Chapter 14
”I knowyou said you and Fynn were courting, but until the other night, I didn”t believe you.”
”Why not?” I asked Sylvia as we ran down the worn path.
Three days had passed since Fynn had shown up at the tavern. For the past two days, I had been with my father at one of the military schools in the north, overseeing the cadets” training. Every year, the commander took time out of his schedule to lead at least one weekend of the training. He believed getting a first look at the cadets and seeing the potential tracks for each recruit was important. I had been tagging along for years, at first simply as a daughter, but now I went as a leader. I also wanted to know who would soon be under my wing.
During our short trip, I had expected my father to ask about my relationship with Fynn at least once, but he hadn”t. While I was not completely surprised, for my father had always avoided the topic of me courting anyone, I had thought my mother would have forced him to inquire about it. Still, I was grateful for the reprieve. Two days without my faux-courtship as the focal point of the conversation was a blessing granted by the gods themselves.
The break, apparently, was short-lived.
Sylvia huffed, pushing back the auburn strands of hair that had fallen from their low bun. ”You”re not the courting type, Ferrios.”
”What”s that supposed to mean?”
Sylvia waved me off. ”You”re so focused on your training. You”ve never given yourself time to court anyone. How often have I tried to set you up with one of my friends from my village?”
”Too many to count,” I mumbled.
”Exactly. And every time you said you were too busy for a relationship.”
”I am!”
Sylvia quirked a brow.
”I mean, I was.” I shook my head, tripping over my words as I tried to keep my pace steady. ”I still am, but that”s why my relationship with Fynn is perfect. We both have our own responsibilities. He has a duty to his kingdom, and so do I.”
”Hmph.” Sylvia shrugged. ”In any case, I have to admit you two are adorable together. It”s nice.”
I stumbled. ”Nice?”
”Yeah.” Sylvia nodded beside me. ”It”s nice to see you happy. I mean, you haven”t stopped smiling since he kissed you.”
”Now that”s definitely not true!” Despite having meant the words, heat flushed my cheeks.
Sylvia laughed. ”See? I”ve never seen you like this. So. . .” Sylvia ran ahead and turned around, jogging backward as we slowed. ”I don”t know! Carefree? Normal? Human?”
”Normal? What are you?—”
”Come on, Dani.” Sylvia opened their arms up, lifting them wide in the air. ”Don”t get me wrong. You”re great to have around. Get a few drinks in you, and you”re the life of the party sometimes. But other times, you”re. . .”
My eyes narrowed. ”I”m what?”
Sylvia sighed, spinning back around and returning to my side. ”Strict? A rule follower? Single-minded? It”s like once you entered the military and put on the uniform, you never took it off. It”s great to see you stumble for a change.”
”You”re ridiculous.”
However, the words did not sit right on my tongue. If Sylvia believed that, then perhaps the leaders did have a point.
”Maybe,” Sylvia said with a half shrug. ”But then again, maybe there”s something to be said about not dedicating your life to one thing.”
My pace slowed, and I let Sylvia race ahead as we turned the corner and started running up the hill.
Fynn and I had only been courting each other for two weeks. If Sylvia already was seeing some change, could that mean the leaders were, too?
My smile grew wider.
Maybe this deal wasn”t as foolish as I thought.
Weeks passed,and Fynn and I fell into a natural rhythm.
It was almost easy to pretend to court him. I didn’t have to explain why I was tired after training or provide some excuse not to see him every single day. It was simple.
If only a real courtship were that easy.
It was both a blessing and a curse that our schedules often conflicted. On the one hand, I didn’t have to pretend to be courting Fynn every single day, but on the other hand, we needed our family to see us together. Every time we tried to schedule a dinner with my parents or his mother, something got in the way—an advisor meeting, a strategy meeting, a training session, a court session.
The one time we could see each other during the week also ended up being the night when our parents were both busy.
At the end of each week, Sylvia, Moris, and I headed to the tavern, and more often than not, Fynn was already waiting for us at our table. Some nights, Terin tagged along, dragging Riley with him; other days, he didn”t. When Terin was there, Fynn was touchier than usual.
I couldn”t blame him. If anyone were to realize that this courtship was a farce, it would be Terin. He knew us better than anyone.
On those days, either Fynn”s hand was squeezing mine to the point where our palms were sweating, or his arm was wrapped around my shoulders, crushing me to his body.
Thankfully, though, there was no more kissing.
Not that kissing my best friend was a big deal.
Not that it brought up old feelings that I kept trying to extinguish and pretend never existed.
Sometimes, however, old feelings had a way of creeping back up no matter how much we tried to ignore them.
Such as when Fynn and Terin teamed up against Sylvia and Moris during a game of fifteen hundred after I had declined the offer to play. Fynn had let them win the first round, which only gave Sylvia and Moris a false sense of hope. After that first round, though, Terin and Fynn worked in tandem, taking them down. I watched from the sidelines as Fynn undoubtedly crept into my friends” thoughts to anticipate their next moves. Occasionally, though, Fynn would ”mess up” by putting down the wrong card or by doing something that would grant Moris a chance to gain a small lead to keep him and Sylvia off their trail.
However, in the end, Fynn and Terin would typically win. They would high-five and raise their pints of ale, which Fynn drank with less distaste every week.
As far as I knew, Fynn only read his opponents” minds when there were no bets or stakes in the game to keep it fair. But I often wondered if he ever felt guilty for the invasion. While he sometimes poked and prodded at my mind, he usually respected my privacy. But fifteen hundred was just a simple card game. Perhaps he didn’t feel guilty about it since no harm was done.
Or perhaps Fynn never felt guilty about anything he did.
When Moris whined, Fynn wrapped his arm around me, pulling me closer and saying, ”What can I say? I”m a lucky man.”
He would wink down at me, and then, despite my best intentions not to be affected by the man, a fluttering would erupt in the pit of my stomach.
I didn”t want to like Fynn.
After all, I had thought I was over that foolish childhood crush years ago. But the more time I spent with Fynn, the more I realized the feelings had only been slumbering at the bottom of my stomach. Asleep and almost forgotten, but not nonexistent.
They meant nothing, though, I told myself.
There was no point in dwelling on them because what was happening between Fynn and me was purely platonic.
It had to be.