Page 14 of Enchantment of Silver and Sea
Saw something like this in the forest tonight. Was standing in clearing, but disappeared under shadow of tree when I approached. Just vanished. Felt like I was being watched after? Can’t say for sure.
That was the last entry Matthew made.
I tried to swallow away the growing tightness in my throat.
Nya was human. I felt relatively confident in that. But was Kieran? And if not, what exactly was he? If he wasn’t human, wouldn’t the wards on the walls have prevented him from entering the city?
I closed the book, hiding those eyes between its covers.
Would I see him again? And if so, how afraid should I be?
CHAPTERFOUR
A week passed. I spent every night tossing and turning, staring at the ceiling or out the balcony door into the early hours of the morning.
Another week passed, and I started to find sleep again. But I still jolted awake at the slightest noise.
By the third week, I was convinced that if Nya and Kieran were going to return, this would be the time. Three weeks was sufficient to surveil the marsh wolves and lay a trap. Then I remembered with dismay that I had told them they may need to lay multiple traps, to whittle away at the pack a few at a time versus taking them on all at once. I kept this thought in mind as it hit the one-month mark.
By five weeks, I was convinced that Nya and Kieran had gotten everything they needed from me. I would never see them again or be able to satisfy my curiosity about why they sought me out.
The days dragged on as they always did. Brielle and I walked to our work assignments every day, ate lunch together, and walked back to our apartments together. We didn’t see much of Zander,and eventually Brielle learned through the rumor mill that he was seeing someone. But the relationship was short-lived, and it wasn’t long before word around the Knowledge Center—once again, according to Brielle—was that he was single again.
One stormy morning, as Brielle and I were staring out the glass doors of the living quarters, dreading our necessary walk through the courtyard, Zander appeared beside us.
“Well,” he said with a sigh. He held up two umbrellas. “I was going to offer these to you ladies, but it’s practically raining sideways. I’m not sure what good an umbrella’s going to do.”
“Oh!” Brielle exclaimed at the sight of him. “That was so thoughtful of you.”
He waved away her praise. “It’s nothing. I just have a few spare umbrellas and always figure on a day like today, I’m going to run into people who could use them.”
I had my compact umbrella tucked away in my bag and knew Brielle did as well. But I also knew she wasn’t about to tell Zander that. Not if it meant an opportunity to get her hands on something that belonged to him.
“How have you been, Mai?” Zander asked. Even in the darkness of the storm, his amber eyes were bright. And the shadows cast across his face highlighted his dimples.
“I’ve been fine. How about you?”
“Eh, could be better.” An awkward pause. “I’m sure you two heard that I was seeing someone for a while.”
“We did,” I agreed, wincing slightly.
The corner of his mouth turned up in a grim smile. “Yeah, it didn’t end very well.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Brielle chimed in. “She’ll be hard-pressed to find someone as great as you, Zander. Seriously.”
My eyes darted back and forth between the two of them, gauging Zander’s response.
He just shrugged and shook his head. Either he really didn’t hear her words as anything other than the appreciation of a good friend, or he was making the conscious choice not to hear them as anything more.
“It’s not like that,” he said. “I was the one who ended it. I thought she was feeling it, too…that we’re better off as friends. But I guess I really hurt her.”
If it were any other guy telling us this, I would have thought he was boasting about breaking some poor girl’s heart. But that wasn’t Zander.
He was staring out at the driving rain, absent-mindedly knocking the umbrellas against his leg, his jaw flexed.
“Why did you end it?” I found myself asking.
His eyes shifted back to mine. He let out a long sigh. “I just wasn’t feeling it. She’s…not the one for me.”
