Eliuteria

Chapter 14

My face was still painful and discolored two days later, though most of the swelling had gone down. Though it was uncomfortable to do the exercises Tau insisted on, my encounter with Juleen convinced me further of their necessity. After seeing what Juleen did to my face, Analiese made up her mind and joined me in the routine each morning. We worked until our muscles burned and nearly gave out from fatigue. Even if it wouldn't give me much of an advantage, it felt good to be doing something to defend myself and I thought Analiese felt the same. We were doing what we could.

It was early afternoon and we'd all begun cleaning to prepared for the party that would follow the battles the following evening before I saw Ró again. I was helping prep the pastries for breakfast in the kitchen when Veetrala Faedra pushed through the doors. She glanced around, her eyes staring down her long, pointed nose before landing on me. Her eyes filled with contempt.

"You. You've been summoned," she said.

My heart began to race, panic rising in my chest. I wanted to sink into the floor and disappear. I could not be alone with Juleen again, I did not think I would survive it.

"Quickly!" she snapped. "You know better than to keep a laere waiting."

Relief swept over me. I kept my eyes trained to the floor walking quickly behind her down the steps and into the grand entrance of the paestra. When I saw him, I didn't look up. I kept my gaze low and let my hair fall into my face to hide the bruising and small split in my cheek from where Juleen hit hard enough to break the skin.

In the past, Ro had been protective of me, but I did not know if that was genuine or part of his game and I did not know where we stood now. I avoided letting him see me while he spoke quickly with Veetrala Faedra, thanking her for being so prompt.

"I have better girls," she said in her own language to him. "This one is more trouble than she's worth."

Eliró laughed. "I can handle a bit of trouble," he told her dismissively. "Let's go," he said to me all the humor gone from his voice. Once again I found myself questioning if the coldness in his tone was an act or not. Eliro didn't wait for me, he spun around, and I followed, two steps behind as we'd always been taught. We continued this until we were a block away from the paestra when Eliro fell back in line with me.

"I had to return to Sieraul for a couple of days," he explained why he hadn't caught up with me sooner. His voice returned to the warm tenor I'd grown accustomed to. I didn't like that I was relieved, but I was. Part of me had been concerned that he was still so angry he didn't want to see me.

"It's fine," I said and then added in a lighter tone, "I've managed without you."

Next to me, he chuckled, and the sound made my gut tighten. I knew when he saw my face he would regret the laugh. I didn't blame him though.

"I take it you've kept up with the exercises Tau gave you."

"Every morning." Ro turned down a side street and led me down a different path than we usually took. "Where are we going?"

"The market," he said. "I need to pick up a few things."

"The market?" After how intense most of our meetings were, it seemed unusual to be strolling through a market together. The stalls were operated by humans and it was mostly personal servants doing shopping on behalf of their Morri patrons, though some shopped for themselves, and it wasn't entirely uncommon to see a Morri strolling through the marketplace. I occasionally was sent to pick up whatever ingredients Marlee needed and enjoyed the peace it brought to wander through.

It was nice to see him and do something simple and stress free, but there were things that we needed to speak about. Tau indicated there was an explanation worth listening to, and I was trying to give Ro the benefit of the doubt. I hadn't pressed for an explanation the morning after our argument. But everything I'd said... I still wanted the answers. Eliro may have been hoping I'd have forgotten, but that wasn't going to happen.