33
I knock on Maeve’s door that night, dinner in hand.
She answers with a surprised look on her face, dressed in the same clothes she always is. No jacket at the moment though and I notice she’s let her hair down. The long dark brown strands flowing in waves, down past her chest.
“What are you doing here?” Maeve asks bluntly. Not seeming at all pleased to see me. I ignore the way my gut twists in response.
I gesture to the food and drinks on the silver tray in my hand.
“I’m here with a peace offering, even though it should be you doing this considering the state of my face.” I smirk at her as she narrows her eyes at me. “But I know how stubborn you can be.”
Maeve sends a death glare my way but steps aside to let me in anyway.
“I expected more of a fight from you.” I say as I walk into her room.
She shrugs before closing her door behind her.
“The food smells good and I’m too tired to bother going down to the dining hall tonight.”
“Well in that case, you’re welcome.” I say and head for the balcony, the door already ajar.
I put the tray down on the small table and take a seat in one of the chairs, gesturing for Maeve to do the same.
“By all means, make yourself at home.” She says sarcastically.
I lean back in my chair and cross an ankle over the other, smirking up at her.
“Considering this entire castle is my home and I own everything including this very land, I should absolutely be making myself at home.”
Maeve’s cheeks go slightly pink and she takes a seat. I guess maybe she had forgotten my title in the casual state of our relationship lately. Or maybe it’s just the reminder that she’s living in my home that has her flustered.
Maeve grabs a bowl of the warm soup I brought for us and cradles it as she looks out below.
“What are you thinking?” I ask her after a few moments of watching her observe the view.
Maeve sighs, not taking her eyes off the horizon in front of us.
“That despite everything, I really do like this place.”
She’s considering something else for a moment and I wait for her to continue.
“It’s peaceful.” Is all Maeve says, as though she couldn’t find another word to describe how she felt.
I finally look away from her and steer my direction to where she’s looking as I grab my own soup.
“It is peaceful.”
“How?” she breathes.
I look across to her from the side of my eyes, considering my answer.
Maybe I can trust the invisible assassin, maybe I can tell her more now. She has saved the people I’ve fought to protect twice now, that has to mean something.
“Many, many enchantments from my ancestors who are long gone.” I answer her gently.
Maeve takes a sip of her soup as she waits for me to continue.
“You know of course, that no one can enter without being a resident, having married one, or temporarily being invited in.”
I wait for her and she nods softly, her gaze now turned towards me, away from the view.
“Well, the guards are strict which keeps people out, but there is also an enchantment that keeps others away. When you are not invited in, you simply look at this place and just see my castle.
It looks much different and much more rundown but you simply just see a place not worth visiting or knowing. It essentially drags you away from the city of Erador and even if you were curious, your interests are diverted anyway. And if you’re an enemy that still wants to get in,
you’re met with a shield that you can’t break.”
“And those enchantments didn’t die with your ancestors?” Maeve asks, seeming like her curiosity has taken over.
“My ancestors bound them to the very stones of the city walls, thus continuing after their death.”
Maeve’s quiet for a moment, taking in the information I’ve shared. I want to know what she’s thinking, what she’s so curious about, what’s running through her mind. But instead of pushing, I wait.
I can see Maeve forming her next question as she works through all the thoughts running through her head. I can see it in the way her brows knot ever so slightly and her lips start to part with gentle hesitation.
“Are the only ways to become a resident, birth or marriage?” Maeve finally asks, as she studies the wall while drinking more of her soup.
“Considering making it official?” I tease.
Maeve scowls at me and I sigh before answering her question.
“Not unless this place considers itself your home and before you ask, no I don’t know how and I’ve only seen it happen a few times, one time not too long ago actually.” I say with a careful look towards her.
Maeve goes quiet once more, but I can see her considering the information I’ve shared.
“And I only got in and saw this place because I was invited?”
“Yes.” I answer, before taking another sip of my soup, feeling the warm liquid run down my throat. An appropriate feeling with my nerves growing as I work up the courage to tell her what I want to. The information I feel I can trust her with now.
