Chapter 3 #2
Caeo shakes his head. “Nope. Reid’s excited because he’s been waiting half his life to attend the Academy. If you’re his partner, you must be just as good as he is, so he’s hoping to finally have someone to challenge him.”
A twinge of guilt interrupts my thoughts, my shoulders tightening. Have I been too shallow in my assessment of Reid? “There’s no way I could’ve known that. We’ve only just met.”
“Oh? Well, I’d say Alexis is excited because she enjoys living in the moment, so while you just see dirt, she sees endless possibilities.”
How can he know that? They’ve barely exchanged ten words. It does fit with my own observations of her, though.
“She also clearly has her sights set on Reid,” he adds. “Which isn’t gonna happen, so she’ll probably turn her attention to me once she realizes that. Unless someone else wants to claim me first?”
My steps falter as his nickel eyes sparkle, accented by that magnetic smile.
I may not have any experience with flirting, but that was far too obvious to brush aside.
Absurdly bold, even. My gaze falls to the teasing glimpse of his neck, which somehow stopped being scandalous during our conversation and simply became him.
“Are you asking me to?” I venture. Caeo comes to a stop, his smile widening. That pull I’ve been trying to ignore aches in my chest, yearning to do just that.
“Only if you want to,” he says.
Say yes!
“No.” My heart slows, and my mind screams at me an instant later.
Why did you say that?!
Caeo blinks, his jaw dropping slightly. He recovers with a tight smile flashing across his face, then turns back to the road ahead. “Alright. Guess I’m a free man.”
My insides crumble as he catches up with the others.
I know exactly why I turned him down: this is the longest conversation I’ve ever had with a man who wasn’t my father, a tutor, or household servant.
While I may have dreamed of this, there’s no way someone like him—an absolutely gorgeous boy with perfect, soulful eyes and flawless features—could ever be interested in me.
I can’t bear the thought of being made a fool.
I walk the rest of the way in silence.
* * *
The Kettle Maker, marked by a hanging sign with a simple etching of a kettle on it, is on the main street in the central part of Haven.
It looks like the taverns I’ve passed in Durnam, its coloring normal thanks to its distance from the Academy.
It even has some small yellow flowers in the planter box in front of the window, defiant against the winter chill.
Trying to channel that same resolve, I pull my arms close, my insides quivering as we follow Reid through the crowded interior to a small, circular table wedged between others full of Academy students.
The space can’t be much larger than my parents’ sitting room, and it’s all just…
pressing in. Two dozen tables, crammed between mismatched chairs and walls draped in shadow, dented from furniture knocking against them.
The fire roaring in the oversized hearth smothers us all, the smell of smoke and cooked meat saturating the stuffy air.
I end up sitting across from Alexis, squeezing my legs together to avoid bumping knees with Caeo and Reid as every shout and laugh winds my tendons tighter.
“Are you alright?” Caeo asks, his brow furrowed.
Before I can answer, a barmaid appears at our table, wearing a sleeveless dress with a frilly collar and a window cut beneath, revealing the dip between her pushed-up breasts. Caeo tilts his head aside as she runs her hand through his hair before resting it on his shoulder. My fingers clench.
“Hey, Caeo. Reid.” Her voice pricks my eardrums as she speaks loud enough to carry over the babble of our fellow patrons, then smiles at both of them. “How’d yer placements go?”
“Fine.” Caeo grimaces as he moves her hand off his arm.
“We’ll have three ales, a corn brew, and four bowls of whatever you’re serving today,” Reid says.
“Comin’ up.”
The barmaid swings her hip into Caeo’s shoulder as she departs. He winces, rubbing the spot she hit. “We have to stop coming here.”
Reid relaxes into his chair. “It was your idea, man.”
I take a slow breath, pushing my palms against the table as I try to relax my face enough that my teeth stop grinding. If I want to fit in, I need to calm down. Just focus on the people I’m with. Or this off-color spot on the table, barely visible by the candle flickering at its center.
“I was hungry,” Caeo says, “and The Duck only serves crackers and nuts. I didn’t think I’d be getting molested.”
“An old girlfriend?” Alexis asks, her green eyes twinkling.
I scratch at the pale marking, the knot within me twisting as I await his answer.
“Hardly,” he says. “It was just one time, and we didn’t even—”
I snap my attention to Reid, my tension ready to burst. “So you decided to order for all of us?”
He shrugs. “There aren’t many options. It’s either ale or something harder, but The Duck has a better selection for that.”
The barmaid returns with three tankards and a smaller glass, batting her eyes at Caeo before she leaves again. Itching for any form of relief, I reach for the nearest tankard, but Reid grabs it and moves the small glass in front of me.
