A King's Seduction ✔️

SEVENTEEN

Word Count: 2314

The autumn leaves crunch under foot as Elan and I walk through the forest toward the nearby village.

Having a Summoner as an escort to this town is bad enough, it just so happens I don't trust him, and he doesn't trust me either. I just have to remember that I'm doing this - going into the town to look for rebel sympathisers - for Kailor's trust, and to eventually take down Marek and Vaia.

"I was hoping we could be friends," Elan says from beside me, pulling a branch up for me to duck under. We may be walking a common track, but it isn't exactly a well-kept. If we took a carriage, it would be too obvious.

A lot of them already know what my face looks like...

"You think I'm working with the rebels. I doubt there is any room for a potential friendship," I mutter in reply, already irritated despite only having been in his company for a ten minutes now.

I keep comparing Elan to Marek, but in reality, Elan is quite different. He's bold and unbothered, knowing he's powerful, and not caring who knows it. Marek has always been more careful and calculated, never revealing anything unless absolutely necessary.

But a Summoner is a Summoner...They can't be trusted.

"I believe there is more to it. You don't trust me, either," Elan says, the humour in his tone causing me to grit down on my teeth, holding back a myriad of potential insults that I've built up for Marek, that I want to now direct to Kailor's personal bodyguard.

"You pretended to be Zavian," I grumble, remembering how I nearly fell for his disguise.

Although Zavian wasn't the one who tried to force himself on me, I still have my own problems with the new Noble. I woke this morning with the intention of finding him to talk to him about his problem drinking Tani blood. Instead, I was intercepted and sent off by Kailor. I'm still desperate to know what's going on, so I can then talk to Tai about it.

"I was ordered to," he reminds me. I give him a glaring look, letting him know that it doesn't change anything. "You don't like Summoners."

"What a wonderfully accurate observation," I mutter.

Elan skips ahead, walking backwards in front of me, awfully confident since we are weaving through the trees. The grin on his face is infuriating, even if he looks beautiful under the mid-morning sun, the light casting an ethereal glow across his skin, across his dark hair.

"I'm nothing like him," he attempts, trying to sound earnest, but my eyes only narrow in response.

"You don't know him," I remind him flatly, growling as a stray branch whips the side of me as Elan pulls it away, still facing me as he confidently stalks backward. I hope his foot catches in the undergrowth and he topples over.

"True," he mutters with a shrug. "Perhaps you can tell me about the mysterious man who broke your heart."

I glare at him. How much has spread about Marek and I? I thought only Tai and I knew about that, yet Elan is looking at me as though he can read my every move, like he knows everything about me.

"He betrayed me...There was no breaking of hearts," I snap, wiping sweat from my brow, despite the autumnal breeze that shifts through the trees. "But if you must know, he was clever, manipulative. I never bothered to wonder why he shared so little with me, why he only did when he felt I was losing trust in him."

That's all I'm willing to give Elan, out of hopes it will stop him prying. It may sate him for now, but I know my reluctance to speak about Marek will only have him digger deeper.