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But his laid-back demeanor and dark aura send a thrill through me, and I can’t look away.
“Enjoying the views, too, I noticed,” he says. He cocks a brow and I flush, thinking of him sweaty after sword fighting with Ken this morning. “You’re trying to make friends with Fern? Why?”
“What do you mean why?”
“From what I heard, she was rather nasty toward you.”
So were you and Das Celyn, I want to say. But none of that compares to the lord and lady’s treatment. I can handle attitude and privilege with ease after years of reckless abuse and sadistic punishment.
“She told you about that?” I ask, surprised, standing awkwardly before him.
He chuckles. “No.” He licks his lips, contemplating, before his eyes lock onto mine. “The pixies did.”
“Pixies?”
“Tiny, nosy, winged creatures with an incredible hearing ability and proclivity for gossip.”
I glance around, searching for such creatures and coming up short. To my shock, Rainer chuckles. The sound sends a burst of warmth through me.
“That’s an invasion of privacy,” I say, squinting at him.
“Then you’ll be pleased to know there are none in here. They’ve been banned from your room.”
“They—what? Why?”
Rainer turns away, no longer meeting my gaze. He clears his throat, ignoring my question, then turns back to me. “You’re under the impression Fern will be leaving with you?”
My cheeks flush. Stupid blabber-mouth pixies. I square my shoulders and step over to the chaise, standing directly in front of Rainer with my back to the unused fireplace and my arms crossed.
“Yes,” I say. “I’m not leaving her behind.”
He chuckles again, this time it’s much crueler than before. “And what makes you think she wants to leave?”
I think of her popping that pill, slurring her words. Her overindulgence with alcohol. “You’re keeping her here. All drugged up and—”
He leans forward, resting his arms on his thighs and piercing me with his crystalline eyes. The eye contact is almost too much.
“You assume to know exactly what the situation entails?” he asks. “After being here only a couple of weeks?”
“She’s hurting without you making it worse for her.”
“You gathered that from a few encounters with her?” He taps his fingers casually on his thigh, glancing around the room.
“It only takes a second to see that someone is in pain. All you have to do is look. See them.”
His fingers pause their rhythm, and his eyes snap to mine. A line mars his forehead as his brows scrunch together. Languidly, he peruses my face, as if he’s searching for something. I squirm, my core turning molten with his attention on me.
After a few seconds of intense eye contact, Rainer licks his lips and nods slowly.
“See them,” he repeats. A flash of sorrow crosses his face. “You’re being awfully compliant. Why?”
“What do you mean?”
He blinks, giving me a hard stare. “Based on the attitude I saw when you first arrived, I know you have quite a fight in you.”
“What’s the point?”
“The point?” He laughs incredulously. “Of fighting for yourself?”
