Page 28 of Shardless

“I don’t see a problem,” Skye said. “I can take care of it when you come to dinner because… Oh! That’s right. I won. And that means that in addition to letting us feed you occasionally, you have to let me, and only me, maintain your weapons from now on. And your crystals—that was part of the deal too.” He draped a companionable arm around her shoulders, ignoring the way she groaned and buried her face in her hands. “What day works best for you? I’ll need to let Eliza know to set an extra place at the table. And I’m sure Sarina’s probably going to want to make sure she coordinates the laundry.”

“I was so close. So close to beating you!” Taly elbowed him in the side, but he just tightened his grip, laughing. With a sigh, she exclaimed, “You know what? I don’t care. I’ll take your stupid dagger. But I want Zephyr back too.”

“Oh,come on. What is it going to take for me to get you to let that thing go?” Skye asked, releasing her and pulling her beloved dagger from his boot. “It’s embarrassing.”

She accepted the dagger eagerly. Holding it up to her cheek, she gently stroked it and cooed, “It’s okay, baby. He doesn’t mean it. I know he still loves you.”

“You’re weird, Tink.”

“Says you. I like to think that I’m ‘adorably quirky.’” Taly stood and gave him a friendly punch on the arm. “You ready to go? If we leave now, we can be at the gate by" —she pulled out a beat-up pocket watch— “midday? If we make good time. That’ll put us back here with plenty of time for me to get back to Ryme before dark.”

Shit. Skye cleared his throat uncomfortably and averted his gaze. In the short time since they parted ways at the training yard, he had messed up. Badly.

“Uh…” His mouth suddenly felt very dry. Ducking his head, he mumbled, “Yeah. So, Aimee asked to see the Aion Gate, and I might have” —chancing a glance at Taly’s face, he could see the dawning horror in her eyes— “told her that she could… come.”

Taly didn’t say anything immediately. She just stood there with her back to him, her shoulders tensed, staring straight ahead.

That made him nervous. Channeling just a tiny bit of aether, he heard the rapid flutter of herheart. “You know,” he stammered, wincing when her hands fisted at her side, “to be nice? I mean, Aimeeisa guest.”

Taly exhaled forcefully and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I’m sure it won’t be that bad,” Skye continued. She still wasn’t saying anything, and she hadn’t started hitting him yet. That made himreallynervous. “I tried pawning her off on Sarina already, but then Sarina kinda disappeared. Ivain—well he just laughed, and then he disappeared too.”

Jerking her head, Taly finally looked down at where he still sat on the steps. The sunlight enveloped her slight form, casting a long shadow across her face. Skye braced himself, expecting her to release the full force of her fury.

But that didn’t happen. Instead of ranting and fuming, Taly took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders. “The price just doubled,” was all she said before turning to walk away.

Skye could hear Taly quietly grumbling beside him as they made their way to the stables. He wasn’t happy about the situation with Aimee either, but he couldn’t exactly do anything about it now.

He had messed up. He knew that. When he had been walking with Aimee back to the manor,she had started prattling on about the Aion Gate, but he had only been half-listening. At the time, his mind was somewhere far away still replaying the events of the sparring match. So naturally, when Aimee had asked to see the Aion Gate, he had stupidly and unknowingly mumbled, “Uh-huh.” It seems years of just nodding along to her babbling had finally come back to haunt him. Before he could try to dissuade her, Aimee had let out a squeal that should’ve made his ears bleed, said something about going to change, and then ran off.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Taly muttered.

Following Taly’s stare, Skye could see that Aimee had somehow managed to beat them to the barn. The noblewoman stood in the center of the training yard issuing instructions to a very agitated groom. And while shehadchanged clothes, Skye wasn’t sure he saw any more utility in her new wardrobe. She wore a traditional ladies’ riding habit, complete with tapered sleeves and a bustled skirt. Gold cord adorned the front of the green velveteen gown in swirling loops, and a small, black dressage hat sat atop her immaculately coiffed hair. She tapped her foot impatiently as she watched the groom finish adjusting a sidesaddle on their most docile mare.

That’s odd, Skye thought, squinting to make sure he had seen that correctly. Out of the vast array of riding equipment and horse tack that Harbor Manor’s stables had acquired over the years, he had never seen a sidesaddle among the collection. As far as he knew, there had never been a need for one. While Taly would’ve outright laughed in the face of anyone who dared suggest she ride sidesaddle, even Sarina—a proper feylady worthy of the title of Matriarch—chose to sit astride.

This was not going to be a good day.

“Skye,” Taly whispered, “you need to tell her to stay here. She’s going to get hurt.”

“You know that’s not going to work. She’s just going to whine and pout until she gets her way,” Skye replied. His irritation from before was starting to resurface.

Taly huffed and angrily shoved her hands into her pockets. “Oh, Shards forbid she might complain. You really need to learn to stand up to your girlfriend, Skye.”

“You know what?” Skye snapped, trying to keep his voice low and stabbing a finger at Taly. “This is partly your fault too. You left me alone with her. You know that never ends well.”

Taly turned on him, halting their advance. “Really? That’s the argument you’re going to go with? You’re a grown man, Skye, and I’m not always going to be around to be your chaperone.”

Her careless words made something inside him snap, but Skye did his best to hold back the surge of anger he could feel threatening to break loose. “Oh, believe me. I got that. You’ve already made that point loud and clear.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Taly shot back accusingly.

“Are you kidding?” Skye asked in disbelief. “Have you just completely forgotten about the fact that you up and left last year with no explanation whatsoever?” Taly’s eyes widened. Since she’d returned, they had both been dancing around this subject, trying to avoid the pain and awkwardness. But the hurt, the resentment, was still there—a gaping wound that had yet to heal.

When Taly continued to silently stare at him, her expression unreadable, Skye finally allowed himself to give into his anger. “What’s the matter?” he hissed, the edges of his mouth curling up into a sardonic smile. “Having a hard time remembering how you just ran away from home without so much as a ‘goodbye’ or even a ‘hey, I’m stepping out, so don’t wait up?’ It’s okay. I get it.”

Taly opened her mouth to make a retort, but Skye cut her off. “After all, why should it matter that I spent three weeks unable to do anything but hope that you weren’t dead? That’s on me, right? Because I worry too much? It’s not like you were screaming in pain the last time I saw you. I must have imagined that.”

---