15

  Secrets Revealed

  Adam stood at the center of the stable, not moving, his eyes closed. The air was thick with the scent of hay and damp earth, and somewhere nearby, he heard rats skittering across the floor, scratching and gnawing at things he couldn’t see. He pushed the distractions out of his mind and steadied his breathing. He felt alright today, better than alright, the exhaustion from yesterday had completely faded from his body. When he first woke up this morning, he was surprised, he had thought it would take two or three days of rest to fully recover, at the very least. That was what the healers and everyone else believed, but he felt fine today, no different from how he felt days ago, before all the chaos, even Katryn and her mother had noted that his bruises were almost entirely gone. He had simply told them he was a fast healer, and they seemed to accept it. But deep down in his mind, he wondered if his quick recovery had anything to do with this power he had now… with that entity.

  Shelving those thoughts for another time, Adam focused on the present, forcing his mind to remain calm. As soon as he’d realized that his body had recovered, there was only one thing he wanted to try, and he had rushed down to the stable, giving an excuse that he wanted to do a little work. Katryn and her mother had been reluctant to allow him, but he’d insisted, and now he was here. He figured he had an hour, maybe two, before Katryn came to check on him, but that was enough time for him to try out what he wanted to do.

  Adam raised his hand and drew another breath. At first, nothing happened. Then he felt it, the familiar heat that had taken root inside his chest since the night of the explosion, pulsing with every beat of his heart. His breath slowed as he focused on it, reaching for it.

  He wasn’t sure how he knew what to do, but his body understood it, just like it knew how to move, blink, and breathe. Adam allowed that instinct to guide him. He poured all of his focus into the effort, drawing the power upward. It surged from his chest, flowing down his arms and gathering in his palm. His fingers twitched, and just as he opened his eyes he saw the air around his hand began to shudder, then with a sharp whoosh, black flames burst out, floating just above his palm, curling and writhing like living shadows.

  He did it… he could fucking use magic.

  Adam knew he had it in him, he constantly felt it, but he’d worried that it might be difficult to draw the power out a second time. That first time, it had been instinctive, fueled by his pain, rage, and hatred. But he was clear-headed now, and his emotions were steady and calm, yet he could still use it at will. That was good to know. He would hate it if he needed to constantly be in a heightened emotional state to use his power, but that didn’t seem to be an issue. Now, all he needed was to gain a complete understanding of it.

  Adam stared at the flames for a moment. It was obvious at a glance that they weren’t normal, they didn’t flicker with orange or red, they didn’t cast light at all. Could this even be called fire? Fire, by name, emits light, this was completely devoid of light. It was a kind of flame he never once thought could exist, just pitch-black. He felt a gentle heat from it, yet his skin didn’t burn, but he knew that didn’t mean it was harmless, he still remembered the shaved-head knight that had burned to death in that room, no, the knight he had burned to death in that room. The fire floated over his hand, perfectly steady, as though it belonged there, dancing along his fingers without harming him… it did belong there.

  He did a few tests, shifting his hand, the flames followed, responding to the smallest shift of his wrist. When he broke his focus and clenched his fist, it shrank and vanished as suddenly as it had formed. He focused on summoning it again, and the flame surged back to life, quicker, darker, and far stronger than before. He didn’t try to shoot them from his palm—he knew he probably could—but he couldn’t risk burning down the stable.

  He dispersed the flames again and stared down at his hand in thought. A part of him felt thrilled by this new development, but the more sensible part knew to be cautious. How exactly he’d gotten this power, and what had given it to him was still a mystery. According to most people here, magic was a blessing bestowed upon individuals by the gods, or deities of this world, called the Divine. So which one had blessed him? He had a strong sense that it was the ancient presence he’d felt, but what was it? And as he wasn’t from this world, would there be a price to pay? A price he might not be willing to pay? And why had he been given this power in the first place? Was he meant to do something with it?

  And even putting those questions aside, Adam knew there were other reasons to be careful. Just because he could use magic now didn’t make him invincible. He thought back to the fight in that warehouse, how Elsa had slaughtered all those men. He didn’t intend for them to become enemies, but if they got in a fight he wondered whether he would stand a chance at all. The answer came to him quickly, no. The mere memory of her summoning that massive, seemingly impenetrable shield of light out of thin air was enough to shatter any illusion that his attacks could reach her, let alone harm her. He supposed that was what it meant to be a Gold-Rank knight. Julius was one as well, so it was probably safe to assume that this power, as it was right now, wouldn’t pose a threat to the man either.

