Chapter 11 #2
Scout grabbed my arm before I could pass. “It’s part of training. Relax, apprentice.”
If one more of them told me to calm down, I was going to lose it. Vander’s eyes flashed a warning, but I jerked free and marched in the direction we’d come.
“Aesira.” Vander’s voice was biting.
My pace didn’t slow. I should turn west and go home.
I could follow the road and find it, but I’d never make it before Vander threw me over his shoulder and carried me back kicking and complaining.
But it might be worth a try even if just to piss him off.
I didn’t care if they punished me for it later.
I wanted to go where people respected and cared for me. I wanted to see my father.
The air shifted and a warning tingle ran down my spine... Something was behind me. I whirled, knife ready to strike, and found Vander standing there. I hadn’t even heard his approach. It was uncanny the way he did that. As silent as a damn serpent slithering through the grass.
His eyes sparkled in the moonlight, their blue impossibly brighter. I wondered if my eyes were brighter at night too. Ducai could see in the dark after all.
He gently pushed my knife-wielding arm down. “You’re acting like a spoiled child. I allowed you to prove to yourself you can kill a vampire on your own and you’re angry about it.”
“I’m angry because I could have been killed.”
He cocked his head and appeared to listen to something I couldn’t hear or didn’t notice, then his focus returned to me. “And running off alone out here won’t get you killed? I’ve told you not to leave my side.”
“Oh, but you can leave mine?”
“That’s the thing about being the trainer. I get to decide, you don’t.”
The others came into view. Vander waved them off. “Go on. We’ll catch up.”
I knew that tone. I was about to get reprimanded.
The other trainers looked at me like they knew it too.
I doubted Taewyn or even Celine would dare to defy their trainers.
They’d been conditioned all their lives to follow orders and admire the assassins, the guilds in general.
Whilst my father taught me to hate them.
Even with her mask on, I knew Ghost had a smug expression. She probably wanted to stay and make sure I was punished for attacking her earlier too.
When they were no longer in sight, I dropped into a crouch and wiped the still-bloody blade on the grass. “I knew you’d chase after me.”
He chuckled as if he couldn’t believe what I’d said.
“If you grew up the way I did, you’d understand. But you didn’t. You were safe behind the wall.”
“You weren’t in any real danger. Falcon would have dropped her if she needed to. The best way to get rid of your fear of vampires is to face them. I thought you trusted me.”
How could he say there wasn’t real danger?
Just standing out here right now in the open at night could be deadly.
We were probably being watched or hunted at this very moment.
My blade was finally clean. I sheathed it and rose.
“Was this whole thing set up before we even left? Because if it was, then no, I don’t trust you.
You could have given me some warning. I feel like you tricked us.
Was that argument with Ghost part of the show? ”
He pulled down his mask. “No, I didn’t have this extravagant plan to trick you. I took advantage of the opportunity that presented itself. This pack wasn’t three, it was twelve. We cleared the problem, but I let two go past me and watched.”
I huffed. He let them pass. “That was reckless, sir.”
He laughed but there was no humor in it. “Oh, you’ve finally remembered who you’re talking to. And it was calculated. I’m not reckless. Not with you.”
Not with me... When he said things like that it made me lose my train of thought. “I...” I swallowed to wet my dry throat and crossed my arms. I found the moon and marveled at it for a moment.
“I understand you are afraid of vampires, but I’m not going to let one hurt you. And I’m training you so that you don’t need me. That requires me not to do it for you.”
I found his eyes again; they were softer now.
“Are you angry with me for attacking your—partner? I shouldn’t have lost my temper when she spoke about my people so coldly, but after seeing that pile of bodies... She talked about them like it was nothing.”
He slowly smiled. “Why did you say ‘partner’ like that?”
“Well, I don’t know what you call your lovers here. Back in Neverglade, we call someone who is not your wedded partner but your lover an askair.”
Now he was full-on grinning. “She’s not my askair. We’re not lovers.”
My body warmed in a way it shouldn’t, and I flushed. “I just thought, well, I guess I shouldn’t have assumed.”
“Why did you think we were?”
I didn’t want to tell him I’d caught him sneaking out a few nights. “It’s the way she looks at you, and you seem close.” And she was beautiful. Beautiful in a way that made me notice all my own flaws.
“We spent all last year going on missions together. We are close, but not bedmates.”
“That’s good to know.” I shrugged then wanted to punch myself. Why would I say that?
I didn’t think he could smile wider. He was all but laughing. “Why is that good?”
“I said, good to know, not that it was good. Because if she was your askair she might, you know, get jealous that we share a room. Not that she should be. And I also punched her.” I stared at my boots and rubbed my forehead, trying to fight off the new flush working its way up my neck. “Can we go now?”
“You get flustered easily when it comes to talking about this subject.”
