Shadows and Steel | ✓

chapter thirty-five

-35-

Another day passed in a blur. Then another. Elle found herself walking from grub back to training wrapped in her own thoughts. Mather had found her another agents willing to partner with her. He wasn't Cerid, but his toothy grin and enthusiasm was nice enough. He didn't seem to bat an eyelash at her sulks and general bad moods.

What she wasn't prepared for was Cerid, sat at one of the long tables of grub one night. He was laughing with some agents with a tray full of food before him. What the hell happened to increased security? 

As Elle looked around the room, she noted the guards stationed at its edges, a certain cook standing by the kitchen window surveying the room and one or two agents sat a few seats away, not talking nor eating any food.

They all tried to act natural, but their eyes constantly drifted back to Cerid. Every assassin who brushed his shoulder as they found their seat made them jerk to attention. Elle hung back in the doorway for a moment longer, suddenly not feeling very hungry. A new sort of sickness had got her stomach rolling.

She couldn't help but observe the man, his honey hair glistening in candlelight as he treaded the line between heir and fellow comrade. He nodded courteously, listening intently to whatever was being said. His lips moved quickly and articulately in response. The Imperial Heir had been trained not only in sword-work, but using his words to win a victory. It was obvious now that she looked closely.

Tan and Kovar ate across the hall with Rand and Hana, on a table where she wasn't welcome. She scowled, not that she'd want to sit next to Rand. Shaking her head at herself, the assassin went to turn away and return to her empty section. That was until her ears pricked up at a voice ringing louder than the rest. Someone calling her name. Cerid's misty eyes had fallen upon her, with a gracious farewell he placed down his folded napkin and strode over.

Should she run? Pretend she hadn't heard him? But a new alarming thought rattled about her skull: what if someone from her team saw them both, took one look at Cerid and put two and two together?

"Vhiena—" he began, glancing behind him at the guards. "Have I done something wrong? You don't seem happy to see me."

She offered a small smile, now aware of a dozen sets of eyes on them. The guards, the men at his table and Tan glaring daggers into the back of her neck. "And I'm supposed to jump at you every time we meet?" Automatically she glances at his side, noting how his jacket and shirt covered the healing wound.

"Do you have somewhere to be?"

Elle pretended to think about it for a second. "No, I don't think I do. What have you got in mind? Not training, I hope."

Shaking his head slightly, he grinned the boyish grin she had missed. "Come with me. This is a surprise I'm certain you'll like." He grabbed her wrist, tugging her out of the hall. Once they were out of sight and weaving through hallways, he wove their fingers together. Elle resisted the urge to look backwards as they passed the entrance to the Order's meeting room.

If she had her bearings correct, continuing down would lead them to the big room with all the doors where she had entered the caves.

The heir to DETRA, wearing a satisfied expression already, pushed open double doors down a hall which seemed formidably dark. Cracks of light shone under the door. The first things Elle's eyes snapped to were the mezzanines and bridges running over their heads, layers and floors above them with stepladders to reach the next level. She beamed to see panelled flooring, a difference from the ceaseless stone décor. Silk cushioned chairs she could just sink into, drowsy fireplaces carved into the stone with chimney shoots travelling all the way to the surface.