Sleeping Roses

Stairway of Roses

When Kilan entered the dining room that evening, he was once again struck by Luka's cold sharp eyes as soon as the door opened and his skin almost crawled under the gaze as he took his seat. 

Beldon was already there, changed - like him - into dinner clothes, though casual like the night before. Kilan had the feeling that the two had been there for some time before he had been collected for dinner.

When the soup was set in front of them, Kilan picked up his spoon and almost dropped it again when Luka's voice split the silence.

"So," he said and Kilan jumped.

The tone was so cold and hard it was uncomfortable against the ears. Did he speak to Beldon like that?

Kilan glanced up at the sharp green eyes were looked straight at him from against the table, lit by the candles. The master reached forwards and picked up a slice of bread, holding it between his strong slender hands and tearing it in two. While the centre was soft, the crust was beautifully crisp and the sound of it snapping was so sharp it was like swords clashing.

Kilan stared at the bread for a moment then looked back at Luka - was he doing this on purpose?

Luka eventually looked to his bread, calm as anything, and set on piece on his side plate.

"I hear you didn't find the bag," he continued, his voice light, conversational - and yet Kilan was almost sure there was something taunting under the tone.

"Unfortunately," Kilan replied, looking back at his soup, "But we did meet someone who suggested that it might still be in the forest."

"Oh?"

Kilan glanced at Beldon for the name of the young man.

"We met Jean," Beldon supplied, he didn't seem affected at all by his companion's strange attitude.

Luka paused in his movements then, his eyes slowly sliding to the side to look at Beldon out of the corner of them, his lids lowered and a shadow flitted across his face.

"You met with Jean?"

"We bumped into him," Beldon said, then chuckled. "Well actually, he startled him," he corrected, before explaining how they had actually run into him.

Luka listen to the tale, watching Beldon and Kilan watched Luka. The strangest mix of expressions passed his face. There was the same stoic appearance he figured was always there. Then there was a type of unpleasant coldness and he just knew that Luka did not care for the young man, Jean, in any way. But there was also a softness there that had only appeared when he looked at Beldon. It was almost confusing to see such a range of expression on one face - and he was surprised at the softness.

Kilan looked at Beldon. "If I might ask something about that man," he said and Beldon looked at him.

"Of course."

"Well, perhaps it was just me, but it seemed he was... I'm not sure afraid is quite the right word, but... well at least unnerved by your presence. Is that just his character?"

Beldon looked at it for a moment, then thought about it. "No, it's not so much his characters, he is nervous around me." He pursed his lips then smiled. "But he has a reason to be nervous and he brought it upon himself." And then he waved it away. "But you needn't concern yourself with that. So," he looked back at Luka, "We might go out tomorrow again and look for it, though I do have something else in mind and-"

"Might?" Kilan said, startled, cutting him off.

Beldon glanced at him and smiled. "Might," he confirmed, before leaning back so the soup bowls could be taken away and stirring the conversation away to talk of court, leaving Kilan in the dust, confused by the 'might'.