I lingered at the doorway of my room and stared at Alaisdair in consideration.
I needed to lose him, preferably now. Don't get me wrong, he was a good guy, but he worked for The King and was far too attached to rules for comfort. I didn't want him to hear anything I had to ask Alec only to report it back to the higher ups, so to speak.
"Are you alright, My Lady?" Alaisdair asked when a few too many moments passed in silence.
"Huh, that's new. No one's ever accused me of being a lady before," I said lightly.
"I'm sorry, have I offended you?" He asked, his eyebrows bunched together in confusion.
"Only mildly," I joked.
He looked genuinely concerned so I sighed, quickly moving to ease his concern. "I'm kidding. You've been great, honestly. I was just wondering if you were up for a stroll. I haven't gotten out much and I thought I should stretch my legs a bit," I said as innocently as possible.
He looked relieved that I'd asked about getting out of the room I'd shut myself in. "Of course. Anywhere you go, I go."
Yeah, that was the problem, I thought, biting down on my tongue to prevent myself from saying it out loud.
We walked in silence as ideas of my escape raced through my mind, all too poor to even attempt. I cleared my throat and peeked at him. He caught it and raised a brow in question.
"So what do you usually do? You know, when you're not babysitting me," I asked before looking away to study our surroundings.
"I'm a knight. I am in service to the King. Whatever he commands of me, I do." He kept his eyes forward as he talked and I felt my stomach drop at his choice of words.
"Anything he asks?" I asked, the question flying out of my mouth before I could contain it.
"Anything," he affirmed, turning his head briefly to look at me as he said it.
I looked away, trying to keep my expression normal. "Have you met him?" I asked in a casual tone.
He paused, taking a breath. "Only a handful of times. It was a great honor," he said, his voice heavy respect for his king.
Well, shit.
The sound of footsteps interrupted our conversation, saving me from having to find an appropriate response that didn't sound completely unauthentic. Kieran came into view and I stuttered in my step, making me stumble slightly. Alaisdair's quick reflexes saved me from the embarrassment of taking a nosedive. He righted me and I involuntarily swallowed the gratitude that sat on my tongue when I realized Kieran was walking directly towards us.
"Shit," I said under my breath, wishing I could disappear.
Alaisdair heard me and looked back at Kieran with a dark expression. I'd never thought of Alaisdair as dangerous or threatening, but that changed quickly with the look he was wearing. Somehow, Kieran seemed completely miss this, or chose to ignore it, as he came to a stop in front of us. I straightened and clenched my jaw as I tried to hide the discomfort I now felt around him.
"Echo, can I speak with you?" He asked in a surprisingly collected voice.
I nodded reluctantly.
"Alone?" He added after a moment of silence, shooting the man next to me a quick look.
"No can do, amigo. Where I go, he goes," I said, smiling as I repeated Alaisdair's words, thankful for his presence for the first time since he was assigned to me.
A smile twitched at Alaisdairs lips when he recognized his words, but remained stone faced otherwise. Kieran glanced between us before nodding in acceptance with a pained look in his eyes.
"I just wanted to apologize for the other day. I should have never did what I did. I was out of line," he said, his words heavy with regret that reflected in his eyes.
I nodded silently, hoping he'd leave it at that.
Sure, I'd play forgiving, but it would never be real. For a moment that day, I saw a darker side of him and it felt manipulative, desperate, and strangely angry. There was also the fact that he had no real intentions of helping me, and there was no way in hell I was going to forget it. But he didn't know that Demetrius had warned me about them so I had an advantage here, and I needed to exploit the advantages I had if I was going to have any kind of chance of surviving this.
I looked down and away in what I hoped looked like guilt. "And I probably shouldn't have, you know... Did what I did," I said in a hushed voice that sounded real, even to my own ears.
At the mention of what I had done the image of washing his blood off my hands flashed in my mind, making me wince.
"You don't have to apologize, Echo. You were completely justified in your actions," he said, a perfect response for someone who was remorseful of their actions. Almost too perfect, in fact. I grew up around a fair amount of abusive people, men and women alike, and they were all pros at apologizing. It was what made them so dangerous, because they made you want to forgive them. I'd gotten pretty damn good at recognising these kind of apologies, so I could spot how empty this one was from a mile away.
I nodded and looked up with a small assured smile, making sure to keep my face genuine.
