Aristocrat | ✓

CHAPTER THIRTY

     Months passed, and Evenus and I made things work as a couple. I followed him to meetings and gatherings when I could, and I spent the summer alone just like last time, writing to him as I took care of the castle with Marie.

     I wrote to Alistair too. I had gotten his information from Evenus, and it has been awkward at first. Short letters of hellos that described the weather and the small happenings around us. When I wrote to him, we avoided talking about our past together and skirted around it with conversations relevant to the present.

     It was only when Alistair explicitly mentioned his hurt in the middle of our writing relationship that I addressed it with tear-glossed eyes and a racing heart. I apologized to him. I asked for his forgiveness. I told him I was sorry for being too much of a coward to admit what had happened when we had been brought to the person who led our sermons. I told him I was happy he was still alive, and I explained that it was okay if he hated me and just wanted to talk to me a bit for closure.

     When I had gotten his response back, it had held the sentence "I forgive you" at the top before delving into how he got into his current situation.

     Being banished had been hard, he had written, explaining to me how his first month had been him taking odd jobs as he headed further south. He had ended up squatting at a house that belonged to a baker and his wife before being suggested as kitchen staff to the Baron of the small town.

     Alistair told me he was in love with the son of the man he worked for, and I remembered how a wave of relief had hit me at those words. It was selfish of me to wish that Alistair moved on so that I could feel less guilty moving on, but it was how I felt. I had hesitated a bit before replying to his letter. I explained my situation with Evenus, and we started talking about personal matters. I gave him advice on his relationship, and he comforted me with promises that Evenus wouldn't die in his campaigns in the summer.

     Lord Evenus did return at the end of summer. It had been late in the evening, and Marie had greeted him with Troy before I took the mantle of helping him settle back in as he spoke to me about his campaign and the silly hijinks his men got up to.

     "Manfred."

     I looked up at the sound of my name. The bedchamber had gone quiet for a bit. Lord Evenus was standing by the window, looking out of it with a lost look in his eyes.

     I sat up, straightening out on his bed as I folded one of his shirts in my hands.

     "You called, Bennett?" I asked, and he turned to look at me.

     "I hope you know that your two years are almost up. They'll be in this coming winter," he muttered, and I stared into his dark eye, before looking away. My eyes flickered to my hands I had nester on my lap. I fidgeted with my fingers, nibbling my bottom lip as I wondered what he was telling me that for.

     "Yes, I know," I said, looking up at him. "Is something the matter?"

     The lord's eyes lingered on me for a bit. "I was wondering if you might want to go back home—?

     "Do you want me to go back home?" I asked, cutting him off. My heart was beating. Lord Evenus' mouth hung open for a bit. I watched as he brought a hand to his scruff, rubbing it as he let out a sigh.

     "I don't, but your family..." he trailed, and I looked down at the floor, staring at the hide of a beer that was used to make a rug.

     "I could send a message to them. Also, I could visit briefly like I did last time," I said. I heard the Lord walk through the room, and soon the mattress of the bed sank with his weight as he sat next to me.