  There might be other abilities residing inside him besides black fire, powers he had yet to uncover, and he could likely grow far stronger than he was now—this power he felt was only a fraction of what had surged through him before the explosion. But even so, he didn’t think it would make him all-powerful. He would have to be careful if, or when, he ever found himself in a fight. Not only because his power might fall short, but because it would also be easy to grow dependent on it. Even though it was only a brief musing about his chances in a fight against Elsa or Julius, he’d still considered fighting them head on just because he had magic now, a thought that would never have crossed his mind if he was still mundane. He had to be careful, he couldn’t allow himself to fall into that trap. His mind was still his greatest strength, he needed to remember that now more than ever.

  The day he forgot that and relied only on magic might be his end.

  Tightening his jaw, Adam raised his hand again and continued running more tests with the flames. Several minutes went by, and he felt his exhaustion climbing back up, but he only stopped after proving to himself that he had control of the fire down pat. He could summon it at will, shape it, dismiss it, even scale its intensity without losing control. Adam closed and opened his fists twice, as if testing his grip, then he let his hand fall down to his side. That was enough for now. Pushing more wouldn’t teach him anything new, only tempt him into recklessness. The stable was still intact, and he wanted to keep it that way.

  Adam let out a weary breath and sank onto a nearby crate, wiping his brow. He still remembered what he’d read in Lorelei’s late husband’s book—that magic was costly, that it demanded energy—but he hadn’t expected that summoning fire alone would exhaust him so quickly. From what he’d noticed while chopping wood all those days ago, even during sex with Katryn, he’d thought he had plenty of energy, like Elsa… a large “fuel tank.”

  Maybe he hadn’t recovered as much as he believed…

  Was that why the power surging through him now felt so much weaker than it had that night? Or was there something else at play? He wanted to feel it again while his mind was clear, to see what he might be capable of, whether he could control it better. Maybe he should ask Elsa, she might help him understand why it had diminished this much. But that would mean revealing his hand completely, was he ready to do that? He hadn’t decided.

  “What are you doing here?” a woman’s voice asked suddenly.

  Speak of the devil. Adam looked up to find Elsa standing close to the entrance, her gaze fixed on him. She wasn’t wearing her armor today, just plain clothes, fitted dark pants and a loose gray shirt. It was simple, practical, the sort of clothing anyone could wear, man or woman. Still, Adam was caught completely off guard by it. He’d never seen her like this before, outside of her armor, and the change softened her in a way he hadn’t expected. She looked more relaxed, less intense, but still so incredibly beautiful it boggled his mind. His eyes lingered before he could stop them, drifting lower to the womanly curves of her waist, something he’d never noticed, never been allowed to notice, until this moment.

  As he took in the sight of her, the conversation he’d had with Katryn yesterday raced back into his mind. She believed Elsa had feelings for him, and after he’d thought it through more, a part of him was tempted to agree, it was the only way to make sense of her kindness and care for him. But how had it even happened? He hadn’t done anything special, or said anything particularly clever or charming that might have swept her off her feet. He thought he was handsome, but was that it? Did she like him just for how he looked?

  The realization that he’d been staring hit him, and he quickly looked away, hoping she hadn’t caught the momentary lapse. Things were already starting to shift, he was seeing her as a woman first, then as a knight commander. It probably wouldn’t be so if Katryn hadn’t told him what she did. How exactly should he deal with this? Should he address her feelings? Or just pretend he knew nothing until she actually told him herself? Even as much as he desired her, he was leaning toward the last option. Despite what Katryn had told him and the fact he believed it to be true, he still wanted to hear it from Elsa herself, he wanted the absolute certainty that she felt what she did. It wasn’t to soothe his ego or anything, he just couldn’t act on his desire until he knew, especially given her position and his.

