Straight Through The Heart ((ON HOLD))

Chapter Eleven

By the time Alisa returned to the meeting hall, the presentation was over and the attendants were filling out to go about the rest of their day. Some mingled, chatting with one another while a majority exited through the main doors to the open plaza outside, where the prospective Venandi loitered waiting for direction to begin their day.

Alisa hesitated at the top of the marble stairs, looking out over the gathered crowd for a familiar shock of red hair to at least give her someone familiar to seek out.

"I knew you were someone special the moment you entered that hall."

A deep, smooth voice purred from next to her, startling her to the point where one misstep and she would have been tumbling down the marble stairs. Her head whipped to the source to see the blue-eyed stranger from earlier standing unnecessarily close as he watched her, that same devious, almost challenging, smirk on his lips.

She didn't know if she wanted to kiss him or push him down the stairs.

"Is that why you haven't been able to stop staring at me the entire time?" she asked, pulling at the cuff of her sleeve to show her feigned disinterest instead of gazing into that sapphire stare.

"I haven't been able to stop staring at you because I think you're beautiful," he said boldly. "But had I known you were a Rousseau—"

"What does my family name have to do with anything?"

His smile widened. "Our family names mean everything."

"So does that mean you're more or less interested now knowing who my mother is?"

"Your mother has nothing to do with this. I want to know who you are."

"I don't even know who you are."

"Kaer." He extended a hand.

"Fine." She took it, shaking it.

"That's it?" He let out a soft chuckle. "You're not going to ask me about my family name?"

"I thought Imerai were supposed to denounce their names."

"True, but there are some of us who never forget."

"That seems to be a common theme around here."

"Are you not proud of who you are?"

"It's not about me being proud. It's about me not being able to be me. It's about people only seeing my mother whenever they hear my name."

"So, create your own legacy."

"It would take another war."

Kaer shrugged his broad shoulders. "Saviors have been made with less."

She was going to respond when a flash of red underneath the morning sunlight caught her attention and she saw Leyani peeking out over the crowd. A sense of relief and disappointment washed over her, and she glanced at Kaer. "Don't you have training to attend?"

"Do you have anything you can teach me?"

Her cheeks flushed under the insinuation of his gaze, and she felt her stomach knot when she responded, "Maybe."

"I like maybe." He grinned.

"Then maybe I'll see you around."

"Maybe." He winked.

Alisa forced herself down the marble stairs and away from Kaer, hoping to find Leyani and distract herself enough to get Kaer's blue eyes and arrogant smile out of her mind.