The Cursed Deal ✓

Chapter 32

Candlelight flickered under the door to Kaspar's chambers and, to be kind and not intruding, Faine knocked on the door. She didn't know why her stomach had tied itself into knots on the way over or why her hands shook with nerves. How did someone she'd know for nearly a hundred years have such an effect on her?

They'd laughed together at the beginning when Carlton brought her around. It was a difficult friendship at first, as he never believed it was right for any outsiders to know who they were, but Kaspar molded into her the way a brother did a sister. It wasn't until after Carlton's death that things changed and they looked to each other, not for laughter or deep conversations, but for a way of distraction through the heartstrings.

Feet pattered across the room, from his desk, and Faine wrung her hands. The saddlebags pressed against the floor of the hallway for she didn't know what type of embrace was coming. If he tackled her to the floor, something had the chance to break. The saddlebag itself might've disintegrated before her very eyes.

As usual, he had the five locks on his door already prepped for the night. After a series of clicking, he swung the door open wide with tired eyes that grew wide at the sight of her standing there, smiling sheepishly up at his perfect face.

Kaspar didn't say anything. He rushed at her and wrapped his large arms around her waist and lifted her into the air, spinning her in that small, tight stretch of hall. Faine laughed against his body and squeezed his shoulders as hard as she could, all the while wrapping her legs around his waist.

"I planned to give you two more days," he said once he pulled away. Faine kept her arms wrapped around the back of his neck, thumb just barely raking through the short, snow stained strands. "If you didn't come back in two more days, I was going to drag you here myself."

Faine cocked her head to the side. "I'm here now. You don't have to make an unnecessary journey."

She'd forgotten how handsome his smile was and how relaxed his features became when he displayed it. Only for her, she remembered. No one else received a similar expression or looseness. He cleaved apart worlds and made the strongest warriors shake in their boots, but here he was, grinning at her like a child. That, alone, meant everything to her. More than paying fifteen thousand gold coins for her freedom or making it through these next months without a hitch. Kaspar was worth it.

"You know how much I hate making an effort to do anything," he grumbled as he set her back down and grabbed her saddlebags to carry into the room. It was a relief to plop down onto his bed and stretch her arms wide. "Finally managed to break away, did you?"

"It took some persuasion, but I finally did it," Faine sighed. "If only my mission had been closer."

He scoffed. "Or Tyvni was small enough to fit in your pocket so you could fly around on her whenever you wish."

Faine propped herself onto her elbows. He stood at the edge of the bed and was unpacking all of her belongings, arranging them neatly on the bed. "Speaking of which..."

"I know, I know. It wasn't my fault. I turned my back for one day to go on a mission and she snuck out of her stable. By the time she returned, there was nothing I could do except scold her."

Faine pouted. "You weren't too hard on her, were you?" she asked.

"Of course not. She'd bite my arm off the way she did one of the new members."

At least exhaustion didn't weigh her down enough to forget her ability to laugh. Her body was sore after riding on the saddle for as long of a stretch as she did, but already her muscles were relaxing at the bottom of Kaspar's bed.

"What's this?" he asked.

Faine heard the crinkling of parchment before she looked down. "It's a set of notes I took on a member of Silver Willow. He's a mortal and...I couldn't bring myself to hand him over to Zebulon like that." She rubbed at the bridge of her nose and the inner corners of her eyes.