Page 14 of A Court of Ash and Midnight
“Oh, excellent. If you can attend to her during dinner, I would be most grateful.”
“Of course, Professor,” Toryn says, nodding in deference.
When the professor walks off, Toryn smiles. “Embyr, is it? Please, come sit with me.”
I suck in a deep breath, hoping to cool the flaming of my cheeks, which with skin as pale as mine isn’t easy to hide.
“Thank you,” I say as casually as I can.
He gestures for me to take one of two empty seats at the table. I’m relieved to see that Gielle isn’t there, but his two companions from earlier are. They stare at me, slack-jawed, as I take a seat.
“Boys, pull yourselves together,” Toryn says. “It’s not as if you’ve never seen a human before.”
“I’ve seen one,” says the shorter trainee, “I’ve just never dined with one before.”
“Well, there’s a first time for everything,” Toryn responds dryly. He takes the seat next to me. “My apologies for these two. They are somewhat lacking in basic manners.”
I hear a noise of protest from his two friends, but Toryn turns to face me, his broad shoulders nearly blocking them from sight. “So, Embyr, tell me what brought you so mysteriously to Shadow’s Keep? The rumors have been absolutely flying today.”
He smiles disarmingly, and I remember he was the only one earlier who didn’t behave atrociously. Perhaps noteveryonehere is terrible.
So, I tell him the same story I told the Commander and Professor Julian. I figure I might as well—if rumors are circulating, they’re bound to be inaccurate, so I can at least try to set the record straight. I don’t mention my amnesia… that part is still a secret I’ve guarded for so long it feels a part of me.
When I’m finished, Toryn gives me the same appraising look he’d given me in the bathing room, as if he’s reading somethingwithin me. “So, Professor Julian thinks you’ve got some sort of special hidden magic that these hunters want? How intriguing.”
“He seems to think so.” I shrug.
“And you don’t?”
I try not to stare too directly into his eyes, which are far too pretty, golden like his hair. “I think I’m just a perfectly ordinary girl who works as a blacksmith’s apprentice.”
Those lips of his quirk up again at the corners. “I don’t think anything about you is what I would describe as ordinary.”
This time, I definitely can’t hide the color that washes over my cheeks.
“So, has Professor Julian begun testing you for a magical affinity yet?” Toryn asks, kindly ignoring my embarrassment.
I go through the events of the day, leaving out the detail about my new winged friend. He tells me interesting tales of Shadow’s Keep and the Guardians, and is generally charming and pleasant and the first person other than Professor Julian to treat me like a normal person—even more so, because Toryn doesn’t look at me like I’m some puzzle box he’s dying to solve.
As we converse throughout dinner, I find myself occasionally glancing around the room at the surrounding tables. I see Gielle a few tables over, and some of the other trainees I’d seen passing in the halls throughout the day, but I realize that one person seems to be absent. The jade-eyed man who’d brought me here. The one Professor Julian warned me away from.
“Are you looking for someone in particular?” Toryn asks me.
Apparently, I hadn’t been as inconspicuous as I’d thought. I fight another blush. “No… I guess maybe I’m as unused to being around fae as fae are unused to being around me.”
“We’re not so different,” Toryn says. “Other than our beauty, extensive magical talents, and near immortality.” He shrugs and chuckles.
“Oh, you know, minor things,” I say with a laugh.
After dinner, Toryn walks me back to my room. We pause in front of my door, and Toryn smiles in a heart-melting, knee-weakening kind of way. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a human quite like you. You are…unexpected.”
“I could say the same about you,” I say, offering my own small smile.
“Well, good night, Embyr. Sweet dreams.”
“Good night, Toryn.”
He turns and walks away, and I go inside my room and shut the door behind me. Trix immediately flies down from the rafters, landing on the bed and looking up at me expectantly, waiting for attention. I had managed to smuggle some grapes in my pocket, which I pull out and offer to the creature, though I’m not at all sure what she eats. However, she seems satisfied enough and begins to nibble daintily on one of the purple orbs.
