A Court of Hearts and Stone

22. Like Calls to Like

    Eris paced around the room impatiently. Celosia was purposefully making him wait. That was the only explanation he could think of. He gritted his teeth in frustration.

    By the Mother, I've already apologized to Rhysand, Cassian, and Azriel for making them wait on me so many times, he thought. I've learned my lesson.

    It didn't help that his instincts were telling him to go home. He was doing his best to stifle them, but it wasn't working. They kept rising up with loud demands. Go home. Make sure she's safe. Go home. Don't leave her again. Go home. Go back to her. Go home.

    Eris stamped his instincts down again. He'd never felt anything like them before and he didn't want to think about what it could mean. Not yet. He'd only known her for two months. Eris rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He felt like he'd known her far longer, though. He knew her better than he knew himself, just like she knew him.

    Footsteps echoed in the hallway. The door flew open, revealing Celosia. "How is the assassin today?" She asked, dropping into a chair.

    "Evren," Eris snapped, "is recovering quickly now."

    "Good. Maybe you'll stop being so irritable then." Celosia picked at her nails. "I don't see why you're so upset by this. You turned away everyone who tried to visit, me included!"

    "I am upset by this because she almost died. She was hallucinating and dreaming of terrible things. She kept waking up screaming and crying. There were times when she hardly recognized me! The last person I wanted to see was you. I couldn't pull myself away from her for longer than ten minutes!"

    "That sounds like a bit of an obsession to me, and not a healthy one," Celosia remarked.

    Eris snarled and braced his hands on the arms of her chair. "What were you doing with a poisoned dagger, Celosia?"

    "I swiped it from the assassin," she said. To her credit, her voice didn't shake. "When you and Evren attacked him, I stole the dagger. I didn't know it was poisoned."

    "Do you know who the assassin was?"

    "Of course not. I know as much as you. He's male. I couldn't distinguish his scent. I think he might have hidden it, perhaps the same way Evren hides hers."

    Eris didn't like the look in her eye. "If you're insinuating that Evren knows the assassin, you're wrong. Besides, if she had hired him, he wouldn't have used her as a shield when you attacked him."

    "Unless she told him to."

    "Why would she do that?"

    "She's an assassin," Celosia muttered. "She could probably make a large profit off either of us."

    "Not if she's dead before she can claim the reward. Why are you so eager to pin this attack on her?"

    "I'm not. I'm just trying to think of all the possible suspects."

    Eris drew back. "Evren is not a suspect. You, on the other hand, are. I suggest you consider helping me find this assassin if you don't want to be imprisoned in his place."

    "You wouldn't." Celosia narrowed her eyes.

    "You were the one holding the dagger, no matter where you got it. You were the one who stabbed Evren. If she had died, you would be the one to blame." Eris glared at her, feeding fire into his amber gaze. "And I find myself unwilling to forgive you for putting her through the terror of the past week."

    He spun on his heel and stormed out the door. He didn't leave the house. Instead, he returned to the hallway they had been attacked in. The broken glass had already been cleaned up and new windows were being put in place.