“Although not recently.”
“What do you mean?” Maeve asks, her question barely a whisper, not wanting to believe what I'm sure she has just deduced after what I said.
“I didn’t invite you back in after our little battle all those days ago.”
I watch as Maeve’s mouth drops open and her eyebrows crease. “What are you saying?”
“I think you’re one of the few that have made this place their home.”
Maeve opens her mouth to say something before quickly closing it and looking off to the distance. She’s quiet for a few moments and the nagging feeling in my gut returns.
I consider asking her whether she’d like this place to be her home. Whether the idea that it is makes her happy. But she breathes out her next words carefully before I can.
“I’ve never had a home.”
Her admission hits me deep in my core. Drowning out my worries entirely.
“Maybe that’s why.” Is all I reply, not wanting to push her more, allowing her to share what she’s comfortable with. But she doesn’t say anything else, we sit in silence for a few moments longer.
“I didn’t hear a formal invitation the first time though?” Maeve questions suddenly, moving the conversation back to a lighter topic.
I shrug. “It doesn’t have to be formal, the magic feeds off your intentions as much as your words. When we were travelling to Erador, I simply said I was taking you home, that was enough of an invitation.”
“And when I was returning after we fought Hidale's soldiers?”
“You rode through of your own accord, I hadn’t offered for you to return to Erador, you rode where you felt you needed to go. Thus,” I say gesturing around us, “this place felt that it was your home already. At least, that’s how I imagine it to work.”
“But your parents.” Maeve says suddenly, turning to me as the realisation sets in. Her green eyes soften more than I’ve ever seen them. I look away quickly, unable to school my features. Not wanting to let out the emotions I feel right now.
“Yes, the murderers were invited in, some of my guards had betrayed us and them.” I say through gritted teeth, looking out towards the wall.
“I’m sorry.” Maeve says suddenly and I turn back around and blink at her, not sure that I heard her right.
“I know what it’s like to lose your parents.”
I nod, feeling the hardness that was cutting through my eyes soften to match hers, ever so slightly.
“I’m sorry too, love.”
Maeve smiles a sad smile, sending shudders down my spine.
“I hardly remember my own now. I don’t even remember my last name.” She whispers, voice so soft it could almost be mistaken for wind.
Guilt twists in my stomach at the knowledge I haven’t shared. At what I had actually come up to her room to tell her.
But now I can’t.
Maeve is finally opening up to me, sharing more than what I ask her to. How could I risk losing that? Losing her trust or even just the willingness to sit with me and have dinner, or join Cole and I in my office.
I’m not ready to give up what little we have.
Maeve suddenly sets her bowl back on the tray and stands. “Thank you for dinner.”
I catch that as the dismissal I wasn’t ready for.
I stand with her, walking towards her, wanting more from our moment together tonight. And not wanting to leave things on such a sad note.
“Was that a thank you?” I mock, an attempt to get things back to the light hearted conversations we normally share.
The ones I can tell Maeve prefers.
Maeve rolls her eyes and steps backwards, her shoulders hitting the wall behind her. I watch as she shudders slightly from the cold stone.
I smile softly, when I notice she’s too flustered to answer my question. “Careful, I might start to think you’re warming up to me, love.”
“We wouldn’t want that, would we?” she says in a mocking tone as she recovers.
“I suppose we wouldn’t.” I reply, getting dangerously close to her.
I see her eyes flare, she’s trying and failing to keep her composure and I swear I imagine it, that it can’t possibly be real but I swear Maeve edges her face slightly closer to me.
I smile softly as I look down at her lips and then back up. Unable to resist and wanting to see how far I can take this, I lean in so our faces are almost touching and I can feel her breath.
Her breathing quickens and I rest my hand beside her head and I watch as her gaze tracks my every movement.
Which has me smiling again.
“Goodnight love.” I say, my voice barely a whisper, my breath meeting her skin.
Fighting the urge to go further, I push off the wall and leave Maeve there. Her back still against the stone, her eyes still facing forward.
She doesn’t answer or follow me as I leave.