The Princess and the Warlock

Chapitre Onze

I cut into the piece of meat in silence, my sharp knife scraping along the glass plate, a hair-raising noise filling the air. Inwardly I cringed, but outwardly my expression remained neutral, much like the warlock's who sat across from me.

I'd entered the room with dinner already laid out, Kaius sitting in his chair, leaning back into it. He didn't look nearly as rough as he did before—the purple circles underneath his eyes had vanished into his skin, his skin seeming less pulled over his features. I didn't know what he could've done in the hour since we'd seen each other—one short nap couldn't have provided that much relief, surely—and our silence forbade me from asking.

And there was something different about him now; his posture was ram-rod straight, his jaw set and stiff. I would've given anything to know what was on his mind, what had him so tense.

The silence provided me with ways to distract myself from the moment earlier in the library. I could focus on how my peas were strangely all the same size, or perhaps the fact that the meat on my plate smelled better than anything the palace had ever served me before. Maybe I could focus on how long my nails had been getting, or that my hair was falling out from its braid.

Anything to keep my mind occupied.

Because I couldn't allow myself to entertain the thought of anything going further—of him asking me whatever he had to ask me, of him closing the distance and touching his mouth to mine.

Without warning, I felt something brush against my ankle, and my eyes immediately lifted to Kaius'. Blue tinted irises looked at me before flitting away. "I'm sorry."

I'm sorry, he said, but my heart started racing anyway.

I stared at the serving plate in front of, holding the juices of the food in its divots, sighing. The first words of the evening had been spoken on accident, an apology, and it left me feeling dissatisfied. And Kaius was nearly finished with his meal. Soon he would excuse himself to his bedroom, and I wouldn't see him again until tomorrow.

Could I really wait a whole night without speaking with him?

I cleared my throat, a horrible noise in the quiet room. "This is delicious."

Kaius replied evenly, "Thanks."

My eyes closed as I wanted to kick myself. Small talk, I decided, was much worse than the silence we had been enduring. Frivolous words ringing in my ears seemed to feel much harsher than the short, choppy words that sounded like lines in a play. "How's your energy?" The words sounded normal in my head but awful aloud, because I swear, I didn't mean to ask him about his energy. "You—ahem—said you were tired?"

Kaius' eyebrows were twitched as they tugged together, silvery hairs on his face transforming a previously neutral expression to one that seemed just about as pained as I felt. "I'm feeling better."

"Good," I said quickly, the word a sharp chirp in the air. God, what is wrong with me? "Good."

And again, our relapse of silence was imminent. It was so quiet that I could hear his slow breathing from across the table, and I could hear the tees shifting from outside. It was a haunted noise, the branches rubbing together. The sound of it would ghost through my windows at night as if the walls were paper thin, and though I felt safe, the idea of things unknown lurking just beyond Gossington was more than a little unsettling.

I touched my finger to the swell of my braid, wracking my brain for words—any words. I'd already made myself look stupid, why not continue?

"Did you end up writing your letter?" Kaius spoke, but one might've thought he'd directed the question at his plate of food rather than to me, for how much he was staring at it.