Page 29 of Research with Rivals
Getting the words out was hard enough. The way Ambrose stared as I tried to assemble the sentence was unbearable. But once Lord Arctos had unceremoniously shared the information my brain was protecting me from, I could no longer avoid it.
I had bound us together with my stupidity.
It should have been obvious that something had happened last night given my reaction to his hand on mine. But no, I’d been convinced it was a useless crush. Well, apparently, it was both.
I tried to explain—the meal together, the cut, none of it came out right. I wanted him to know this wasn’t some reckless test. This was blood magic inferring intent, which I now decided it had no business doing.
His attention while I spoke left me hot and cold in equal parts, a problem not even Vesten fire magic could fix. AfterI blurted out the necessary information, he just continued to stand there beside his study carrel. Unblinking.
I’m not entirely sure how I decided what to do next. Ambrose was no help at all. Somehow, I convinced him that we needed to discuss this outside of the library. We needed a drink, maybe a few, and Parkview Tavern was the perfect option. We could have selected a closer tavern, but I was comfortable at the Parkview, and hopefully, Ambrose would think twice about shouting at me in such a public setting. It would keep things civil while we unpacked what I had done.
Or, at least, that was the plan.
His hand hadn’t stopped running through his hair on the walk. Well, it had stopped long enough for him to roll up his shirtsleeves and pluck his pencil and notepad from his vest pocket. He scribbled the rest of the way there.
Now we sat at a table as far from the bar and Seraphina’s prying ears as we could get. His gaze bored into mine like I was some kind of experiment. I guessed now I was.
How was I going to undo this?
Mina was working the floor, but Seraphina’s eagle eyes spotted us, and she slipped from behind the bar to approach our table.
“Evelyn. Ambrose.” Her voice was absent its usual warmth as she attempted to assess what this outing was exactly. The last time I’d seen her, I told her Ambrose was my rival for a promotion.
Ambrose startled at her voice. “Ah, Seraphina, hi.”
Her eyes narrowed in my direction. I shrugged helplessly. The words had barely come out when I confessed to Ambrose. There was no chance I could repeat them for her now.
“What can I get you two, then?” she asked into my silence.
“Ale,” I said.
Ambrose studied me. “I’ll have what she’s having.”
Seraphina arched an eyebrow at me, and I steadfastly refused to make eye contact. I barely caught her nod before she walked away to take care of our drinks. I knew we’d have words later, but right now, I needed to focus.
What were we going to do?
My unacknowledged suspicion had been growing in confidence all day. Every time he left my sight, something in me ached. It wasn’t enough to have eyes on him, like I usually did from my corner; the discomfort in my chest pressed for more. It wanted proximity. It wanted connection. It wanted a whole lot of things I’d rather not consider right now.
Then Lord Arctos put into words precisely what I’d been avoiding. He’d seemed rather giddy about it, too. I didn’t care what people said; the Vesten God was an unholy terror.
Ambrose’s hazel eyes stared into the middle distance. A flash of gold expanded and contracted across his irises before he dropped his attention to his notebook. The gold ring reminded me how his eyes had looked this morning in wolf form.
How off-balance was he? Was he going to shift in the middle of this tavern? I’d ask him, but he was still studiously taking notes.
For once, my veil cat kept quiet. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think she was enjoying this.
Seraphina returned with the drinks. She wordlessly set them on the table, gave me another look that conveyed that we would be discussing this later, and sauntered back to the bar.
“Are you sure?” Ambrose asked, breaking from his stupor. He set down his notebook and pencil to reach for his ale.
I nodded.
“How do you know?”
I took a long gulp of my drink, considering my response. It was rather embarrassing to discuss, but it had to be done. I would lay out the facts, even if they were huge, embarrassingfacts that made me seem like a stalker pining after Ambrose Yarrow. “I first noticed this morning. Everything made me think of you. It was like I couldn’t get you out of my mind.”
My cheeks heated. Maybe that wasn’t the best place to start.