"There's one more thing," he said to me before throwing a brief glare in Alaisdair's direction. He returned his eyes to me, neutral and professional in way I hadn't seen from him before as he continued, "Your training; The King needs me for a sensitive matter that will pull me away from our sessions. I'm not sure how long I'll be gone, but your training will have to be postponed until I get back."
Relief flowed through me and I tried to dampen it in my response. "Well, I never really was good with any of it anyway. It's kind of difficult to be a badass when you can barely manage to stay on your feet in the first place," I joked.
He seemed to relax at my sarcastic, self-deprecating answer and it reminded me that he wanted me like that. Comfortable in my weaknesses.
"You weren't so bad," he lied.
"Thanks for saying that, but I really was," I said lightly, maintaining the mask I wore, silently adding, because you refused to help me improve.
He shrugged sheepishly, as if to say 'okay, yeah. Maybe a little'. I would've found the gesture attractive before everything happened but I felt nothing now.
Alaisdair interrupted with a voice devoid of emotion, "Is that all? Because we should keep moving."
It was clear from his entire demeanor that Alaisdair didn't like Kieran and I found it oddly comforting. I had to bite back the smile that I felt prodding to get past the facade I was holding up.
Kieran nodded stiffly and gave me a quick tilt of the chin before he walked passed us. I turned to Alaisdair in question but he continued to watch Keiran until he was out of sight. Finally noticing that I was looking up at him expectantly, he cleared his throat.
"Weird how he was sent away for a job just days after our altercation, isn't it?" I asked, watching him closely as I spoke.
He hummed and started walking. I smiled at how bad he was at lying. I mean, he was this big, bad ass shifter, but he couldn't even manage to tell a little white lie. He was so square it hurt, and I was starting to find it endearing as all hell.
"Thank you," I whispered softly as I walked along him.
After a moment of silence, I looked over at him and he was already watching me with stormy eyes. You would think he held the world on his shoulders with those eyes.
"I failed you that day. He's not what I thought. I'm here to protect you, I should've known better than to leave you alone with him," he quietly admitted, clearly angry with himself.
"Oh, please, I've dealt with so much worse than Kieran," I said lightly, trying to lessen his unnecessary guilt but it didn't seem to take.
I sighed and softly continued, "You've done more to protect me in the short time I've known you than anyone else has in my entire life, so there's no way you should be beating yourself up over it."
He looked over at me, surprise and sadness lining his eyes. "That can't be."
I shrugged and looked away, suddenly uncomfortable with the conversation. He seemed to sense my mood shift because he stayed silent as we walked. We came up on the main hallway where students filled the entirety of the space. An idea hit and it pulled a smile out of me, temporarily erasing my strange mood.
"God, this reminds me of highschool," I mumbled as I took it in.
"That was a time of your life you were fond of?" He asked as he took in my smile.
"Not even remotely," I said, visibly confusing him. "Let's hurry through this one, K?"
"As you wish."
We started weaving through the bodies and it didn't take me long to spot a couple holding hands. A guy trailed them, clearly annoyed at their sluggish speed, and I almost did a dance at how perfect this seemed to be. I slowed slightly when we came closer to them. I reached around as subtly as I could and smacked the girls ass as hard as I could. I heard her squeal in surprise and I continued for a few steps before I turned around, pretending to want to see what the commotion was all about. The man who was holding her hand now stood with his fists gripping the guy behind them by his shirt. The guy he was holding up was deathly pale, shaking in fear.
I'm going to hell.
A crowd started to surround them as the distinct sound of a fist meeting flesh rung out.
Yup, Satan would love me.
I turned to Alaisdair with wide eyes. "Alaisdair, he's going to pummel the poor kid to death."
He sighed and looked at me with serious eyes. "Stay here."
"You got it," I immediately shot off.
He narrowed his eyes. "I mean it, Echo. I won't be happy if I come back and you've disappeared."
Then prepare to be angry, my straight-laced friend.
"Scouts honor," I said with three fingers held up, hoping I was doing it right.
Technically, I was never a scout. A foster dad of mine tried incessantly to get me to join but I refused. It sounded like hell for children who didn't like rules.
He nodded, accepting my lie, and turned to make his way through the crowd. I waited until he was out of sight to dart down the hallway.
He was going to be pissed but he'd get over it eventually, right?