Page 102 of The Chaosweaver's Daughter
“Were you horribly put out?” he asked.
It took her a moment to reply, and when she did it was a quiet, “No...”
He smirked.
She pointed her knife at him again. “Not really. But Kas! That was too much. Whatelsehave you done? Because the way you’re fidgeting your glass tells me you’re not finished with confessions.”
He relocated his palms to his lap. “I’m not. Um... this year, at the Elk & Heron, I may have asked for one room.”
“What!?” The O of her mouth pulled into an oval as she fought a smile, and his heart soared.
“I’m aduke. My brother-in-law is the king.”Your brother is the king,he wanted to say, but there were some confessions he was not at will to make. “I could have hadallthe rooms if I’d asked for them. We were actually invited to stay at Hewran Hall.”
“Akkas!”
He pressed his lips between his teeth, holding back a grin at the absurdity of his symposium-related machinations. “I’m sorry?”
She huffed and rolled her eyes. “What else?”
He cleared his throat. “I was planning to invite you the moment I received an invitation. I wrote to Hevva for permission straight away. Forgot to tell her about the dresses, though.”
She balked.
“And . . .”
“There’smore?”
He shrugged. “Yes. I planned dinners to spend time with you, not the twins. I asked Aylin how you take your tea. And once, much earlier in the summer, Iaccidentallysaw you go into the creek in your shift. I left though—ran away. Also, that one night, out on the balcony, that was me outside, but I got scared and ran back in. I think that’s everything.”
Pursing her lips, she sighed and focused on her steak.
“I like you, Nesrina. I love your brain, the way you voice your thoughts, whether you mean to or not. I am enamored by your perfect little face.”
“Little is in the same realm as cute.”
He gave her a look that said, “Seriously?”
“But I’ll allow it,” she added.
He let loose a grin.
“Kas... I like you too. But this isconfusing.” She waved her knife-holding hand around in the air; but this time it wasn’t directed at him—not overtly, at least.
“I know. Nes, if it helps, you must realize that I recognize how grossly I overstepped with Tavid and Rihan.”
That brought her attention back to his face, which he both liked and hated, as her piercing green stare kicked his heart into an impossibly quick rhythm.
He went on, “I’m an adult and need to act like one. But more importantly,youare too. You know your own mind and are capable of making your own decisions. I don’t know what I was thinking—because I wasn’t. I panicked and acted foolishly—both times.” He finished with a whoosh of breath as he stared at an unfinished potato.
“I can understand that.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. It’s not the same as sending men away, but I seem to have a habit of climbing up on furniture when I panic.”
His nervous fingers had made their way back to the stem of his glass, so Kas lifted it. “Cheers, to panicking and acting like fools?”
“Oh, so you think I’m foolish?”
