Chapter 8
For the next week, Elysia stayed hidden in her flat, regretting her recent choices and not wanting to face anyone in her life besides Sir Larkspur, who asked for nothing more than his daily meals. But as dawn broke, Elysia knew that her time of wallowing had come to a close.
Bleary eyed, she stumbled out of bed to find several letters shoved through the mail slot. It seemed the rest of the world was done with her hiding as well. There were three messages in total.
One from her mother with detailed instructions regarding the upcoming cocktail party from time of arrival to the exact style of hair and dress required. Because gods forbid that someone in their midtwenties chose their own hairstyle .
The second letter was from Rollie.
Your presence will be accepted but a favor is needed. Details to come. Good luck .
Both relief and frustration ran through her. Relief that they were even willing to speak with her given who she was and frustration because nothing ever came free, did it?
And finally, a short yet very colorful note from Gage describing exactly what he would do to her if she did not drag her sorry carcass from her home and meet with him to train.
Shit, shit, shit . She’d missed at least three of their usual training sessions.
Elysia tossed off her robe and pajamas in a frenzy and almost died tripping over Sir Larkspur, who darted in and around her feet. Snatching up a pair of soft leather leggings, she shoved her legs through and danced to wrench them up over her hips. She barely spared a glance to see which top she had grabbed before yanking on her boots and practically throwing herself out the door.
The muted sun had already started its grim ascent, which meant she was late and being late never boded well when meeting Gage. Her mind raced, wondering exactly how much time it would take her to streak across the city to where they always met. Her mind raced so fast, in fact, that for once in her life she did not check her surroundings.
Which was how she found herself dropping to the ground like a brick as a dagger whizzed past, grazing her cheek. Twisting, she turned and fired back a blade of her own.
A bare hand caught the handle with practiced ease.
The smug bastard sat with legs sprawled on her roof and was calmly eating a sandwich. She’d nearly pissed herself collapsing on the street and he sat there eating a fucking sandwich.
Gage took another bite and sunk her knife into his own sheath. “Sounded like a bit of chaos down there. Weren’t in a hurry, were you?”
She scowled. “You’re a bastard, you know that.”
His lips twitched, but he didn’t answer. He just dropped to the street and held out another sandwich. “Here.”
She waved him away, chest still heaving. Lifting her fingertips to her face, they came back bloody. “Do you want me to get caught? All these cuts and bruises and someone is bound to notice one day.”
He just grunted and held out the sandwich again. “You don’t eat enough when you’re stressed. Take it.”
She sighed and snatched it from his fingers before plopping down on a nearby bench. Taking a small bite, she spoke absently. “My mother is going to be so pissed about this cut. There’s a stupid party with the Bellian diplomats this week. I doubt Topp will go, but she wants to show me and the girls off, as usual.”
His grin held for a moment, but then his eyes turned dark with condescending ire at the mention of the prince. “Forget your mother noticing. What kind of man doesn’t notice that their woman is nearly always bruised? Or that you are not soft like any other woman he would touch?” His voice lowered. “What kind of man doesn’t notice there is nearly always a knife between your legs?”
Elysia choked on her sandwich. “We are not having this conversation.” She shoved more food into her mouth and gave him a grossed out look. Their relationship was far too familial to be discussing… that.
“Why, because you know I’m right?” he continued before she could respond. “I’ve been thinking you should stay at my place for a while.”
Barely done choking, Elysia proceeded to inhale a breadcrumb and start hacking all over again. Had he just asked her to stay at his home? Gage smacked her back as if that would help, while she glared and tears streamed out of her eyes.
“Clearly, you need to be monitored,” he muttered.
Wiping her face, she stared at him in disbelief. “You cannot be serious.”
He stood and stretched, his muscles straining with the movement. Like most warriors, he had no qualms or false modesty. Bodies were bodies. They were what you needed them to be in that moment, and that was all there was to it. Instead of beauty, there was a brutalness to Gage’s form. It wouldn’t have mattered if you dressed him up in the prettiest of trappings. There was always going to be something about his body and the way it moved that stirred an unconscious fear in those around him.
“I wouldn’t have said it if I wasn’t serious.” He shifted his weight back and stared at her.
“You don’t need to lock me in your tower. Is this about the other day? Because I thought we were done with that.” She tensed, unsure if it was worse to have to discuss the aftermath of the tongue, or that he might have picked up on something else.
His hands clasped onto the bench. He sighed then, as if she were being particularly annoying. “As if you wouldn’t climb out the window. Elysia, you’re not well. There’s more going on that you’re not telling me, and I don’t understand why. Have I, of all people, not earned your trust since the day I met you?”
Her heart caught on his words. The similarity between his words and Remy’s. The frustration and hurt they betrayed.
Her own words were a whisper. “It’s my job to keep you safe, too.”
The lines in his face deepened. “Elysia?—”
She drew in a deep breath of morning air and waved her hand, cutting him off. “I’ll come by late tonight. Don’t wait up.” That would buy her time. To consider her words. Her story.
His lips pressed thinly, like he could see right through her. “Fine. Let’s train.”
She recognized the conversation was far from over. Everyone only wanted to help. She knew that. But what they didn’t understand was that with each person she told, the rope that kissed the blade frayed a little more. How many people could she tell before it broke?
Elysia tracked him through city streets and alleys to the edge of Relaclave, where the Lovestone Woods began. She entered the forest behind him and stilled.
Fog and mist swirled around her feet, her eyes. It reminded her of that place of nightmares in her dreams. She half expected the eerie song to fill her ears. Focus, he’s here somewhere . Cool forest air filled her lungs, calming her as she scanned her surroundings.
