If Stratagor Ziras doesn't kill me, my training program will!
Every day I wake up and go through the motions, but they've figured out that I'm not a Knight. I can't ride, I can't fight, I can't do magic, and worst of all, I can't see whatever it is...
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I thought Jonah would be the first one to talk to me, so I'm surprised to find Dathid at my door. "Seriously, how long are you going to make me stay here?" he says with a sigh as he pushes past me to flop on the sofa.
I was about to take a bath and get ready for bed, but I guess my plans have changed. "I'm not making you stay."
He stretches back and laces his fingers behind his head. "Until you change your mind, I can't leave."
"I thought I had time to think."
He looks me square in the eye and says, "You did. Time's up."
I sit on the sofa opposite him and fold my arms across my chest. "I may delay a decision just to force you to stay."
He folds his arms over his chest to match my stance as we glare at each other. I'm not mad and neither is he; we just don't talk a lot, so this is what we've come to. I grow bored of the game first, but I have a weapon in my arsenal: I know something about him and I hope I shock him with it. "Do you file your teeth to make them look more human?"
I'm not sure what that expression is. First he looks angry, then surprised, and then angry again. I've definitely shocked him. "Who told you that?"
"Albína." One of her arguments for how disgusting faeries are is that they have sharp teeth that continually grow unless they file them. She was grossed out by the whole thing.
He nods. "There's different trends. Flat is the current style. I'm not sure why. But my clan is obsessed with humans, so it makes sense. But also, flat is easier."
He smiles and his eyes squint with evil intent. "Is it true that most of your body is covered with hair?"
I think my face goes through all the emotions his just did. "Touché," I say with a chuckle. Before he can ask any follow-up questions I have a diversion. "The war with the elves only stopped because you guys had a worse enemy. What keeps all of you from starting up again if I destroy the key and Ziras is forced to go away?"
"That's why I'm married," he says through clenched teeth.
I've gone too far. I shouldn't have asked that. I just don't want him to talk me into staying. "I could go through all of this and then you'd just kill each other anyway. Do you even remember why you're fighting?"
He takes a deep breath through his nose like an angry bull. He chews on his lip and then loudly grinds his teeth together. "Yes. We know why we were at war. It started over a border, and then their side killed our family and we killed theirs. I am married to their Crown Princess in the hopes that we will one day have peace across the land."
"What border?"
"The one between Cromsmead and Manahata."
I try to grind my teeth together as loudly as he did but I can't. I think he hears me anyway. "Really?" I say with as much sarcasm as I can, but I'm not good at it.
