Remember Me

4

When Eris winnowed right in front of her in the carriage, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Ever so stubborn, at least one thing had not changed about the Heir.

"Fucking hell, Vanserra!" She seethed. "At least knock."

"Knock?" He said baffled. "You're in a moving carriage."

"You have legs, don't you?" She raised an eyebrow. Eris just put his bag down and leaned back, crossing his muscular arms over each other. "You agreed with me."

"No, I said I understood." He ran a hand through his red locks. "Just -" He sighed. "Let me escort you to Velaris, if you want to part ways after that... fine.

"Do I look like I need an escort?" She said, crossing her legs, so the sun that shone through the window, reflected on several knifes that were strapped on her body.

"Alright, you are escorting me then."

She snorted, raising her eyebrows. "The future High Lord of the Autumn Court, with fire in his veins, needs an escort. What will people say when they find out." Eris didn't comment, he opened his bag and took out a book. She eyed him. "What's your business at the Night Court?"

"What is yours?" He challenged; his book still closed on his lap.

She held his gaze. Those amber eyes of his wholly fixed on her. There were two reasons she was going to Velaris. And since she hadn't seen him in three hundred years, he wasn't privileged to that information. She wasn't sure she could trust him anymore. "Fine, to the Night Court. That's it."

He gave her a slow nod, his eyes never leaving hers. "I need a name though."

"We'll pass through Winter, Dawn and the Day Court. I have different names at each Court. I'll tell you before we arrive." She said taking a book from her bag herself.

"What do I call you in private, when we're alone?"

"We won't ever be alone, Vanserra." He sighed deeply, his nails digging into the leatherbound book. She waved her hand in defeat. "Call me whatever you like."

"You must have had a favourite name over the years?" He asked, his fingers sprawled relaxed over the book now.

"Not really." She shrugged. "They all felt... off." It wasn't a lie. She had many names over the years, but each and every one of them never felt like it belonged to her. And she never got close enough to someone to hold on to a name. Only once that had happened and she made sure it never happened again. Eris was watching her. Scanning her face for whatever history he might find in there. She reeled back all of her emotions.

"I'll -" His voice sounded gruff as if he had found something in her expression. "I'll think of a name."

"Something better than Green, I hope." Just before she looked down at her book, she could see the slightest tilt of his lips.

They rode in silence for a while both reading in their own book, but she could feel Eris's eyes on her more than once. It was past noon when she glanced up from her book and out the window. They were still in the woods but in the distance, she spotted the Mountains that marked the border between the Courts. It would take until nightfall to reach the border, at least. More likely midnight.

She leaned forward and Eris stiffened but she just knocked on the carriage wall next to him. "Walt, we'll be taking a break."

"Yes, miss Terrin." He said and the horses slowed.