Ellora's Sun

Chapter Eleven

Bonus upload!! It's close to the good stuff so I'm just too eager to share haha

—————-

Once they were alone, James hounded Adelaide for details of her little adventure, as he called it. She told him it was more of a little nightmare, and explained how she had been lost in the woods for most of it.
He asked about Stefan and what had happened, and she recounted their conversation. Adelaide found herself skipping Stefan's comments about Christoph. Everything else he'd told her had already been proven true, but she still hadn't made up her mind about Christoph.

After she'd filled him in and they'd each eaten two sandwiches, James grew bored of the room he'd been stuck in for the past day. He'd already flipped through most of the books in the room, but many were written in languages he couldn't read.

"I want to go explore." James told Adelaide, pacing the room with anxious energy. Adelaide did not share his eagerness to walk around - she'd done enough of that already.

She had found a closet towards the back of the room, with an old blanket, a broom, and some other supplies. She happily took the blanket and found a corner to curl up in. James, however, had ruined all of her attempts to nap with his constant movement and talking.

"You heard Christoph; we're not supposed to leave." Adelaide told him, covering her mouth as she yawned. She sat up, giving up on her idea of taking a nap. She leaned her head against the wall next to her, too tired to hold her head up.

"No, he said you're not supposed to leave. He didn't say anything about me." James told her, grinning at the loophole he found. Adelaide rolled her eyes at his logic.

"You're an idiot," She told him with a laugh, "you know that's not what he meant."

"You can't prove it, so I will be going. Good luck being bored!" James laughed, saluting her as he headed towards the door. Adelaide was too tired to argue with him, and she felt confident he couldn't get into too much trouble while he was hidden in Ellora. Unlike her, he didn't have unstable magic that would teleport him places.

"Don't go too far!" Adelaide told him as he shut the door and scurried down the steps. The open door blew a gust of wind inside, sending a shiver through her body. She pulled the blanket up to her chin and hugged her knees to her chest.

Just as Adelaide thought she might get to take her afternoon nap, she heard the door hinges squeak open again. She expected to look up and see James, but was met with Christoph's dark brown eyes. He stood in the doorway, scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably at the silence between them.

"Hey," Adelaide said finally. She noticed how much calmer he looked now, but he still looked tired and defeated, "James just went to explore."

"Yeah, I just talked to him. He should be fine - there's not too much around here he can get into trouble with." Christoph laughed, moving farther into the room and shutting the door behind him. His face was red from the wind chill, and he rubbed his hands together to get them warmed.

Adelaide thought about confusion around Christoph, and whether or not he was genuine and she should trust him. As much as she didn't know, and wanted to keep her distance from him, she also wasn't a horrible person. She wasn't just going to sit there and watch him shiver.

She pulled the blanket on her lap over so there was more room, and she lifted it up so they could share it. Christoph raised his eyebrows at the gesture, but Adelaide nodded for him to sit on the ground with her. He finally listened, taking the spot next to her and pulling the blanket over his lap and his freezing hands.

"Thanks." Christoph told her with a small smile. Adelaide tried to return the smile, but she knew it wasn't genuine. She couldn't bring herself to look at him without wondering whether she was getting played. She turned away, leaning her head on the wall next to her and picking at the fraying strings of the knit blanket.