  And if she did tell him and wanted something serious, Adam knew he wouldn’t turn the chance down. Sometime between yesterday afternoon and this morning, he’d loosened his grip on the conviction that he shouldn’t have deep attachments in this world because it wasn’t his own and he wouldn’t stay long. Roots had already begun to sink in, whether he wanted them to or not. Yara, Katryn, Lorelei, and Elsa, they all seemed to care about him, and he couldn’t in all honesty say he didn’t care about them either, at least somewhat. The lines he drew had been crossed, all he could do now was deal with the consequences when they came. But he had time, he was still a long way from finding a way home.

  Adam sighed. “Just needed to clear my head a little,” he replied.

  “I was worried that Yara had you doing chores, she can be a slave driver,” Elsa said lightly, then began to approach him. “How’re you recovering?”

  “Well enough, I think,” he said with a casual lift of his shoulder and gestured toward her with a nod. “You’re not wearing armor today, is there some special occasion?”

  “I have a little break today,” she said as she stopped a few paces in front of him. She leaned against a wall and folded her arms across her chest. “Elliot is acting in my stead.”

  A frown flitted into his face as he wondered if she was being punished for something connected to the explosion. Since no one had burst through the door to arrest him, he knew she hadn’t told anyone he was responsible. But had that caused problems for her?

  “Any problem?” Adam asked.

  She shook her head. “No, Elliot insisted I take a break after… everything.”

  Adam understood she was referring to the abductions. It probably wasn’t often she had to deal with matters like that, especially ones that reached such high places, involving another Gold-Rank knight and even the King’s Hand. She couldn’t just kill or arrest them as she would other criminals, and they knew it too. It was a really delicate situation, and it might be quiet right now, but that didn’t mean it was over, far from it.

  But he was making plans for Julius that would remove him from the picture… the King’s Hand, however, would have to remain her problem.

  “How’s that going anyway? Learn anything new?” he asked.

  “Not yet, but I have Elliot looking into something that might be interesting.”

  Adam frowned as a thought hit him suddenly, something he hadn’t really considered until this moment. It was so fucking simple that it had slipped his mind completely. “What about the king anyway? Is there some reason you can’t just go and tell him everything? I mean, you’re a Gold-Rank, your word has to carry some weight, right?”

  Elsa stared at him for a moment, then she sighed deeply and unfolded her hands. “I haven’t told you this before, Adam, but the king… he’s a kind man, but—”

  “What?“ Adam asked, sounding a little impatient. Was he a child? A puppet ruler? Or a fucking dumbass? Those were the only three explanations he could come up with.

  “He has no interest in ruling,” Elsa replied finally. “He only took the throne because the other heirs died, one from a horse riding incident and the other due to illness. There are many who believe he’s unfit for the throne… that he’s a curse upon the kingdom.”

  Hmm… two heirs died under strange circumstances and a more hands-off King was crowned, how convenient was that for the King’s Hand and his ilk. Adam didn’t know the whole story, but he would be willing to bet that before their untimely passing, the late heirs had been more willful than their surviving brother, with their own plans and vision for the kingdom. But that was all in the past now, there was no sense thinking too much about it.

  “Are you… one of those people?” Adam asked slowly.

  Elsa was slow to respond, as if thinking about her words carefully, “What I think of the king is irrelevant. I swore an oath to the Crown. I will not break it.”

  He was aware of the fact that she’d sidestepped the question, but he decided not to bring it up and just move past the topic. “I see,” he said and gave a slow nod. “Still, it sucks that the guy behind everything is basically in charge of the entire kingdom.”

  “It will be difficult, but he won’t escape justice,” Elsa said.

  Adam didn’t know what she had Elliot looking into, but he hoped that whatever it was would be enough. Another thought occurred to him then. “The woman I told you I was trying to help, her children came back. I asked her if they remembered anything at all, she said they only recall being in a white room before something put them to sleep.”

  “That might help,” she said and nodded. “I’ll look into it.”

  There was a slight tightness in her face as she spoke, which was odd as he’d just given her free information. But he didn’t ask about it, he just filed it in his mind.