“Because it’s not usual for a man and woman who are not wed or not family to live together, let alone share a bedroom, where I’m from. It’s strange for me.”
“You may have noticed there are more men than women assassins, so sometimes we’re partnered up as you and I are.
And usually the rooms for male–female assassins have two chambers separated by a sliding door, but I like my room.
It has private bathing chambers. They couldn’t pay me enough to use the communal bathhouse again. ”
“So your uncle must trust you.”
He only smiled and something about it made me think his uncle might underestimate him.
The glint in his eyes held secrets and part of me desired to unfold them.
Who was he really? Where did he sneak off to at night if not with Ghost?
Maybe he was hunting vampires. And why did his smile have to look like that?
“And Ghost got what she deserved as far as I’m concerned. She knows you’re from out here. And the people in Lothleton matter.”
I lay on my bed, staring out the window. Soft rain began to tap against the glass and streak down in little rivulets. Thunder rumbled in the distance. I loved the sound and smell of summer storms.
It was so quiet otherwise, I thought that Vander had fallen asleep until his voice broke through the silence, soft as if he were afraid to disturb the peace. “You haven’t asked me about what Dred said.”
He didn’t have to elaborate further. I rolled onto my side to face him, though I couldn’t see him through the curtain. “I suppose you’ll tell me when you’re ready.”
He went quiet for a few beats. “What did you do before this? Did you have a job?”
I smiled despite myself. So, he wasn’t ready to tell me, but he wanted to talk.
“I carved bones and antlers into weapons or jewelry. I guess you could say it was both a job and a hobby. I enjoy it. Sometimes I would hunt with my father to get the animal. It would feed us, and we’d use its furs and bones. Nothing is wasted where I’m from.”
“Ah, so that’s why your father called you Aesira the Bonecarver.”
“Yeah. Would you like to see something I made?”
“I would.”
I sat up and pulled open the drawer next to my bed and took out the dragon earrings. I tugged back the curtain and sat on the end of his bed, curling one leg beneath me. The twin earrings waited in my open palm. He smiled and took one of them, running his fingertips over the smooth surface.
“I remember you wearing these. They’re very good. How long have you been doing this?”
“Since I was seven. My father started me with wood. It’s easier to carve. My first carving was a pony. I still have it on my shelf at home.”
“My sisters would like these. Penny would say they’re exotic. Oriana would’ve paid well for them.”
“How many sisters do you have?”
“Two.”
“I have one.” I grinned. “Kayda. She would hardly believe what I did tonight, hiding in the tree and killing that vampire, I mean.” I slowly frowned at the memory of Kayda shoving me into the stairwell wall. That was the last time I’d seen her.
My eyes snapped to him as it dawned on me that he’d spoken about one of his sisters in the past tense. Had something happened to her? Maybe I heard him wrong. “Does your family visit you here? Will I meet them?”
He shook his head with the corners of his mouth pulled down. He’d mentioned his parents blaming him for something.
“What did you do before this?”
“Not much. Just a spoiled kid from inside the wall,” he drawled and winked.
“There is more to you than that.”
He set the bone earring back in my palm. “Whatever would make you think that?”
“For one, Celine and Taewyn said you used to fight in an underground fighting circle at the academy.”
He smirked and leaned back onto his pillow, staring up at the ceiling. “That feels like a lifetime ago now.”
“So it’s true?”
“What do you think?”
“Did you win often?”
“Often?” He smiled. “Always. Except once, but that’s a story for another time. Your new name should be Bonecarver. You could even cut the bones out of a vampire and make a necklace. Or pull their canines.”
I scrunched my nose. “Wouldn’t they need to be alive to do that? That’s gruesome.”
“It is. I imagine you would earn quite the reputation by doing that.”
“I get squeamish even when butchering an animal.”
He let out a soft chuckle. “A bonecarver who is squeamish getting the bones she must carve?”
I lightly shoved his leg. “Don’t laugh at me. My father or brother usually did that part. I cleaned them at least.”
“So, Bonecarver. Do you like it?”
“It’s perfect actually.”
His eyes flicked to my lap. “You’re still wearing a glove? You don’t need to be embarrassed about your... impairment around me. I won’t tell anyone.”
I tucked my hand behind my back and gulped. “I always wear it.”
“Why?”
“It’s not,” I took a breath, “pleasing to look at. I’m more comfortable wearing my glove.”
“Scars tell a story of something you’ve been through. Everyone has them.” He stared at me as if he was waiting for me to tell that story. Sweat pricked on my low back and heat flushed through me. My heart pulsed in my ears. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I quickly moved to my side of the room. “Good night, Viper.” I pulled the curtain to full length and curled on my side, cradling my hand against my chest.
“Goodnight, Bonecarver.”