I stepped back, lowering my arm, but kept the knife in my grip. For now, I felt better holding it. I took a calming breath. It didn’t matter what he thought of me. He was leaving.
With that reminder, I ignored the pulsing burn on my hand and dished up dinner, setting the bowls in front of each of us. Steam wafted up to my face.
“Where are you from?” Sivo asked as I was in the process of lifting my spoon to my mouth. I hesitated slightly before bringing the warm broth the rest of the way to my lips.
“I was born in Relhok City. I gather from your accents that you’re from there as well.”
Perla tensed. “We left before the eclipse,” she lied, distancing us from the truth of what had happened inside the royal quarters, from the slaughter of my mother and her attendants.
“Fortunate for you. After the eclipse everything . . .” His voice faded, words unnecessary.
We didn’t need to be told how bad things were in the capital during the eclipse. Sivo and Perla remembered and they’d shared those details with me. Knowledge was power, and a girl without sight needed as much power as she could seize.
“Did you ever see the high chancellor?” Sivo tensed beside me as he posed the question, his spoon clinking inside his bowl.
“You mean the king?”
His spoon clattered into the bowl. “He’s no king of mine. Assassinating the old king and declaring yourself king doesn’t make you the one true king.” Emotion bled into Sivo’s guttural voice. I patted his hand under the table, cautioning him not to reveal so much emotion. Why should a family such as ours, isolated and eking out a meager survival in a cursed forest, care who ruled over Relhok?
“I left the city over a year ago, but last I heard he was working on an alliance with Lagonia. Those were the rumors at least.”
“Lagonia?” Sivo scoffed at the reference to Relhok’s neighbor. “They’re enemies of Relhok. They block all routes to the sea.”
“Nothing like a mutual foe to turn enemies to allies.”
“What mutual foe?” Perla asked.
“Dark dwellers,” I whispered, understanding. They were everyone’s enemy. The rivalry between Relhok and Lagonia paled beside the threat of the dark dwellers. I felt Fowler’s attention on me then, his stare crawling over me. He had heard my whisper.
“Yes,” he replied. “The king will do anything to secure a trade route. The country is starving and we need the sea for fishing and trade to other countries.”
Sivo rose then, taking his bowl with him. He stomped from the room. I knew he couldn’t stomach to hear the high chancellor discussed in such a manner—as a king that might be doing something good for Relhok. As far as he was concerned, the high chancellor deserved a sword at his throat for what he did to my parents. I was inclined to agree, except I didn’t see what could be done about it now. We were here, far away from any chance of evening the score.
“Did I say something wrong?” Fowler asked in a voice that reflected nothing.
“He’s not an admirer of your king,” Perla sneered.
“He’s not my king,” Fowler replied in that even voice. “He’s mad. Everyone knows that, but he rules with an iron fist and the people of Relhok are still alive because of him. That’s enough for most.”
“But not you. You left,” I said.
“It’s enough for most,” he repeated.
Silence stretched and I wondered at his words and what was enough for him. Allu?
Perla rose and dished up more soup. “I’ll bring a bowl for the girl and check on the boy.” She hesitated before moving off. I knew she wondered at the wisdom of leaving us alone together. She didn’t want me to grow attached to him. It was probably the memory of me holding that knife to his throat that satisfied her.
I listened to Perla’s departing tread before shaking my head and returning to the task of cleaning up the dishes, trying my best to ignore him.
“Afraid to be left alone with me? I have my clothes on this time.”
“Should your naked form frighten me? I can’t see you, remember? So I needn’t be repulsed.”
He laughed at that, and I stopped, quite undone by the low, smoky sound. It rippled over my skin like the stroke of fine ribbon. His laughter stopped abruptly, almost as though it startled him as much as me. When he spoke again, his voice held no hint of that laughter. “Rest easy, I’ve not sent many females running away screaming before.”
From what I’d felt of him, he was well formed, but I couldn’t resist needling him. He was too confident and I wanted nothing more than to knock him from his perch.
“Oh. You’re in the frequent habit of prancing about naked, are you?”
“Not frequent, no.”
But I wasn’t the first. I waited to see if he would elaborate on that, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear with suddenly fidgety hands. I wanted to hear more about him. I wanted him to talk about his life. I wanted to know about where he came from, what he’d seen, the people, including the girls who had or had not seen him naked.