Chapter 25
At breakfast the next morning, I sit in a corner by myself while I shovel food in my face and drink a few sips of tea with urgency. I should have just had it delivered to my room.
I’m trying to avoid Adrian… among other people.
But, of course, most people in the castle eat in the main dining hall. They don’t all have the luxuries of a princess, including having meals hand-delivered to their doors.
Meela is the first to find me.
“What happened to you yesterday?” I ask through a mouthful of food.
“Well, after I laid down for a nap, I never woke back up. Until this morning.”
I laugh.
“I’m sort of embarrassed to admit this, but… my legs feel a little sore today.”
“Mine too,” I tell her through my chuckles.
“We’re pathetic.”
“Yeah.”
“So, are we heading back up today after breakfast or what?”
“Really?”
“What?”
“You actually want to go back?” I ask, incredulous.
“You said we were, so I planned on it. It’s not like I have anything better to do.” She side-eyes me with a mischievous grin. “Plus, maybe we’ll get to witness more hot, shirtless males fighting.”
I snort. “Yeah, um… I’m not going back up there today.”
“What? Why not?”
“It’s complicated…”
“Who are you avoiding?”
I sigh. “Adrian, if you must know.”
She laughs. “What, he loses one fight and suddenly you’re not interested? He fought admirably, that dragon was just incredibly fast.” She flips her shiny hair back. “I didn’t know you were so shallow, Elysande. I’m impressed.”
I scowl at her and she laughs.
“Okay, well if we’re avoiding him, we should probably get out of here.”
“You’re right. Let’s go.”
“Lead the way. I have no idea what you’re up to now.”
We make it out of the dining hall without running into anyone, and then we exit the castle into the dark gray morning. I shiver. The air feels cooler today. “I think it’s going to rain soon,” I tell Meela as we walk farther from the castle into an open field.
Sometimes the clouds pass through the veil and hang below them, releasing rain or snow. Other times, the clouds don’t get that low, but they still release rain through the veil. Either way, I can always somehow sense it. I’ve always thought it has to do with my water magic.
“Great.”
I stop in the middle of a field, pulling my bag off my shoulder and taking a few books out.
“Really? We came out here to study? It’s warmer in the library.”
“No, look. We’re practicing.”
I show her the books I brought, which are all about different methods to use your elemental magic as a warrior. I thought of the idea last night and snatched them before we left the library. I hand her the one that focuses on fire, and we sit and begin skimming through them.
She goes silent for a while, engrossed in her book. “Okay,” she finally says. “This wasn’t a terrible idea. There’s some pretty great stuff in here. Stuff I never even knew I could do.”
My book is interesting too. One page details how to control the water in a swirling ball, and when it’s big enough you can even trap enemies in it.
Another page talks about freezing the water as you spray it, making lethal, sharp icicles.
Another talks about even being able to freeze the water that runs through a person’s body, as long as they don’t have magic.
That’s a terrifying thought. Most species still surviving today have magic in their blood, though, so I don’t know how useful that one will be.
Plus, it says it takes extreme practice, with most water elementals never being able to achieve such a thing.
I don’t even want to know how they practiced that one to know if they could do it or not.
“Look at this!” Meela calls out with excitement. She created some distance between us while I was immersed in my books, apparently so she could begin practicing.
She’s created a swirling blue fireball that’s floating in front of her.
“Wow. I’ve never seen you make blue before.”
“I never have,” she says with disbelief, studying her faintly glowing hands. She glances at me. “Why have we not done this sooner?”
“The curse of the lazy elves,” I say sarcastically.
“I guess there’s no point. I mean, it’s fun for a minute, but when would we actually need to use any of this,” she comments absently as she focuses on her flame.
“Right.”
It’s then that her fire sizzles, and I feel the first few drops of rain. I shove the books back in my bag quickly and throw it over my shoulder. We run back to the castle, already dripping wet by the time we reach it.
Meela smirks at me as we slow to a walk inside, her eyes fixed on my chest. “Darling, you’d better go change or you’re going to catch the attention of not just Adrian, but every male with eyes.”