  Elsa released a breath and shook her head, as if chasing unwanted thoughts from her head, then she looked around the stable before fixing her emerald stare on him again, a hint of curiosity entering her expression. “So… why did you need to clear your head?”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Adam hesitated giving a reply. The question was simple, casual even, but it landed far heavier than Elsa likely intended. He thought about brushing it off, saying that he was simply restless, thinking too much, or testing his strength after recovering. He knew that she would accept it, she always did, even when she didn’t believe him. But he didn’t want to do that this time. It wasn’t that he needed whatever information she might have about his power, but after the deliberation he’d had with himself about all she’d done for him, about how much he owed her, the thought of shutting her out again made his stomach twist.

  He wasn’t an ingrate… he owed her something, the truth.

  Adam pushed himself to his feet and quickly dusted hay from his trousers. “I wasn’t just clearing my head,” he said slowly. “I was… testing something.”

  Elsa’s eyes sharpened at once, not with suspicion, but attention, as though he’d just said the most important words ever. “Testing what?”

  He exhaled and looked down at his hands as his pulse spiked. He planned to tell her everything. She already knew he had some kind of magic, but she didn’t know what it was exactly. Adam knew it was unnatural, unlike any magic he’d seen so far, but he still wanted to show her, to tell her everything, from the beginning, including how he’d arrived in this world, how he had died in that forest, and how he had been resurrected.

  If she decided any part of what he was saying was heresy or something he had failed to consider, then it would be over for him. He was essentially trusting her with his life.

  “I didn’t tell you everything about that night,” Adam said, deciding to start here. It would be easier to work backward. “About what happened right before the explosion.”

  A sudden silence stretched between them, lingering a while. Then, Elsa straightened from the wall, her arms falling to her sides as her posture grew alert. “I had the feeling you weren’t,” she said in a quiet whisper. “Is this something dangerous?”

  “Possibly, but not to you,” he replied and met her gaze, holding it for a while before glancing away again. “I need you to promise me something before I continue.”

  Her brow furrowed. “That depends on what you’re asking.”

  “Just don’t draw your sword,” he said.

  She shook her head. “You’re not reassuring me, Adam.”

  “I know,” he responded. “But I need you to be calm after I show you.”

  For a long moment, Elsa studied his face, as though searching for signs of what he might be thinking. But after staring and not finding what she wanted, she gave a single nod filled with hesitation. “Alright,” she said. “I won’t draw my sword.”

  Adam turned slightly, angling his body so his hand was visible to her, but far enough away that she wouldn’t feel threatened. He inhaled a slow breath, and the stable seemed to grow quieter as he focused his mind on the familiar heat blooming in his chest like a second heart. He steadily guided it, the same way he’d practiced moments ago.

  Elsa watched closely, her gaze focused on his hand, and he sensed she could feel it before she saw it as she took a slight step back, a hint of fear flashing in her eyes.

  A second later, the flames surged, a pitch-black fire coiling into existence above his open palm. It gave off no sound, only a muted heat that warped the air around it.

  Elsa stared, her eyes widened in shock and alarm, emerald irises reflecting nothing at all, because the flame reflected no light. But despite her reaction, she didn’t reach toward her sword, not yet anyway. “Adam…” Her voice faltered a little. “What’s that?”

  He sensed her fear clearly, and it reminded him of the knights he’d killed, how he’d been able to feel their emotions. It had to be his power, there was no other explanation. Still, the fact that Elsa, a Gold-Rank knight, felt a trace of fear was shocking. And it made him even more aware of the level of trust she was giving him by not drawing her sword.

  “I don’t know…” he answered. “I was hoping you might have an idea.”

  “That’s …” she paused. “That isn’t any magic I’ve ever seen.”

  Adam looked at the flame, then back at her. “Yeah, I figured,” he said. “I can dismiss it whenever you want, just wanted you to see it first. This is what caused the explosion, but it’s much weaker for some reason. I was trying to figure it out before you came.”

  Elsa said nothing for a time, her gaze fixed on the flame. He watched her expression closely, wondering what kind of thoughts were stirring in her mind. The fact that she didn’t call it heresy—or anything of that sort—eased his mind a little. He took it as a sign that the power he had wasn’t some kind of forbidden magic, as he had feared, it was just something strange, something unknown. That realization allowed him to relax, if only slightly.

  He had cleared the first hurdle by showing her the kind of magic he possessed. All that remained was explaining his arrival from another world—and his resurrection.

  “You can… dismiss it now,” Elsa muttered in a tight voice.