She shifted her weight, a rush of fear and excitement coursing through her veins. He was in a mood, no doubt. And that meant nothing good for her.
A crack sounded to her left and she spun. She squinted, but there was nothing there. Shit . That meant—she tried to turn back, but he’d already dropped beside her and snapped out a punch that rocked her head back.
She danced away, blinking back the tears that instantly blinded her eyes. “What was that for?” she gritted out, rubbing her jaw.
He said nothing, just waited.
Fine. No words were really needed, anyway. She darted back into his space and struck, knowing he would easily deflect her first blow. But then they were dancing, a wild yet strategic frenzy of limbs bringing them together and then apart over and over again.
Tired with muscles shaking, she slowed for just a moment, and that was all he needed.
She was flat on her back, staring up at misted trees with a dagger to her nose.
With an arrogant smile stretching across his face, he tapped the blade to the tip of her nose just because he could. “You’re out of shape.”
She smacked the blade away from her face and huffed, shoving herself back up. “I’ve been busy. Can’t always be rolling around in the dirt with you.”
Something closer to anger than disappointment touched his eyes, but his words were even. “Then we better use the time we have.”
He lunged, driving harder and faster than before. The man was a whirl that she could barely track. She had already been winded and now all she could do was deflect hit after hit, never once getting close enough to strike back. He was showing her just how far she’d fallen in these last few months. She knew it and hated every breathless second of his punishment.
An angry snarl rose in her throat and she lashed out with her dagger instead of her fist.
But he caught her wrist and backed her easily into a tree. The rough bark and tiny broken branches stabbed into her uncomfortably. She snapped her teeth at him. “Enough, Gage.”
A wide smile spread across his face, showing all of his beautiful teeth right back. “Is it? I don’t think it is, Elysia. I don’t think we’re done until you’re ready to tell me the truth.”
He laughed from his chest, and it bounced through the trees. “Reminds me of when you were a little feral thing in your stupid Crown dresses and kicked and screamed because I wouldn’t let you practice with a real sword.”
He stepped back, leaving her heaving against the tree. He shook his head with a grin she knew well. “They all thought you were so perfect in your curls and little sashes and never even noticed what has always been right in front of their eyes. Do you remember what it took for me to allow that little feral kitten to finally have a real sword?”
She threw her head back against the tree, not caring that it hurt or she would have bark in her hair, and bit out her answer. “Years, that’s what it took, years before you’d let me touch a real blade.”
Gage sighed, and the sound reminded her that even though she was now grown, he was still older than her and was no stranger to her behavior.
“Elysia, you were this small, quiet child who crept through tunnels and stole secrets without even trying. You heard and saw things that no child ever should have, and by the time I found you in that cart surrounded by blood and death, any sense of trusting others had been shredded. I didn’t give you a blade until you trusted me. Until you knew I would not hurt you, and I knew you wouldn’t stab me in the eyeball in a moment of panic.”
He stalked in closer to her again, leaving just enough space while staring her right in the eyes. “Let me help you. Just like I always have.”
Her forehead dipped, resting against his shoulder, and she allowed herself to feel that comfort, to wonder for a whole breath what it would be like to not hold all her weight herself. His chin came down atop her head.
“I thought you would stop being such a pain in my ass when you got older.”
She snorted and slapped a hand against him half-heartedly, pushing away to look up at his sharp eyes.
“I’m cursed, Gage, always have been.” The treasonous words slid too easily off her tongue.
“Elysia, I’ve known that. It’s why I’m—” He cut himself off, running a hand through his dark, cropped hair.
She laughed hollowly. He knew. Of course, he knew. “There’s nothing to talk about, then.”
“Something has changed, and you need to tell me so I can help you. That is how this works.”
“There’s nothing anyone can do about it. You can huff and puff at me all you want, but it won’t change anything. If you want to be helpful, then I could use some backup later,” she smiled. “I’m going after a diplomat.”
Gage’s nostrils flared, and he pinned her back against the tree with one hand.
She sighed. “Really? How mature.”
“Is that how you think this works? That you can just brush me off, and I’ll go so easily? Have I taught you nothing about family?” he growled.
But he wasn’t done, his chest working up and down as he finally unleashed his worry-coated anger. “You think you can just demand my services as if I am some common servant? I am well aware you’re one of the few who managed to cling to a drop of magic in this horrible kingdom, but something else has changed and you need to tell me what it is. Is it your magic? Because pretending nothing is happening won’t fix your problem. You’re smarter than this, godsdammit.”
Elysia’s temper ratcheted up a notch from where it had momentarily slumbered. She pressed off the tree and shoved right back into his space.
“You want trust, Gage? Then trust that I am doing everything I can to solve this, and solving this is going to require a few of my little schemes, as you like to call them. I need information , not a lecture.”
His tone went flat, his hand lifting in exasperation. “You ask for trust and lie to me in the same breath? Gods, you don’t make this easy.” With that, he turned, stalking away from her and out of the woods.
He called back over his shoulder as he went. “You can handle Beatriz’s dirty work on your own. Bother me when you have a real job. And I will see you at my house tonight.”
Elysia bit back a scream. He was such a dick sometimes. She planted a hand on her hip, patting her sheath as he disappeared from sight.
“Motherf—” she cursed. He took my fucking blade.
Her blood pressure shot up, her irritation immediate and consuming. Oh, he thought he was real funny. Having the last word wasn’t good enough, he had to nick her blade as well. A little guarantee that she would show up tonight if only to ream him out properly.
“You arrogant, thieving ASSHOLE!” Her rage sounded all the way to the forest’s edge.
The woods were kind enough to carry his low chuckle back to her.