"You still manage to surprise me."
"As long as I don't turn you on, I don't care."
We entered the dining hall. Five steps in and people started to notice the difference in me. Wide eyes turned to stare, sticking to me as if I was a ghost. By the time I had breakfast on my plate, the whole place was silent.
“This is awkward,” Charles whispered, his head down.
“Yes, Charles, this is awkward. Thank you for pointing it out.”
A gasp went around the fifty or so spectators. I glanced up to find Stefan entering the room, three people at his back. Face stern, his eyes locked on me, his body heading over in a calm, measured pace. People’s eyes darted back and forth between us, ample entertainment.
When he reached me, he put his hand on my cheek. Then, surprising me, leaned down to kiss my lips. “Good evening, beautiful. I felt your embarrassment, so I figured you were here. I’m trying to lessen the…discomfiture.”
“Not helping,” Charles muttered, making himself as small as possible. He wouldn’t look at Stefan.
“Did you come to me last night with the intention to mark me?” I asked quietly, allowing Stefan to lead me to a table in the middle of the dining hall. He was openly staking his claim, which helped cement that the mark had to do with his feelings for me, and not his professional interest.
“No, I did not. I wasn’t thinking at all, actually. Nothing had been planned out. We can talk about it more later, though, without prying ears and judgment. I try to keep personal business behind closed doors. For now, I want to enjoy eating with you. Sitting with you. What’s your first class today?”
“Elements. Then weaponry—I’m getting a sword today. Most of the class is terrified. Then charms and spells. Why don’t you have to chant when you do a charm?”
“More advanced and powerful magic users can will the magic without having to form it with words.” He shook his head, his eyes never looking away from my face. The world could be on fire, but as he sat there, speaking with me, he wouldn’t have noticed. I had his sole attention. “You have the weekend off from charms and spells. Go back Monday. I’m sending someone to shadow Darla.”
“Ordinarily I would say ‘butt out,’ but in light of this mark thing you gave me, I think I’ll nod to that. I don’t feel like dying today.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. My job has always been to protect you.”
“Yeah, okay, that gives me a soft spot and all, but this is a little heavy for morning chatter.”
“Evening chatter, I think you mean.” His dark eyes sparkled, but in his role, he didn’t show humor, so he kept his face impassive.
“Right. Okay, I’m off. Thanks for strangely sitting at the table, staring at me and not eating, but I gotta go.”
He shook his head, a smile almost breaking free that time. “I’ll see you in the morning. Unless you need something. Call me or come to me anytime for any reason.”
“So, if I called you up, pulled you out of a meeting, and asked that you provide me with a teddy bear as big as my body with a black and gold bowtie around its neck—you know, symbolizing our combined power—you would comply?”
He stared at me a minute, still ignoring the world around him, probably trying to process the strange woman he’d tied himself to. Finally he said, “My duty, in that case, would be to ensure your mental welfare hadn’t taken a shit.”
“Potty mouth!” I glanced around us, noticing that people had restarted their daily lives, but constantly glanced at us, wondering what would happen next. “Can I touch you?”
He answered by putting a hand gently to my jaw and giving me a light kiss on the lips. “Will you dine with me in the morning? Every morning? As our last stop before bed?”
I winked, trying to stay casual, but did a happy dance on the inside. “Maybe.”
The very corners of his lips tugged as he shook his head. As he walked away, I swore I heard, “Complicating…” before his words got lost in the noise.
“Well, at least now he’s in a good mood.” Charles put his plate in the dirty dish tray. “And he got us off the hook with Darla. Thank the gods for their mercy! I’ll be half dead by then and really wasn’t looking forward to going.”
“How many gods do you guys worship?”
Charles did a double take as we made our way to Jessiah. “Talk about one-eighty?”
“No, you mentioned gods. That didn’t come out of nowhere!”
Charles ignored me, staring at his sexual nemesis, who waited under a tree monitoring our approach with an uncustomary grim face. “Why’s he dressed all commando, I wonder?”