  Adam clenched his fist, and the fire vanished.

  She drew in a breath to steady herself, then stepped closer. “I don’t know what kind of magic that is, Adam,” she said at last, her voice normal once more. “It could be a blessing from Lady Nyx, the goddess of night, but even then… I’ve never seen anything like it. And it’s not just unfamiliar, Adam,” she added quietly. “It’s… unsettling.”

  Goddess of night? Was that the presence he’d felt in his mind? He didn’t know, and she didn’t sound certain either. But what other explanation was there? His thoughts spiraled back to the cathedral, to the tome he’d read, wondering what other deity it might be.

  One name quickly jumped into his mind; Zelphyr, or something close to it, the god of darkness. Could it really be that? Elsa hadn’t mentioned it, surely she would have if she thought it was even slightly possible. Adam tried to remember everything he knew about the deity… no, it wasn’t even a deity, the priest had called it a primordial, a being that had retreated from the world, and even worse, one that was connected to demons. He could see why Elsa hadn’t considered it, even he was reluctant to; for one thing, he was pretty damn sure he was human, and if his power resembled a demon’s Elsa would have said something, instead she appeared just as lost and confused as he was. That alone should have ruled out the primordial, yet for some reason, Adam couldn’t dismiss it outright.

  Another reason to infiltrate the church…

  Elsa looked at him, not as a knight commander assessing a potential threat, but as a woman concerned about him. “Adam…” she began slowly. “You have to be careful. That power, it doesn’t feel like—“ She stopped suddenly and her brows drew together as though a thought had just occurred to her. “By the Divine,” she muttered breathlessly. “No wonder the diviner couldn’t detect any magic… why Elliot reacted the way he did.”

  “Elliot? What do you mean?” Adam asked with a frown. He couldn’t remember any instance of Elliot behaving strangely around him. Unless he’d been out of it…

  She took a slow breath. “Elliot was with me in the forest, and we arrived at the scene of the explosion together, two places where you’ve used magic,” she explained. “He’s more sensitive to mana than most, and in both those places he was so terrified he could barely stand. All he could say was that there was a strange smell.” Her gaze held his for a stretch of time and her voice dropped. “Adam… whatever you’re wielding, it isn’t mana.”

  Adam looked down at his hand, saying nothing.

  Elsa shook her head in disbelief. “How is any of this even possible?”

  Adam’s jaw tightened. He had decided to tell her everything, but it was still difficult, especially this part. It felt like peeling his armor off and leaving himself utterly exposed in front of someone hiding a hand behind their back. Whether they would reveal a flower, or a knife, he couldn’t know for sure. All he could do was hope that it wasn’t a knife.

  “I think it’s possible because… I’m not from here,” he said quietly.

  The words hung in the air for a time, and Elsa didn’t react at first. She just stared at him, her expression frozen, as if she were waiting for the rest of the sentence to arrive and make sense of the first half. When it didn’t, her brows knit together in confusion.

  “…What?” she asked at last.

  “I’m not from here,” Adam repeated. “Not from this kingdom… or this world.”

  Elsa’s lips parted, then closed again. She gave a quick glance around the stable as if expecting someone to jump out and declare this a joke, but there was no one else here. She focused on him again, thinking for a moment, then nodded for him to continue.

  His eyes never left hers. “In my world, there’s no magic, no adventurers and knights, no kings or kingdoms. I was ordinary, everyone was.” He stopped briefly, and saw her eyes narrowed, not in disbelief, but concentration. “I… died there, an accident. One moment I was on my way home, the next everything went dark.” He let out a quiet breath. “When I woke up again, I was here, in the forest. I didn’t understand anything at first, thought it was a dream, or that I was losing my mind. Then I stumbled into a battle.”

  “The fallen company…” Elsa muttered thoughtfully.

  Adam gave a nod. “They were surrounded by goblins. I couldn’t help, I just hid and watched everything. After the battle was over, the goblins found me. I tried to run, but...”

  Elsa’s eyes widened. “You died,” she breathed.

  “They killed me,” he said simply. “Tore me apart. I remember the pain, I remember knowing I was dying again and thinking of everything I would be leavin behind.” His voice dropped low. “And then I woke up again. In the dungeon… you were there.”

