Cardan & Jude oneshots

The body wants what it wants

Hey guys! 

I know it's been a long time since I last posted, and honestly, there's no real reason. It's just that my second year of university started, and I've been feeling really down because I don't have any friends. 

Getting kicked out of praxe ruined my social life. 

Anyway, this chapter is a request, and it's basically: After the tournament, instead of Dain showing up in Madoc's office, it's Cardan. 

We all know what happens, haha. 

I'm still unsure if I like this chapter or not. Since I always write at night and I'm already tired, it never turns out as good. 

But I hope you enjoy it!

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I ride home alone.

Vivi heads off with Rhyia after she wins her bout—they are going hunting in the nearby woods. Taryn agrees to accompany them, but I am too weary and too sore and too on edge.

In the kitchens of Madoc's house, I toast cheese over a fire and spread it on bread. Sitting on the stoop with that and a mug of tea, I watch the sun go down as I eat my lunch.

The cook, a trow named Wattle, ignores me and continues magicking the parsnips to chop themselves.

When I am done, I brush crumbs from my cheeks and head for my room.

Gnarbone, a servant with long ears and a tail that drags on the ground, stops in the hall when he sees me. He's carrying a tray of thimble-size acorn cups and a silvery decanter of what smells like blackberry wine in his large, clawed hands. His livery is pulled tight across his chest, and pieces of fur stick out of the gaps.

"Oh, you are at home," he says, a growl in his voice that makes him seem menacing no matter how benign the words he speaks. Despite myself, I can't help thinking of the guard who bit off the tip of my finger. Gnarbone's teeth could snap off my whole hand.

I nod.

"The prince is asking for you downstairs."

Cardan, here? My heartbeat speeds. I can't think. "Where?"

Gnarbone looks surprised by my reaction. "In Madoc's study. I was just bringing him this—"

I grab the tray out of his hands and head down the stairs, intent on getting rid of Cardan as quickly as I can, any way that I can. The last thing I need is for Madoc to overhear my being disrespectful and decide I'll never belong at the Court. He is a servant of the Greenbriar line, sworn as surely as anyone.

He would not like my being at odds with even the least of the princes.

I fly down the stairs and kick open the door to Madoc's study. The knob crashes into a bookshelf as I stride into the room, plunking down the tray with enough force to make the cups dance.

Him.

My anger flares the moment I see him-Cardan, lounging in Madoc's chair like he owns the place, his feet kicked up on the dark wooden desk.

The smirk that creeps onto his face when he spots me instead of Gnarbone makes my blood boil.

"In quite the hurry, aren't we?" he says, all smug. "Rushing over to see me?"

I roll my eyes so hard I nearly sprain something. The only thing I want to rush is the slap across his face until he's spitting blood. I hate him.

With a sharp thud, I drop the tray onto the desk and shove his feet off, forcing them back to the floor where they belong-right before I send the rest of him there with a good kick or two.