NELNIFA CORLEDIA IS SUPPOSED TO BE WEAK. During a brazen attack against her people, she is left with no choice but to take the lead. With knowledge coming from dubious places, a territory in shambles, and a people too scattered to fight back, she ha...
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Something crunched behind her. Even as a shadow ate away what little stream of sunlight shining down on her, she didn't turn. "Leave me alone, Ilphas," she said, without checking if it's really him. She'd handle the embarrassment later before she slept. "I don't need to hear another lecture."
The shadow eased and a different weight settled on the fallen log she perched on. "I'm not here to lecture you," Ilphas said. So, it's him. So, she memorized his gait. What was she supposed to feel about that? "I came to apologize."
That's when she turned to find his gaze locked on her face. He didn't flinch or avert his eyes, unlike what Nelnifa was prone to do. Instead of meeting him halfway, she focused on his lips...which, in retrospect might not be the best place to look.
"Apologize for what?" She tucked her hair behind an ear, eerily aware how Ilphas watched the entirety of the gesture. "You did nothing wrong or something I can't forgive."
He cleared his throat and ran his hands over his trousers. Was Ilphas Araxi, the great Marshal of the Potentate's Royal Court, nervous? "I'm sorry for not facing you until now," he said. "For letting the rumors speak for themselves instead of...well, telling you—someone who needs to hear it the most."
"Which is?" Nelnifa cocked an eyebrow, doing her best to remain nonchalant even though she had an inkling of what's going to come out of his mouth.
"I like you, Nifa," he said. "I'm sorry it took me this long and had to do it under these circumstances."
Heat colored her cheeks, so she ducked her head and let her hair unhook from her ears and form a purple curtain between them. It's better this way. "Since when?" she asked. "How long did you wait?"
Ilphas craned his neck to the canopies, eyeing the sky which began to darken with the arrival of the moons. "Since you started investigating Cardovia," he answered.
She blinked. "That's ages ago," she said. "I must be like a child to you, seeing me grow up and all."
"It may not look like it, but we're not that far apart in age," he said. It's what made her head snap back up. This time, her gaze locked with his. "I'm probably two years older than you."
"But you've been a Marshal forever!" she said, her voice carrying all the way to the command tent. No doubt the Marshals were having the time of their life, watching from the shadows and maybe listening in to the whole conversation.
Ilphas chuckled. "No, not forever," he said. "I started around the same time the Potentate started your training. I became a full-fledged Marshal by the time of your public introduction."
Nelnifa's gut squeezed. She hung a finger between them. Well...the meager space between them. "You mean to say..." she said. "That we grew up so close to each other? And yet, I didn't notice?"
"You and I were absorbed in our roles back then," he agreed, grasping his knee with both hands and balancing his weight by leaning back. Everything he did looked so fluid. And graceful. And...
