Page 72 of Swords of Soul and Shadow (Gate Chronicles #3)
The man in the back stepped forward, the one who resembled an animated skeleton. “I’m Mr. Gray, though unlike my mates here, I wasn’t a student. And unless my eyes deceive me, you look rather lost.”
“I’m not.”
“My mistake,” Mr. Gray said with a short bow.
He looked back at the final member of their trio, who looked as if he’d rather be anywhere else but there.
His dark eyes only glared at Hallie’s feet.
“Then you must be trying to rob the Stradat Lord Kapitan? From the way you eyed his new tent, that was my next guess.”
The man, Waylan, gave him a pity laugh. The other moved his stare from her boots to the ground beneath them.
She wouldn’t say they made her fearful, just uncomfortable.
Mr. Gray had a look about him that screamed he’d been through something, though she wasn’t sure if it was the way his eyes darted here and there looking for threats or the dark circles underneath them.
The latter made his eyes look more like small hollows in his face.
Thankfully, the corridor had plenty of witnesses. She would just make sure she lost this trio before long. “Thank you, but I really must be going.”
She went to go back to the larger cavern and find someone to help her.
She might be able to ask one of the soldiers out in front of the Stradat Lord Kapitan’s tent.
If the three men were a danger to her, she couldn’t fight them.
Even if her power responded, which it still hadn’t, she didn’t want to do whatever she’d done to the Cerl soldiers to them.
No one deserved that. She also didn’t know if innocent bystanders would be safe from whatever power she would unleash. It was too much of a risk.
Mr. Gray caught her by the upper arm and gave her a warm smile. “Didn’t mean to make you uneasy, but if you’re looking for Kase, he’s up the other way in the third cavern. Brown tent. Scary-looking soldier outside it. Looks more like his face was carved from marble.”
Now the fear spiked, cold and sanguine, emanating from his hand.
She wrenched it out of his grasp. “If you lay a hand on me again, I will report you, sir.”
Maybe too strong, but while she’d had a course with the other one, Waylan or something, this one really acted as if he knew her, though she couldn’t remember him. Something was most definitely off.
Mr. Gray let his arm fall and shrugged. “We’re only trying to help a friend out. Kase and I go way back, and I can see why you’re his next conquest. He’s always liked them fiery.”
Waylan laughed at that, but Hallie narrowed her eyes. “You don’t even know me.”
She should have just left. She should have gone onto the hospital ward for her shift.
This was a mistake. But his words dug a little too deeply for comfort, as much as she hated to admit it.
Despite his appearance, he had that haughty air that most of the uppities held.
If the other had been at the University, he most likely came from money.
Very few were like Hallie, paying their own way through school.
Mr. Gray put his hands in his pockets as the surlier man and Waylan left the group, the latter distracted by someone else he supposedly knew. Mr. Gray leaned in, and Hallie edged away, but the wall was at her back.
“Played Hanged Man with Kase the other night, and when Kase lost, he told us Lavinia Richter was his way of getting back at his father—and that you, Miss Walker, were the latest iteration of that.” He clucked his tongue, shaking his head.
“Might’ve been Waylan who called you a conquest, but Kase didn’t correct him. ”
Who did this person think he was? “I’d advise you to sober up and stop harassing women in the corridors.”
Hallie finally turned on her heel and went back toward the Stradat Lord Kapitan’s tent, leaving the odd Mr. Gray behind.
She knew he was lying. Kase wasn’t the type to play around with a girl’s feelings.
He had his flaws, but with everything they’d gone through, she knew Kase.
She hadn’t known the mysterious Mr. Gray existed until five minutes ago.
But there was that little voice in the back of her mind that wouldn’t be quiet, the one that said she wasn’t good enough for Kase. She didn’t come from money. Kase hated his father, and someone like Hallie would be the perfect person to drive the wedge further between them.
Then there was what her mother had revealed—that Kase had shown up drunk and injured from a fight. Might’ve been unrelated, but her gut told her they were.
He did have a temper, and drinking would loosen any man’s tongue. It was one of the reasons she herself refused to drink alcohol.
The man might have been lying about the game, but when Hallie crossed the larger cavern and found the one Mr. Gray had indicated held Kase’s tent, she spotted exactly what he’d promised: a dark brown tent with an older soldier whose face did indeed look carved from marble.
Half of her wanted to ignore Mr. Gray’s words. The other half wanted to confront Kase about it. She should do that. It was always better to get the worst part over with and have open communication. Hallie’s morning had already been trying, and she was late for her shift.
She hesitated, her feet confused as to which way she wanted to go. If she went and talked to Kase right then, if she convinced the guard to let her in, then she could get answers…but then Petra would pry when Hallie finally arrived. She’d pry anyway, but what if her mother and Mr. Gray were right?
Kase wouldn’t lie to her. He’d tell her what happened and wouldn’t sugarcoat it. But could she handle the truth if it matched Mr. Gray’s account?
If it’d only been his words, she could’ve easily dismissed them. But her mother’s were harder to ignore.
She moved out of the way as a younger couple pushed past her and entered the tent next to Kase’s, saying something about swiping more whiskey that night. Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she turned and left the cavern.
Maybe it was cowardly, but she wanted at least a few more hours of believing the best in him before it all came tumbling down.