The Iron Seer

Chapter 6 - An Arrow into Chaos

I shoved through the door. The Duke sat in his chair, and across from him was a certain dark-haired someone that I would know anywhere.... Ash. They both glanced up when I came in.

I blinked in shock as those silver eyes met mine.

What is he doing here? I thought.

"Ariella," my father said, standing with help from his cane.

For a moment, all I felt was surprise. Since Elyisum, Ash had been a constant figure haunting my thoughts. As I stared at him for several long heartbeats - too long, probably - I resisted the smile that wanted to come out at the sight of him, like a sun peeking through the clouds. "To what do we owe the pleasure, Your Highness?" I asked in a polite voice, resisting the giddy pull of my excitement.

Ash stayed seated, but his eyes held mine as he said, "I came to speak to you, Lady Ariella."

The Duke glanced back and forth between us, his eyebrows drawn together slightly. "You've met?"

"At Elysium, Duke, I escorted your daughter," Ash explained calmly. "We have some unfinished business."

The Duke kept his face carefully blank, but I detected a trace of apprehension as he looked to me. Unfinished business with a prince of the Unseelie Court was bad news.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. "Well, why don't we get to it, then? Perhaps I'll show you those maps."

Ash nodded and rose, catching on easily. I didn't want to create a scene in front of my father, so I would take him somewhere we could speak without any eavesdroppers. Besides the Duke standing there, seeing and hearing everything, I could guarantee Tiaothin and at least several other servants were clustered around the doors, listening.

The Duke didn't even try stop me or Ash, watching us go with a perplexed expression. He shot me a look as I swept out the door that told me he would be expecting an explanation later. I planned to leave for the hunt and avoid that tedious conversation, at least for a while.

The servants skedaddled when they saw Ash behind me, but I saw some curious faces peeking out of door frames as I led him upstairs to my room. I'd left the pack of supplies under the bed, and I pulled it out now and shouldered it on.

I'd have to go to the village to pick up some supplies before I left. I hadn't had time to gather everything just yet.

When I turned around, Ash stood on the threshold of my open door, surveying my room with his infuriatingly stoic grey eyes. The books and maps piled haphazardly on the desk, the canopied bed, the white curtains, the marble fireplace.

His eyes landed on the portrait of Crystalia. "That's my mother," I said, as I ran an eye over the room for anything else I might need. Satisfied, I stepped toward the door and Ash moved aside to let me pass, following me silently until we were outside, spindrifts of snow beginning to swirl around us.

Convinced we were alone, I turned and looked up at him. "What are you really doing here?" I asked.

"I told you. I came to speak to you," he said.

I took a deep breath, bracing myself before meeting his eyes. "Are you going to ask me why I ran away at Elysium?"

His mouth quirked. "I've been wondering."

"I made a promise that I would come home immediately if I even thought of not returning to Glassbarrow." I looked down at the ground. "I knew I couldn't trust myself. If the opportunity arose, and it did, when you asked me... I had to run away."

"And I'm glad you did."

I stared at him, puzzled. "Why?"

His grey eyes flickered. "Because it meant that I got to see you again, if only to ask you why."