  A heavy silence fell between them as he finished and he allowed it to linger, taking a few steps back to sit on the crate. “That’s everything,” he said. “I left nothing out.”

  For a long moment, Elsa didn’t, maybe couldn’t speak. Shock covered her face, then horror replaced it, then something else, something quieter and harder to name. Adam knew she would struggle to accept it at first, but she would in the end. She had noted his complete ignorance of the world one too many times to dismiss all he was saying as false. Her hand slowly rose to her mouth, two fingers pressing lightly against her lips as she stared at him like he’d just grown two heads and shattered everything she knew about the world.

  “You… died,” she stated softly. “Twice.”

  Adam nodded. “I don’t understand it either,” he responded.

  She drew a shaky breath then lowered her hand. When she finally spoke again, her voice was subdued. “I suppose that makes it easier,” she murmured quietly, as if to herself.

  Adam tilted his head. “Easier?”

  “To make sense of the other things,” Elsa said, then moved slowly to sit down beside him on the crate. A part of him wanted to take that as a sign that things wouldn’t suddenly change between them, that she wouldn’t start regarding him as a threat, but he didn’t want to think too much of it. “The strangeness of your magic, your complete lack of knowledge, every odd thing about you. It’s all so much easier to make sense of once I accept that you’re not from this world, that something brought you here… and wants you to stay here.”

  Adam hadn’t thought of it in that way, but it made sense. Something brought him to this world, something brought him back after he’d died, and that same something gave him this power. It only made sense to think that “something” wanted him to remain in this world and accomplish some kind of goal. He was all but certain the presence he’d felt in his mind was that “something”, but was it the primordial Zelphyr? Or something else entirely?

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Adam replied.

  “There are only two questions worth asking now,” Elsa said and glanced at him, as if she’d read the thoughts in his mind. “What that something is, and why it wants you here.”

  “Probably won’t figure that out anytime soon,” Adam said.

  She nodded. “You’re probably right.”

  Adam inhaled a deep, heavy breath and stared ahead. “The other day, you said you hoped I’d return the trust you’d shown me. I think I have, I’m trusting you with everything now, even my life. So I have to ask… what happens next?”

  Elsa shook her head. “What happens next?” She echoed.

  “Usually in my world,” Adam began slowly. “Someone in my situation would either be locked away for being crazy or taken to some secret facility for study.”

  “That is terrible. I would never betray your trust in such a way, Adam,” she said. “I don’t deny that everything you’ve said is… it’s a lot to take in, and it will likely take some time to fully settle in my mind. But you’re still the same person that I—“ she caught herself quickly and revised the statement she’d almost let slip out. “You’re still yourself, no matter where you came from. And I don’t think you’re evil or malicious, even if what you can do is a little… unsettling.” She hesitated. “You fought, bled, and were even tortured for trying to help people you didn’t know.” Her voice dropped slightly. “So, I choose to believe that whatever reason you’re here for, it isn’t for something bad… or cruel.”

  Adam wanted to believe her, but he knew the darkness that coiled inside of him, he knew the sort of thoughts that surfaced whenever Julius’s face flashed in his mind, thoughts that were undeniably malicious, undeniably cruel. But she seemed to see something else in him, it felt like she saw him in a completely different light than he even saw himself.

  He swept thoughts of the darkness from his mind, they could always return later. He chose to focus on her, why she saw him the way she did.

  “Why do you care about me?” he asked straightforwardly.

  Elsa was silent for a while. Her gaze drifted to the floor, then back to him, and she swept wisps of her crimson hair from her face. When she finally spoke, her voice was quiet, as quiet as he’d ever heard it. “I’ve asked myself that… more than once.”

  Adam decided then to raise the subject they hadn’t discussed even once. “Katryn told me what she said to you,” he said slowly. “I don’t know what—”

  “You don’t have to explain anything to me, Adam,” she cut in sharply. It was as if she didn’t even want to hear it. “I don’t have ownership over you, I have no right to control your choices. You can be with whoever you want. It’s none of my concern.”

  “It’s not?” he asked and glanced at her.

