Page 74 of Rogue Elves of Ardani

“This is nice,” she commented.

Vaara grunted noncommittally.

“I knew you’d agree,” she said. “I’m going back out into the city to get some things. I’ll bring food. You’ll be safe here. I made sure the man at the front desk wouldn’t call the watch on us.”

“You’re concerned about my safety? I’m flattered.”

Her lips tightened against her teeth. She glanced away. “What happened today was a mistake,” she said. “An oversight. It shouldn’t have happened like that. I should have been more careful. I’m sorry.”

It was an odd way of wording things. Like he was an invalid and she was responsible for him. He didn’t care for it.

She seemed to be waiting for him to accept the apology. He didn’t.

“I won’t let it happen again,” she promised, at length. “I’ll be back in an hour. Just relax. Use the bath.”

He stared resentfully at the stairway after she left, then shook his head tiredly.

A bath did sound pretty good, as a matter of fact.

Chapter 20

The bath downstairs turned out to be an entire pool.

It took up most of the room, which was entirely made of dark, polished stone. Water ran continuously from fountains on either side of the room, rippling the water, and steam rose from its surface. The heating enchantments must have been massively powerful, and therefore massively expensive.

The smooth stone floor was icy on his feet when he took his boots off. He dropped his clothes in a pile. All of it—except the Kuda Varai scarf Crow had given him, which he folded and placed neatly on top of the pile—was worn and rumpled and threadbare and felt like contaminants in this pristine room. He nudged them into the corner, and left his sword propped against the wall, within close reach. He didn’t like having it too far from him, even here.

As he leaned over the edge of the pool, his face appeared in the rippling water below, glaring back at him.

Suddenly he was thinking of the people back home. He thought of the other rangers he’d worked beside. He thought of Liiva. It had been a long time since he’d truly cared for her, but in years past, she had often occupied his thoughts.

What would she think if she saw him now?

In Kuda Varai, people had told him he was attractive. Striking, even. He believed them. But it had never been enough to draw her attention. She’d never shown interest in him. Not that way. And he’d still never been able to stop secretly hoping. Zaiur had called him a fool for it more than a few times.

He didn’t like to think of himself as the type of person to pine after someone. It was an utterly useless waste of energy. But he hadn’t been able to help himself. He had never been skilled in matters of love.

But there was no questioning it—now was the time to give up. If he ever met her again, would she even recognize him? Even aside from the scars, he looked different. He couldn’t pinpoint what the difference was, but it was significant.

If he had ever been the sort of person women were interested in, he certainly wasn’t now.

The face in the water scowled back at him. He quickly stepped into the water, dispersing the reflection.

The water, when he slid into it, was hot enough to make him sigh. He swam to the opposite side of the pool, in the darkest corner of the room, and settled on the bench that lined the walls under the water.

“All right, Crow,” he muttered, his voice echoing off the stone walls. “You may have won me over this time.”

* * *

He was still sittingin that spot nearly an hour later when the door opened and Crow appeared in the doorway, holding a towel. Her eyes widened when she spotted him.

“Oh.” She glanced down at the water. The ripples and steam only partially obscured what lay beneath the surface. “I thought you’d be finished by now.”

“No,” he said simply.

She looked at him for a moment, as if expecting more. “Well, will you be finished soon?”

He rested one foot on the bench beneath him and crossed his arms over his knee. “No.”

---