After walking the no-name brunette back to her inn on the other side of Belray, I said goodnight at the door. She offered me a few choice words that felt fitting.“Dallying asshole”had been my favorite.
I walked back to the pub, thinking of a dark-haired enchantress that I could not shake—that hungry look beneath the veil of her lashes before she kissed me, her full lips sipping wine as she glared at me over the glass. I’d take her passion and her fury and everything between them.
‘Dallying asshole’—indeed.
Emmerick sat alone at the bar, sipping ale and chatting up the barkeep. I approached him and gripped one of his obnoxiously broad shoulders—the boy was built like a giant. Before I had a chance to speak, he turned.
“She said she felt like a bath. Something about a headache.” He raised his eyebrows. “You were going to ask me where she was, right?”
I gripped the boy’s shoulder even tighter before releasing him. “You’re sharper than you look. Most brutes I know are dumber than you.”
“Most immortals that I know are taller than you.”
I grunted a laugh at his jab. “Fair.”
I couldn’t deny him some satisfaction in figuring out my buttons. The boy was insufferable, and yet I couldn’t help liking him. Just an ounce. Just because Asterie seemed to.
“And, speaking of intelligence, aren’t immortals supposed to be wise from theiryearsof experience?” Emmerick taunted.
I let my forearms rest on the bar, waiting for his next blow. “Get on with it, boyKnight.”
He shot me an unaffected smirk. “Flaunting pretty women on your arm while trying to win someone else over seems counterproductive. She left upset before she ate anything.”
Fuck.I nodded slowly, finally fully comprehending what a prick I had been. The Commander hunched over the bar—his eyes glassy.
“If I could hold the woman I love for even aminute.” Emmerick took another chug before offering me a seat next to him. “I wouldn’t be so stupid as to pull a stunt like that—you half-wit.”
More name-calling.“No one said a thing about love. We’ve known each other a few weeks.” I reasoned that was the right answer, though none of my thoughts concerning Asterie felt casual either.
The Commander was right about one thing, though. I’d gone too far in making Asterie jealous and playing stupid games. She’d been locked away by the Sisterhood without ever experiencing the games of selfish, stupid men like me. It left an ugly feeling in my gut that I’d hurt her.
Asterie represented all the things that made my blood boil in anger.Oppression. Fanaticism.Yet my blood heated in her presence in unwholesome, idiotic, longing ways.
“A bath?” I filled the silence. “She looked pretty clean to me.”
“I’m not her keeper.”
Emmerick lifted his palms in defense. Seeing him with ale-hazed eyes and a loose tongue was entertaining. If not so eager to find Asterie, I might have stayed and had a drink with him to see his mannerisms change further.
“I should go and apologize,” I said
“It’s your funeral.” The boy patted my shoulder. “But sure, go ahead and try. Maybe wait until she’s out of the bath.”
A smirk crept onto my face. “Where would be the fun in that?”
The Commander rolled his eyes. “Like I said…your funeral.”
* * *
When I returnedto the inn, a light was still on in the kitchens. I caught a kind maid who was baking bread for the following day. At first, she refused, but after a couple placating compliments and a dazzling smile, she relented.
She made me promise to return the tarnished silver tray, lest I want to lose a hand, before supplying me with an abundant array of bread, still warm from the oven, and an accompaniment of hard cheeses.
By the time I knocked on the communal bathroom door, I’d nearly lost my nerve to apologize. There was no answer, so I pushed open the wood door, which creaked on its hinges. My feet stayed planted outside while I whispered into the dimly lit room.
“Asterie?” I heard the water splash. “It’s Fen.”
“I’m bathing,” she hissed.
