Within Their Reach

16. Surprises.

This is a long ass chapter...
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Ava

I jogged to Silas as he walked a few steps ahead of mine, trying to catch up with his pace. People bowed their heads or gave a nod to him as we walked past them and each time, I would look over my shoulder to see if Aiden was coming. 

I was getting out of breath and this weather wasn't helping with the situation. My cheeks were cold and so were my hands as I frequently tried to rub my palms together to warm my face.

"Can you please slow down?" I called out making him stop abruptly. 

My clumsiness caused me to trip and crash into his back. I heard him groan in irritation. Taking a few steps back making some distance between us he faced me and I could almost see his urge to leave me here for my own.

"You need to walk faster, little human." He said, I narrowed my eyes at his words. 

I'm not little!

"I would have if the meds were not in my system." They make me feel tired after doing something too much. Clearly, he doesn't care for that.

"Then what am I supposed to do? I have been left here to babysit you." he pinches the bridge of his nose.

"All I am asking is if you could walk slowly." This time I couldn't hide my irritation making him raise his brows.

He doesn't say anything and starts walking by my side. Can't lie, his presence makes me anxious even though I try to calm myself down.

"Will you stop being nervous?" I look up at him, "It's suffocating."

"I'm not nervous." I shake my head defensively as we pass a group of people.

I heard him sigh by my side and I know he can tell that I have lied. "You know I hate repeating myself and I clearly remember I had told you that you are very bad at lying."

"How did you know I was nervous?" I ignored his words. I looked at him to meet his eyes.

"We can smell certain emotions of a person." he shrugged as he stopped making me halt as well. He turned to face me as he leaned to meet my height. "So, when you are nervous, scared, sad, angry, happy we get to know." 

I gulped and ignored the urge to lick my chapped lips. "Oh."

This is bad. Very bad.

"Oh indeed." He nodded making a few of his black curls cover his forehead. "Now why are you nervous?"

I opened my mouth to deny it but then remembered what he just said making me clamp my mouth shut. "It isn't easy to stay calm in your presence." 

He furrowed his brows and then as if realising what he has done he cleared his throat and like an idiot he is, he smirked. "So, I make you nervous?"

"It doesn't matter." I shake my head. 

It wasn't that it was just Silas who was making me nervous right now. Looking around as I walked, I noticed I had seen only two women out of a hundred men. It isn't my fault that this makes me feel uneasy. 

Imagine being thrown into a world you don't know, hated by the king and then taken to an event where there are hundreds of men and only three to four females. I would rather kill myself than be there.

There was a long silence as we kept walking. There were beautiful stalls aligned, a few clothes, jewellery, astrology, a bar, few book stalls, then my eyes closed at the aroma coming from the distant stall.