Story of Kings

Chapter 9

Evelyn looked on in surprise at Ruhden but he just kept his eyes locked on Kane. Kane only stared back for a few moments, giving nothing away with his blank expression. After a short time, he stood up and nodded to the older man, looked back to her and Ellis and said, "catch you around, then." Then he swiped up his bowl of oatmeal and walked off with the older man. She didn't know who to be more impressed by, Ruhden, for requesting to speak to Kane personally after he had spoken against him earlier that morning, or Kane, for being indifferent and bringing his oatmeal to eat as he talked. His confidence was definitely blurring into arrogance but in the current situation she would rather not think of that.

"So..." Ellis said as he went back to stirring his oatmeal, his awkwardness and blush returning full force and he tried to restart the conversation they were having before Kane showed up.

Evelyn cut him off, punching him lightly on the shoulder. "Don't worry about Kane. He's just really blunt."

Ellis blinked twice. "What?" He asked.

"He's already been trained," she said as she gave him a tight smile. "That much is already evident, he tagged me in a sparring match this morning."

Ellis' eyes went wide. "Wait, really? But you're the best!"

Evelyn just shrugged. "Not anymore, I guess, for now." She then scooped up the rest of her oatmeal, finishing it before standing up and looking back down at Ellis. "Next time I'm definitely landing a blow on him, he has too much arrogance as it is."

The boy's eyes went wide again as he realized what she implied, but Evelyn was already away before he could respond. He was a nice enough kid, good at snooping and spotting targets but she definitely didn't fancy a seventeen-year-old boy. She bit her lip, she knew who she fancied, even if she shouldn't.

Shaking her head as she sat her bowl down in a bin at one of the edges of the room, Evelyn set off. She didn't have an assignment today, but she still had a few things on her own to-do list she wanted to see through, first on the list being to fetch Kane's coat. It had proved irritating when they were moving him and chaining him down, so they had taken it off, now she just had to find where it had been set down. She'd drop his coat off at his room then she needed to find Azmal.

Drifting through the tunnels Evelyn made her way back to where they had first put Kane, with the torches removed she had a need to grab an oil lantern before she arrived. She peered into the room, chains and stool removed and nodded to herself before making her way into a different side room a bit further down. Inside was a younger man with a lantern of his own burning at a dim setting, reading a book directly under the light it cast. He was seated at a table, barely looking up to Evelyn as she came in, only giving her a brief nod of acknowledgment before he went back to reading. They always kept someone posted down here in case someone, or an angel found its way down here to alert everyone in advance. She nodded in response and moved to the table, Kane's coat left on top and slung it over her arm.

As she walked back down the tunnel, coat in one hand and lantern in the other, Evelyn couldn't help but to notice a long, black hair on the lapel of the coat. Her brow arched as she spied it, glancing around to check if anyone was around before shuffling her lantern over to her other hand, scooting the coat up her arm to avoid the two from touching. With her free hand she then picked up the hair, looping it on itself and raised it to her nose, pulling in its scent. Her brow furrowed as she frowned, pulling the hair back to inspect it closer. The scent was fresh and distinguished from Kane's but something about it sent a shiver down her spine, something she couldn't place.

Evelyn shook her head and let the hair slip to the ground, she was probably overthinking it and letting her bias get in the way. But Kane's wife's hair was black, that was good to know, and now she also had her scent.