Page 93 of Ashes of Aether

And if she knew how little progress I’ve made, she would kill me.

“So,” I say as he slides the two goblets toward me, “how much will that be?”

“Nothing,” he replies.

“Nothing? How can wine cost nothing?” Unless you steal it from Garon Whiteford’s warehouses, that is.

“It’s on the house.”

I gawk at him, having no idea how my terrible flirting has caused him to buy drinks for us. Well, not exactly to buy drinks since he owns all the alcohol here. But free drinks, nonetheless. “You’re sure?”

A smile dances on his lips. It makes my heart flutter. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because I already cost you a fortune in wine last night.” Eliya would clip me round the ear and tell me I should just graciously smile back, lest he decides to charge us for the drinks.

“I can think of far worse reasons to crash a cart full of wine,” he says.

Is he flirting with me? Or am I imagining it? This time I don’t have a single drop of wine to blame my imagination on.

A blush spreads across my cheeks, and I dip my head before he can notice. Like a bumbling fool, I almost spill the goblets over as I reach for them. Fortunately, Nolan steadies them in place, preventing a disaster.

“Thank you,” I mumble as I turn away. With my words spoken so softly, I don’t know whether he hears them.

I start back over to Eliya and my wobbly legs threaten to spill the wine all over my dress. At least it’s only white wine. After several strides, I begin to think of better responses. Such as that I can also think of far worse reasons to be crashed into. If I’d said that with a coy smile on my lips, I might have actually gotten somewhere.

But am I even trying to get anywhere at all?

I don’t look Eliya in the eye as I sit opposite her. Gingerly, I slide one of the metallic goblets across to her.

“Well?” she demands, drumming her fingers against the table.

“Well, what?” I ask, quickly lifting the goblet to my lips so that it covers most of my face. I keep it there for as long as I reasonably can.

“How did it go?”

I take several long sips of wine before I have no choice but to set it back down and face Eliya. “Um, well. I think?”

Eliya narrows her eyes, clearly unconvinced.

“He gave us free drinks,” I say.

She leans back in her chair, folding her arms. Surprisingly, she has not yet touched her wine. “Good. What else?”

“He asked about my arm.”

Her eyes narrow a little more. Clearly that wasn’t the response she was hoping to hear.

“He remembered my name.”

“And?”

“And...” I tap my lower lip, which is moist from the wine gathered there. “And that was it.”

Eliya’s forehead meets the table with a thud. I glance around to see if anyone is staring at us. Luckily, no one is. Not even Nolan.

“You absolute idiot!” she roars. The wooden table thankfully muffles her voice. “By the gods, you’re a lost cause.”

My shoulders sag, and my fingers toy with the fine details engraved into the bottom of the metallic goblet.

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