  Elsa opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out at all. She had lied, saying it was none of her concern who he was with. She did care. She knew it, and he knew it. But would she persist with the lie? He just wanted her to say what she really felt. A few minutes passed, still no word. She just stared ahead, as if she’d abandoned the attempt to reply.

  Adam exhaled. “You should talk to Katryn,” he said. “I think she has things to tell you that you might want to hear.” He ended it at that. It would be enough for now. He was the root cause of the problem between them, he didn’t think he should involve himself too much in the matter at the moment, not until they’d talked to each other at least.

  Elsa still didn’t know the truth of what had happened, and he knew that he shouldn’t be the one to tell her. There was too much that could go wrong. According to Katryn, Elsa believed they were together, that Katryn had flaunted the fact. How would she take it if she learned it was a one-time thing, that Katryn had only used him to hurt her. He didn’t think it would matter if he told her the reason, the fact that both of them were victims of Katryn’s manipulation would leave her disillusioned and likely push her father away. Katryn, in turn, might believe he was widening the rift between them on purpose, to take Elsa away.

  It was too delicate a situation to meddle in carelessly…

  They needed to have a serious conversation, just the two of them, that was the best chance at fixing things. He shouldn’t be involved until that was done.

  Before either of them could say anything more, the creak of the stable door opening drew their attention and Katryn stepped inside. She gave a soft nod, but seemed to hesitate, as though she wasn’t quite sure how to act after recent events. “I… I just wanted to let you both know,” she said, her voice a little strained, “lunch is almost ready.”

  Timidity was strange on her…

  Elsa was wrestling with her own struggle, stiff as a board beside him, not even lifting her head to look at Katryn. Adam never imagined he’d be in a situation where he would be the one holding things together. Both of them needed to sort themselves out.

  “I’ll be there,” he said with a small, casual nod.

  Katryn gave a small, almost imperceptible smile. Then she turned and left.

  Adam pushed himself off the crate and offered a hand to Elsa, but she just stared at it, as if trying to discern the meaning behind the gesture because she obviously didn’t need his help standing. But after a brief hesitation, she took it and he helped her to her feet.

  “Thank you,” Adam said to her.

  She cocked her head. “Why? I didn’t do anything.”

  “Well, my head is still attached to the rest of my body,” he joked. “And it’s just nice to talk to someone about everything. Thank you for listening without… you know.”

  Elsa flashed him a warm smile. “I see, in that case you’re welcome.”

  “I do have a favor to ask though,” Adam said after a while.

  Elsa’s gaze lifted, her green eyes narrowing with curiosity. “What is it?”

  “I want to learn to control that power. I don’t have anyone else, you’re the only one that can help,” he said. “And also… if you could teach me how to use a sword.”

  The book he read at Lorelei’s home helped, but it could only do so much. He needed practical lessons now, and learning how to use a sword couldn’t hurt. He didn’t think there was anyone better he could learn those two things from than a Gold-Rank knight.

  Whether Elsa had guessed his intentions, he didn’t know. But her lips pressed together and the corner of her mouth twitched, as though trying to suppress a faint smile.

  “Sure, I’d like to avoid another explosion, and after everything that’s happened, learning to defend yourself isn’t the worst idea. But I must warn you, I’m a stern teacher.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” he responded.

  Adam was deeply aware that the two of them were still holding hands, but he made no move to let go. When she finally noticed, she pulled away, embarrassed, and offered a shy smile.u Neither of them acknowledged it, but they understood that something had shifted between them, something important. It felt as though a final blockage had been cleared.

  “Are you staying… for lunch?”

  She shook her head and frowned a little. “No, I have to be somewhere.”

  Adam didn’t know whether that was true, but he was certain that Elsa being present was what was holding her back. She was supposed to be taking a break, no way she didn’t have a few minutes to spare. Still, he said nothing. He just nodded. “Alright,” he murmured.

  Elsa gave a faint smile, then turned and left the stable.

  Adam stayed behind a little longer, turning over everything that had just happened, replaying the entire conversation in his mind, before heading for the inn.

  “She hates me, doesn’t she?” Katryn said in a pained voice.

  He’d barely taken a seat on the stool when she spoke, and he gave a soft smile. He understood that the rift with Elsa was probably eating away at her mind.

  “I don’t think she hates you, just give it time.”

  “I hope you’re right.”