“Reid…” Caeo warns.
“This is for you.” Reid nudges it closer.
I bite my lip. “What is it?”
“Corn brew.”
“Don’t drink that,” Caeo says.
“It’s fine. We’re bonding, right?” Reid wraps his arm around me with a shake as he squeezes my shoulder. “Nothing builds friendship like a good drink.” He lifts his tankard and looks at me expectantly.
Heart pounding, I look to Alexis for guidance. She gives an uninterested shrug.
Thanks.
My arm twitches as I pick up the glass, and Reid knocks it with his tankard. I take a decently sized swig of the corn brew, everyone’s attention pressing into me.
I erupt with coughs as I swallow, barely keeping the burning liquid in. Alexis claps her hands together, looking triumphant as my eyes water.
“Damn,” Reid mutters. He takes the glass from me and passes his drink. “Here, wash it down.”
I eagerly take it from him, desperate for any flavor to replace that of the corn brew. The ale isn’t much better, its bitterness making me grimace.
Reid leans close to my ear. “Maybe Caeo can get the taste out.”
Arandur’s knickers, is he trying to kill me? I glare at him as I force the ale down. A warmth spreads through me as it settles in my stomach.
“Why would you even suggest that?” I hiss.
“Don’t tell me you spent half a bell walking with him and didn’t think about it. She certainly did.” He nods toward Alexis.
Her gaze rests on Caeo, watching him drink his ale as she nurses hers. Halfway through his sip, he pauses and stares at her, his ink-black hair slightly obscuring his smoky eyes. She gives him a gleaming smile, and I turn back to Reid, ignoring the burgeoning heat rising within me.
“Caeo thinks you’re excited to be paired with me.”
Reid’s eyebrow flicks up. “Does he? I wonder why.”
“I don’t know. Are you?”
“I’m… cautiously optimistic.” He prods the tankard toward me.
“Are you trying to get me drunk?” I scan his face, searching for any trace of his intentions. His brow quirks up, but who knows what that means.
“Afraid of loosening up?” he asks.
“I don’t need to loosen up.” I immediately flinch at a burst of laughter from the table next to us. Fortune clearly isn’t favoring me right now.
“Please. You’re the High Marshal’s daughter and have obviously been studying incantation every day of your life in preparation to be here. Am I right?”
I curl my lips inward. “Possibly.”
“So, relax. You’re here, and you’ve placed higher than anyone in recent memory besides yours truly. You can take a moment to live a little.”
Liquid suddenly spews everywhere from Caeo’s mouth, barely missing me.
Reid slams his fist on the table. “Arandur’s crooked cock!”
My eyes widen. I’ve never heard that expression before. Mom would probably die of shock if she heard it, and Father… even ‘Arandur’s knickers’ is too disrespectful in his book.
“Aha! I win!” Alexis exclaims, then points at Reid. “You’re paying!”
“What’s going on?” I glance between her and Caeo, who’s wiping his face with the back of his sleeve, his fair skin now bright red.
“Reid bet that I couldn’t get Caeo to spit out his drink,” she announces. “I suggested a contest: whoever got one of you to spit out their drink first wins. Loser pays for dinner.” A smile stretches across her face.
I glare at Reid. “Is that why you gave me that horrible drink?”
“Stop complaining. You kept it down, and now you get a free meal.” He swallows the rest of the corn brew, clinking the glass hard against the table when he finishes.
As if summoned by the talk of payment, the barmaid finally returns with our food—some kind of meat stew with the traditional bread rolls sitting on top.
At home, they’d have been served on the side, with each diner bumping theirs with their neighbor’s before eating, but this arrangement seems too messy for that.
Meanwhile, Caeo dodges another of the barmaid’s attempts at physical contact by leaning closer to me while rolling his wet sleeves up.
My eyes drift to the curves of his forearms as they twist with his motions, and my voice sticks as I speak. “I can dry those for you. I know an incantation for that.”
“Incanting’s prohibited outside of the Academy’s grounds.” He pushes his hair out of his face. “To protect Haven.”
Right. “Guess you’ll have to stay wet then. So what did Alexis do to make you spit your drink?”
He leans even closer, mere inches away, his breath warm against my cheek. “Ask me again later.”
I bite back a giggle, feeling flushed from his proximity. Spoons drop to the table with a clatter, one of them bouncing into Caeo’s lap. He offers it to me, and I take it. As my fingers brush softly against his, a smile forms on his lips. A similar tug pulls at my cheeks.
The barmaid storms off before Reid finishes digging out his coins to pay her.