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CHAPTER EIGHTY-FIVE

Ellery

The sun shone off his light brown hair and sparkled in his golden-brown eyes as he approached. His warm smile made me feel bad over my annoyance at his interruption.

“Who is that?” Scarlet whispered.

Before I could reply, he stopped before us. “Milady, Ellery.”

“Good day, ah… uh… I’m sorry, but I’ve forgotten your name.”

His smile didn’t waver. “That’s understandable; we didn’t meet under the best circumstances. I’m Gaius Gisborne.”

“Yes, of course. It’s good to see you again, Gaius.”

It wasn’t all that good, and I knew what side he stood on in this simmering war, but I had to perform as expected.

“What brings you to Nottingshire today?” he asked.

“My friend Scarlet and I came for some sweet ices,” I said.

His eyes flicked briefly to Scarlet before returning to me. “If you’d care to join me, I wouldn’t mind a sweet ice myself.”

The idea of eating anything after what we’d witnessed made my stomach turn, but apparently, this man, who’d been front and center for the show , didn’t feel the same way. Uneasiness churned within me.

“Oh, that’s very kind of you, but we’ve already gotten our treats. We were making our way to the edge of the town to return home.”

“Oh.” His face fell a little before it lit with excitement again. “Well, at least you picked a good day to come to town, as you were amongst the first to witness the traitors’ punishment.”

We definitely differed on our opinions of that, but I kept smiling as I bit back my retort to his statement. What this man wanted to hear and what I had to say were two different things.

I already had the duke and sheriff breathing down my neck; I didn’t need this overeager puppy dog, with possible rabies, there too. Play nice, Ellery. Play nice.

“Yes,” I murmured. “How fortunate for us.”

Movement behind Gaius drew my attention as Ryker emerged from the crowd. He stood on the other side of the street, his eyes on Gaius before they met mine.

Walk away, I silently willed him.

As if he’d heard me, his jaw clenched, and he turned to cross the road. I lost him in the crowd, but I had no doubt he was somewhere close by, keeping an eye on us. We had to get out of here before something happened.

I focused on Gaius again. “It was good to see you again, but we must go. It’s nearly time to feed the animals.”

He frowned at me. “Don’t you have help for that?”

His tone and the question irked me, but I kept smiling. “Unfortunately, we don’t have as many as we used to.” I had no idea why I was explaining any of this to him; he had no right to know, but instinct cautioned me to keep our relationship affable.

“I see.”

“It was good to see you,” I lied. “I hope you stay well; until we meet again.”

Which I hoped was never, but I suspected it would be far sooner than I would like.

“You too, milady. I hope we meet again soon.”

Again, we had differing opinions on something. “Yes.”

Without looking back, Scarlet and I made our way toward the end of the road. I didn’t dare to drop my last purse as I felt Gaius’s eyes burning into my back.

When we arrived at the end of the road, Scarlet opened a portal, and we walked through. Even after the portal closed, I still felt his eyes on me and shuddered.