I look down and realize my soaked light purple dress is slightly see-through and my nipples are visible through the thin fabric.
“Damn,” I curse. “Yeah. I’ll meet you back down here. I’m going to change.”
“Same,” she replies. She dressed in pants and a thin black shirt thinking we were heading to the training grounds again today, and though it’s very much not see-through, it’s still soaked.
I cross my arms over my chest as best I can, passing several people going to lunch. I hurry toward my hall without actually running.
When I’m halfway down my hallway, I stop for a moment, surprise taking over at the sight of a figure standing there.
Why is there always a male outside my door?
“What are you doing here?” I ask with more curiosity than malice.
“You weren’t at training this morning.” Daegan leans a broad shoulder against the wall beside my door, looking as casual as ever.
He side-eyes me and does a double take.
His eyes travel from my wet hair to my wet bag to my wet gown all in a quick flash.
My arms are still covering my chest, at least.
“I was avoiding… people,” I say softly.
“Me?”
“No. Not you.” I could be crazy, but I think a small flash of relief crosses his face.
“Who, then?” He folds his arms. I can tell he’s not going to give this up. For whatever reason.
“Adrian,” I admit quietly.
He takes a deep breath, becoming visibly… angry. “Did he hurt you?”
“What? No,” I say, returning his gaze. “Nothing like that.”
He seems to relax. A little.
“He upset you then?”
“No…”
He stares at me, waiting for me to share more.
“Look, I don’t want to talk about it, okay? I’m cold and I’m wet and I want to change.”
“Okay.”
“Thank you,” I huff, holding my hands out at my sides in a sarcastic gesture.
Daegan’s eyes flick down, linger for a moment, and then return to my face. “No problem.”
Oops.
My cheeks flush as I hurry inside, not looking back as I shut the door behind me.
Maybe my dress has dried enough since I walked up here. Maybe he didn’t see everything.
I look down.
Nope.
I check my reflection in the mirror just to be sure.
Even worse.
I stand against the wall, my body suddenly warm again, and curse myself. Because I don’t hate that he looked at me.
As I pull the wet dress down my torso, I move slowly, looking in the mirror. I look at myself and think what Daegan would think if he saw the same image. Would he take his time? Would he be rough?
The image of his heated gaze landing on my nipples burns through my mind, and suddenly I’m throbbing between my legs, wondering what his mouth would feel like on mine. What it would feel like if it traveled lower…
I’m completely naked now, standing in the middle of my room looking at myself, turned on by the thought of someone who hates me?
What has gotten into me?
I shake my head, trying to clear the thoughts from my mind. I put on a thicker dress—blue this time—with long, snug sleeves. Then I fix my braid.
My books, thankfully, are not ruined. Barely even a drop of moisture touched them before I was able to get them in the bag. I keep them in my satchel, just in case the weather clears and we can practice more later.
It suddenly dawns on me that I was meant to return downstairs quickly to meet Meela for lunch, so I rush out of the room and come to a halt just outside my door, finding a large body against the opposite wall.
“You’re still here…”
“I am,” Daegan says.
“Why?”
“We didn’t really get to finish talking.”
“About?”
“Where did you go today instead of the training grounds?”
“Oh.” Following my lead, we begin to fall into step as we talk. “Meela and I went outside to practice elemental magic. I found these books yesterday that are already proving to be rather helpful.”
He grunts with approval. Or curiosity? “That’s actually a good idea.”
“What do you mean ‘actually?’” I side-eye him. “As if I don’t have good ideas?”
“Well…”
I open my mouth wide, looking at him in shock. “I have incredible ideas.”
“Sometimes. Some are just plain reckless.”
“Okay. There was that one time…”
“Yeah...”
“It wasn’t my finest idea, I’ll admit. But we got what we needed, didn’t we?”
He nods thoughtfully, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.
“What?” I ask, bracing for him to tease me again.
“You’re wearing blue.”
“Yes…”
He looks forward. “You always wear purple,” he muses.
That damn fluttering in my chest is back. Over an obvious statement that means absolutely nothing.
