Page 13 of Insurrection
My dad’s smile grew as he looked over Drayven, “I should be more worried aboutyoursafety right now, from the looks of you. Are you okay?”
Drayven glanced at me, his eyes flashing with frustration as his lips pinched together, “Yes, Sir.”
“Good, good.” My father waved dismissively, “I informed Ama that the two of you would be attending the Summit together. You will meet with her tutor tomorrow so you two can be briefed on everything.”
Fuck.
“Of course,” Drayven’s face was still actively bleeding as he stepped back. “Ama, I will see you tomorrow.” I offered a head nod, arching a brow at the look on his face.Oh man - he was totally pissed.Good. Maybe he would learn to not be such a demanding jerk.
The door closed and my dad offered me an amused look while switching back to our previous topic, “So the prince of Runes is a…”
“Friend,” I provided as my father offered me a patronizing but amused head nod.
“Awfully hard hit he landed on Drayven for someone defending theirfriend.”
I groaned, throwing my head back and wishing I had never let him see my interest in Finias or the forehead kiss he had given me. I had survived so long without embarrassment of the dad variety, and now he was never going to let this go. Mark my words.
* * *
Loud poundingon my bedroom door had me jerking up in bed as I let out a groan. There were only two people who had the audacity to knock on my door like that. One could let herself in easily, and the other…Well, I just had no interest in seeing the other. Fascinating that Drayven seemed to be making far more of an appearance now that someone was showing interest in me. Did he really hate me so much that the idea of someone else liking me pushed him to these extremes? To try to make me miserable in other ways?
There was also the fact that he was apparently coming to my tutoring session today. Thanks, Dad.
Getting out of bed, I wrapped a robe around myself and headed toward my back window to check on the weather. Opening the curtains, I tilted my head, noticing that there was something sitting in the center of the stone ledge outside.
I opened the window and picked up the hand-carved, cherry red wooden flower. The artistry was so skilled and gorgeous that it had me second-guessing for a moment whether it might be a real flower instead of a wooden one. I looked around, wondering how the hell it had gotten there.
I mean, my room hung over a fairly substantial drop to the east side of the castle. It was purposefully isolated for security, but still featured a stunning view of the rolling, mountainous tree landscape. So, how did this get here?
Humming under my breath, I attempted to get a feel for whether or not there was any magic attached to it, negative or otherwise, but I didn’t detect anything. Just a pretty wooden carved flower.
I turned around as I marveled over its beauty, and promptly almost dropped it as I noticed the intruder standing there.
“Holy shit!” I squeaked, finding Drayven leaning against the separation archway between my bedroom and the living suite.
“I knocked,” he reasoned, his voice rough and trailing against my skin. I kept the flower tucked against my chest with the hand that held my robe. I was completely covered, yet it felt shockingly intimate having him in my space like this. It wasn’t welcomed…mostly.
Why did I feel conflicted about that? I just needed to get some coffee in my system. My brain wasn’t functioning properly yet.
“I didn’t answer for a reason,” I pointed out, narrowing my eyes. When he didn’t say anything else, I rolled my eyes and walked towards my closet, deciding to wear my default hoodie and leggings because I wouldn’t be leaving my personal quarters. No one would see me outside of the tutor and Drayven.
I closed the bathroom door and got ready quickly, changing into comfortable clothes before pulling my hair into a loose braid and brushing my teeth. I stepped out of the bathroom and nearly ran right into Drayven.Damn him. This man had no understanding of personal space.
I backed up and looked up at him, my hands tucked away in my hoodie pocket, where they smoothed over the little flower trinket. I was finding I loved the object, and I had no idea why or who it was from.
“We need to talk about yesterday,” he rumbled.
“Not positive there is anything to talk about.” I shrugged dismissively, “You were being a demanding ass, and neither Finias nor I were cool with it.”
“And the fucking part where you were holding hands with aliteralassassin?!” He snarled and threw his hands in the air, completely exasperated with me.
I couldn’t help but jolt slightly in response to his outburst. I wasn’t used to seeing him so worked up, and I regarded him carefully. “You're pissed because we were holding hands?”
“Correct,” he growled.
“So itisbecause you aren’t okay with the idea of anyone liking me!” I exclaimed, feeling validated in my previous thoughts on the situation. He hated the idea of someone making me happy. Devil forbid someone actually took a liking to me and broke the illusion of me aspersona non grata.
“Yes,” he bit out, but not with anger. It was with sadness and an ounce of bitterness.
