brow at that. "I believe this is the strangest apology I've ever heard." His drawling condescension had my blood boiling as he took a few lazy steps forward, his head tilting slyly to the side when he got close. “Tell me, little menace—why do you dislike me, then?"
I was determined not to be intimidated by this man. I had spent my life cowering in the shadows out of fear, out of self preservation. I was tired.
Goddess, I was so tired and there was something so infuriating about him. This man who had turned his back on his own people and served the Kingdom that had cast them out. But was I not doing the same? Was that why I disliked him so much, because I saw everything I hated about myself reflected in him?
Was a bystander to terrible deeds any better than the one whose hands committed them?
"I dislike you because you are an arrogant, self-centered, ill-tempered man." Each word was punctuated with a sharp stab of my finger to his chest, my cheeks reddening with ire. "I dislike you because if there's one thing I can't stand, it's a coward.”
A chilling, vicious smile tugged at his lips then, his eyes anything but kind. He stepped closer, gripping my wrist, my finger still stabbing into his chest. He leaned down, so closely that if I moved I was sure his lips would brush against the tip of my ear. His breath fluttered strands of my hair, every muscle in my body locking.
"Call me a coward again, little menace," he whispered so quietly, the words a deadly caress that had my heart beating a wild rhythm. “And I'llflay the skin from your bones and toss you in the woods for all the little creatures to feast upon, do you understand?"
The irony wasn’t lost upon me. The threat was so similar to the one I had dealt in the tavern.
"You don't scare me." We both knew it was a lie. I was sure he could hear the pounding in my chest. The way my heart constricted as fear slithered through my bones.
"I should." He smirked, stepping back.
My nerves were on edge as he turned his back to me, hands sliding in his pockets as he made his way towards the barracks, without even a glance in my direction.
“The Prince will call upon you tomorrow for your decision–be ready.”
Cursing beneath my breath, I flipped the most unladylike gesture I could think of at his retreating back.