“I decided to change things up today.”
He side-eyes me once more, taking in the length of my dress. “It suits you,” he says before facing forward again.
Dammit.
“Thank you,” I say softly.
He clears his throat. “What are your plans for the rest of the day?”
“Well, we were supposed to practice outside more, but unless the weather lets up, I suppose we’ll be sequestered to the library. Again.”
“Okay.”
“And you?”
“Same.”
“Meela is waiting for me though…”
Daegan takes a deep, thoughtful breath, his chest expanding. “How much do you trust her?”
“I don’t know,” I murmur. The truth is, I do trust her. But this is so much bigger than me and our friendship. Still, it pains me to keep it from her, and the more time we spend on it, the harder it is to keep it a secret.
He nods, and somehow, I think he understands. “I’m sorry,” he says evenly, glancing at me.
I smile appreciatively at him. Just a closed-mouth smile with the corners pulling back. His gaze lingers for another moment before he looks away.
We find Meela inside the dining hall with Raef. They’re talking, and they don’t look like they hate each other.
“Hi…” I say, approaching them. They stop and glance at us.
“Took you long enough,” Meela complains, looking between Daegan and me.
“I got side-tracked.”
“Sure.”
I scowl at her after ensuring no one else is looking my way.
She smirks at me.
“So, until the rain clears up, we can’t really practice our little project, can we?”
“Not really,” I reply. “I was going to head to—”
“The library,” she finishes for me.
“Naturally,” I say.
“And you guys?” She glances at the two males seated across from us. “What do you do here every day, anyway?”
“Not much, to be honest,” Raef answers with disappointment in is tone.
“I thought this visit would be a little more… exciting. Most of it is political. Daegan’s father and a few elders were taking meetings with the king or other members of his court.
But they haven’t even done that since they left. We’ve just been sort of… stagnant.”
So his father really left with half of the dragon shifters after all that stuff went down? At least he trusts Daegan to stay in his stead. But did he make Daegan stay for a reason?
The mention of his father makes me think of something else. Why hasn’t Daegan told his father, at least? Or has he, and he’s lying to me? He says no one else knows, but surely the lord of the dragons would want to be in on such a plan?
I still want to trust them. It’s sort of too late to change my mind now anyway. They know everything.
“Elysande?” Meela’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts. I look up and find Daegan watching me. They’re all watching me with expectant looks, actually.
“Yeah?”
“Raef was just giving me shit for not taking him into town that one day we said we would. What about tomorrow?”
No one mentions the reason that trip didn’t happen.
“Sure.” I look across the table at that pair of intense eyes that are watching me still. “Are you coming?”
“Yep.”
“Or…” Meela says with mischief. “We go tonight.”
Raef grins even wider as I shake my head. “No way.”
“Why not?” she complains.
“You know why not. Nothing good happens in town after nightfall.”
“What do you mean? The whole town is surrounded by a border wall.” A stone one, unlike the ice wall that surrounds the castle grounds.
“Stuff gets in all the time. You know that.”
She waves me off with one lazy wave of her hand. “As long as you get to a tavern before dark, people just sit inside and drink all night. And fuck. Maybe a fight or two breaks out.”
I avoid eye contact with everyone, but especially the one across from me. “Exactly.”
“You’re no fun,” she says, defeated.
I look over at her and smile. “Fine. Why don’t you and Raef go. Just the two of you.”
Just as I predicted, she narrows her eyes at me.
“Hi. Do the visitors get a say in this?” Raef chimes in.
“No, not really. You’re at our mercy,” Meela tells him.
Raef raises his eyebrows.
“I can’t go tonight,” I say, dropping my teasing tone. “I have things to do.”
“Okay. Fine.” I glance at her suspiciously, because something in her voice tells me she’s already cooked up another idea. “Party in my room then. Bring your friends,” she tells them.
“I’m there,” Raef says way too quickly.
My eyes meet Daegan’s. He’s still watching me. He’s always watching me, it seems. Since the day we met.
But something’s changed in the way he watches me. I’m just not sure what.