The Royal Thief

Chapter Thirty-three: Caer

YAY WEDNESDAY UPDATE ON THURSDAY! Some pretty important stuff covered this chapter... 

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It had been a while since I'd seen Caer. Days since the library lesson. He hadn't tried to talk to me since and I certainly hadn't looked for him. Until now. The Book of Guardians was another unwanted mystery and I was going to get it out of my way as quickly has possible. 

All I had to do was knock.

I stared reproachfully at the door, wondering how a wood board could possible be so annoying. All I had to do was knock, all he had to do was open, all I had to do was ask, and then he would answer and I could leave and never talk to him again. Simple. But that door was leaving a pit in my stomach and a sour taste in my mouth. 

I scuffed my boots on the stone floor and considered going to the library instead. Somewhere there was a book with the answers I needed, but how long would it take to find it? Few books covered anything about Guardians. Caer knew the most about them of anyone I knew, with the exception of perhaps the Sage, and I certainly wasn't going to ask him about it. Aiden had made it clear Tobias was the last person they-- we-- needed to be suspicious of anything regarding the Book.

Just knock! I thought to myself, balling my hands up. Knock, ask, and get out. 

But I just couldn't do it. He had betrayed me, plain and simple, and I didn't want to go crawling to him for answers. I couldn't. No, I wouldn't, and that was that. I would just search the library until I found something else that could tell me.

It wasn't running away, it was preserving my pride. Anyone else would have done the same.

Having made my decision, I let out a breath and started back down the stuffy corridor to the main halls. Who needed Caer anyway? I hadn't even wanted him in the first place. He was just a history tutor I had because Joshua had decided I needed school lessons again. I frowned, realizing I'd yet to hear about who would be my new teacher. Was it possible Joshua hadn't heard my lessons had stopped again? But that would mean Caer hadn't told him.

"Morane?"

I faltered under the archway to the main hall. Of course I'd been standing like an idiot in front of a door to empty apartments, of course he just had to be coming back to his rooms now, just in time to see me leaving...

Cursing beneath my breath, I turned around. "Caer."

He'd been coming from the other direction, so he'd seen my back as I was walking away. Now, face to face, it seemed he didn't know what to say.

"Yes?" I snapped.

"Were..." His eyes flickered to the narrow door set crookedly in the wall. "Were you looking for me?"

No. I was just lost. Now you get lost.

Yes. I'm sorry for screaming at you. I have a question.

No, you moron, I wasn't looking for you. I never want to see you again.

Yes, I was. I have a question that you are going to answer quickly and without excess information. Got it?

Why on earth would you think I ever want to see your face again?

I just want to ask you a question about the Guardians...

I spent a little too long trying to decide how to respond, and he seemed to take that as an answer by itself. 

"D'you want to come in?" He didn't wait for an answer. He unlocked the door and pushed it open with one shoulder-- arms full of books, of course. "Close the door behind you," he called back, so I followed him reluctantly, not closing the door because that felt kind of like saying this was a meeting on my terms.