Page 45 of Silver & Smoke
‘Needed a little cat nap in your old age, I see,’ Darian observed from where he sat a few feet away on a hay bale, toying with something between his fingers that Torj couldn’t see. ‘If you keep scowling like that you’ll get wrinkles,’ the nobleman added, his voice smooth. ‘Ormorewrinkles, I should say.’
Darian’s smile was as smug as ever. He’d perfected it from the age of sixteen and had been wielding it against men and women alike ever since.
Torj rolled his eyes and sat up with a groan. ‘Don’t you ever get sick of yourself?’
‘Why would I when I’m such excellent company?’ Darian quipped.
‘You haven’t changed.’
The nobleman laughed. ‘You don’t mess with perfection, brother.’
‘That’s not what I’d call it,’ Torj grunted in reply as he tried to dust himself off. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Well, someone had to break your fall. I can only imagine the damage I’d be billed for if your thick skull cracked the ship floor,’ Darian replied with a smirk.
‘Do you ever stop?’ Torj muttered.
The smirk widened into a grin. ‘Not if I can help it. So, what’s with you collapsing?’
Torj ground his teeth. ‘I didn’tcollapse.’
‘Then you swooned in my presence? I’m touched.’ But there was an edge to Darian’s voice now. ‘What’s going on? What happened to you?’
‘Nothing—’
‘Don’t insult my intelligence, Bear Slayer,’ Darian snapped. ‘Tell me what’s going on – or do I need to get my betrothed involved?’
Torj stared daggers at him. He knew the prick was just usingthe term to aggravate him; the problem was...it worked. Every. Fucking. Time.
Darian pocketed whatever he was fidgeting with and got to his feet. ‘So be it. I’ll call my wife-to-be and she can deal with you—’
‘She’snotyour wife.’ Torj hated the bastard. Hated him. ‘You know what the problem is, anyway. I’ve been poisoned, remember?’
‘But that shouldn’t be affecting you this badly yet.’ Darian surged for the stall door. ‘I’ll get Wren—’
‘There’s nothing to be done right now.’
‘Then why did you ask me not to tell her?’ Darian demanded.
‘I just don’t want her to see me like this.’
‘If she’s ever woken up next to you in the morning, I assure you, the states are almost identical—’
The Bear Slayer growled. ‘Devereux.’
‘Elderbrock.’
Torj wanted to get up, wanted to show Darian that there was nothing wrong with him, but his limbs felt heavy, and his mind was full of fog. He needed a moment, just a moment, to get his bearings.
Darian returned to the hay bale and sat down with a sigh. ‘I thought things were good between us, brother...’
Torj glanced up. ‘Just because I found out you helped my grandmother doesn’t mean I have to like your highborn bullshit.’
Darian laughed. Actuallylaughed.‘Well, I for one could do without the brooding warrior attitude. You really know how to kill a mood, you know that? We used to have fun, Elderbrock. Don’t you remember?’ The nobleman stretched out his legs, crossing them at the ankles. ‘The drinking games... The maidens watching us spar... The—’
‘There’s none of that any more,’ Torj muttered, closing his eyes against the ache forming behind them.
‘True,’ Darian said. ‘They weren’t maidens for long—’
