CARDIGAN, acotar ¹

chapter forty seven

₊˚ˑ༄ؘ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏

CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

ACHINGLY CONTENT, CARSON woke up, smiling softly.

the memory of dancing with eris until their feet hurt replayed again and again. she hoped she would never forget it.

and for a moment, she wasn't trapped under this mountain. she hadn't killed innocents to please amarantha; she hadn't fought against death for freedom. last night, it had just been her, eris, and the wishing stars.

it was all that mattered.

carson turned over, expecting to see him sprawled across from her, only to find an empty space of cold sheets and untouched pillows. as if it had all been a dream — a silly vision her mind had created to distract her.

but she was still in his bed, wearing his tunic, and hidden in the comfort and safety of his chambers. so carson closed her eyes, letting sleep take her once more as she ran on borrowed time.

when she awoke, it was to the sight of eris sitting at the foot of his bed. he was in the middle of buckling his boots and stilled the moments her eyes opened, as if he'd heard the batting of her lashes.

he said nothing as she shifted nearer to him, still half-asleep. his skin was unusually cold as she let her fingertips graze against his arm.

"where were you?" she murmured, yawning.

eris ignored her, just focusing on fastening the buckle on his other boot before he was up, all but shoving her to the side as he rose from the bed. carson's hands flew out, catching herself before she could fall.

"eris," she asked, tone cold.

still, he didn't look at her. he just faced the closet and reached for a tunic. "you should go," was all he said.

she blinked. again and again.

carson searched her memory for anything she could have said or done to upset him, but in the end was drawing blanks. her mind strained. she remembered telling him everything. from her childhood ruined by her mother, to when she left her sisters to escape to that town house, up until the moment tamlin brought them to prythian.

in return, he'd shared his own stories, of how his father had stolen his youth and thrusted him into a world of royal expectation. of how beron had done the same things to his brothers, and even worse to lucien.

they had no secrets between them.

and now, she couldn't help but think that eris hated it.

"eris," she said again, wanting nothing more but to tug him back and demand what he was thinking. "is something wrong?"

"i have somewhere i need to be, and you need to go," eris said, voice cold and laced with anger. she had never heard him like this before, not directed towards her, at least. her eyes narrowed, while her chest tightened painfully. she rose from the bed and approached, only stopping until a safe amount of space remained between them.