Page 57 of Fear the Flames
“I second that,” Ryder remarks.
“Can either of you ever provide someone with a normal form of encouragement or comfort?” Saskia rolls her eyes.
“We’ll tell the assassins not to kill them,” Cayden reasons.
“Exactly. Just hurt them a little before sending them on their way,” Ryder adds.
“With the bonus of a corrected way of thinking.” Cayden points in Ryder’s direction.
“The both of you are a nuisance,” Saskia mutters while rubbing her temples.
“We could always pretend to be the assassins so that we don’t have to hire anyone and get the pleasure of correcting their thinking ourselves,” I chime in.
“Yes!” Cayden and Ryder shout in tandem.
“Don’t encourage them.” Saskia levels me with a glare before asking, “What do you have to do tonight?”
My smile cracks, and I tip my head down to fiddle with the ends of my hair. “I should meet with Finnian and Ailliard to tell them I’m alright; they’re probably worried. They also might want to go over some things about Aestilian since the treaty terms are finalized.”
“I’ll go with you,” Saskia suggests. I hesitate at her offer; she won’t hear anything about the location of Aestilian, but she would still be getting inside information. Information can be lethal in the mind of Saskia; her brain is her sharpest weapon. “All you’ll be discussing is provisions, yes?” she asks. I nod in response. “I can already draw my own conclusions based on how much gets sent to Aestilian. You won’t be discussing anything I can’t figure out. I can also be your buffer.”
I won’t lie; her offer sounds tempting. Even though I slept for almost two days, I don’t feel rested, and I’m not up for a verbal sparring match. “You’re sure?” I ask.
Saskia looks up from the paper she’s writing on. “You realize you’re my ally, too, right?”
“Of course, I am. That’s what I agreed to.” Not only does Saskia feel like an ally, but she also feels like a friend.
“No.” She rests her pen against the table. “You’re my ally against them,” she states while pointing between Cayden and Ryder, who wear mock expressions of betrayal. Their jaws hang open while they clutch their chests and glance between each other and Saskia. The laughter that bubbles in my throat, free of restraint, feels wonderful.
“Deal,” I say and reach out to shake her hand, wanting to rub a little salt in their wounds.
She deviously smiles while firmly clasping mine, “Allies.”
“This is dangerous.” Cayden abruptly rises from the table. “I’m leaving before I get stabbed.”
“Don’t leave me, you coward!” Ryder shouts and follows him out of the room, spilling coffee and yelping when the liquid burns his hand.
“Are they always like this?” I ask Saskia.
“Unfortunately,” she answers while getting up from the table. “We’ll leave for the castle in five minutes.” She walks out of the kitchen and heads upstairs.
All but a minute passes before Cayden comes back into the room wearing a thick black cloak around his neck and carrying another in his hand. He takes a seat on the bench next to me, but he rests his back against the table rather than swinging his legs around.
“You don’t have to do that. The castle is close enough,” I tell him as he fastens the spare cloak around my neck.
“I know I don’t have to,” he replies, finishing off the knot.He’s doing it because he wants to.“Making allies wherever you go, angel?”
Angel.
He’s said it countless times, but this time the word sparks another memory. I heard him in my dream. The darkness had his voice. His eyes narrow on me when I don’t answer right away, so I shove the dream to the back of my mind. The last thing he needs to hear is that I dreamed of him while I slept in his bed…and I think I slept in his arms, on his bare chest.
I cover my realization up with a small laugh. “Have you looked for the assassin yet?”
All traces of humor disappear from his features, and his posture goes rigid. “No, I sealed off the city. I haven’t left the house.”
“You sealed off the city?” I gasp, and my hands fly toward my mouth. Sealing off the city means halting all imports and exports, all travel, all correspondence to other cities in Vareveth and other kingdoms on the continent—it’s not something to do under minor circumstances.
“I took a vow to protect you. I intend to hold myself to that vow,” he says without looking at me.
