Yes. No.I said nothing. I glared at the pet name he had no right to give me, but even that show of emotion made the light in his eyes brighter and the smirk on his face deepen.
I supposed I was to find out.It would be a long few days.
* * *
Emmerick galloped away that afternoon,eager to return as quickly as possible, leaving Fenris and me alone. I stared wordlessly at the venison stew in the wooden bowl in front of me.
“So talkative.” His voice was light and jovial.
My shoulders shrugged. “I’m not very used to being in the company of others.”
He’d pulled a stool over to sit at the table with me and set down his own bowl. That infuriating smirk returned as he kicked his feet out with unnerving nonchalance.
“Well, you see, it’s been about four hundred years—give or take—since I’ve courted a woman—”
“You arenotcourting me,” I sharply corrected him.
“All the same.” His brow quirked upward. “I’m not sure how to converse with you without your participation.”
I held the bowl up off the table for a moment. “It’s rude to talk and chew,” I noted.
He huffed a laugh but our meal went on in silence.
When our bowls were dry, he moved to gather mine, and in doing so, his hand skimmed over the top of mine. The heat of his touch startled me, but it was gone just as quickly, leaving me disappointed in a confusing way.
“I wouldn’t know how to help you carry a conversation if I tried,” I admitted.
“But will you try?” He’d risen to put the bowls in a wash basin and now leaned against a shelf, looking down at me.
I nodded. “That was the agreement, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, but will you do sowillingly?”
He seemed to be fishing for an answer I couldn’t think clearly enough to deliver. So I simply said, “I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Will you answer every question with a question then?”
“Will you keep asking useless questions?”
He chuckled, a devastating smile flashing across his face before he turned to wash the bowls. The silence burned between us again—somehow, his fight for conversation had let silence feel like abstinence from our agreement.Peace Prevail.He’d somehow won because Iwantedto talk to him. I just had no idea where to start.
“Do you regret it…what you did to be exiled here?”
He’d be sorely disappointed if he expected sparkling conversation skills. Fenris’ back stiffened at my question.
“Yes.”
It was nearly a whisper, and he turned back toward the wash basin. Apparently, I had a knack for striking nerves.
“Then I won’t pry again into what it was. But can you make me one promise?”
I’d piqued his interest enough that he looked at me over his shoulder with a reluctant nod.
“That when you’re ready, you’ll tell me about who you were before?”
He smiled weakly. “I’d like that.” He turned around and leaned back against the basin. “You’d want to know that?”
I nodded.
