Page 121 of Upon Buried Embers
Lifting my hand, there’s a single line of blood welling to the surface.
For the first time, a thorn got me.
Quickly wiping it away, I take the steps and rush into the cabin, the storm picking up behind me. Shutting the door quickly, I find Rohan standing at the table, his back to me, staring down.
Nerves sink in my stomach, and I come to a halt, hands clenching around the roses.
“Hi,” I say, braving a few steps in and pulling my hood down, brushing off snow. “The storm is really bad out there, Calian says it will be in for the night now.” Silence. “Did you eat?”
Nothing.
I look down at the roses in my hand, my stomach dropping. He’s still angry at me…
I try and think of something else to say.
“Shall I get a bath ready? I… spent a long time out today, and the snow is really coming down so what better way to warm up than a bath?”
Still nothing. He must be really mad.
Tears sting the back of my eyes at his silence, and I look around the room until my eyes land on the hair on the table.
“Oh, I washed the hair on Drogonah’s reins for you.” I bite my lip briefly. “I only had time to do one side, but I can do the other tomorrow? I made sure to keep it all together and if you look,I think it’s my best braid yet.” I fidget, taking another step and holding the roses out. “I got you roses too—”
“What did you just say?” he asks, and my heart leaps in my throat at how quiet he said it. How… deadly.
How cold.
“I… got you roses,” I hesitate, biting my lip again.
His shoulders stiffen. “Before. That.”
“I washed the hair.” I clear my throat, pointing to it, even though he can’t see me. “I made sure to do it neatly! If… if it isn’t good you can redo it? Or I can? I won’t stop until I get it right.”
I hear him take a deep breath, and then he speaks in a tone I haven’t heard from him before.
“You took the hair from my reins?”
“Yes.”
“From Drogonah’s reins?”
“T-they were above his saddle.”
“The one that you have been told not to touch?”
I swallow roughly at the anger in his tone.
“I’m sorry,” I say quietly. “I just thought—”
He spins around, storming toward me so suddenly that I flinch back. The fury on his face is clear, and dread slithers through me at the look in his eyes.
“You justthoughtwhat, Elf?” he spits my name like it’s something horrible, and tears build once more.
I take another step back.
“I just—”
“You think you can take what isn’t yours and do what you want with it?”
