Ember (45 page)

I put a finger up. “Okay, granted I'm
surprised that that guy lied like that. But all you've proved is
that people will say anything to get
your
approval.” I
shrugged. “And I already knew that.”

Ikovos eyed me. “Yeah right. If you hadn't
been there it would have been like ten times harder.”

I pursed my lips and his gaze turned even
more incredulous.

“You do realize he was a guy?”

I blushed a little. “Yeah, of course . . .
but I don't think he cared about what I thought, I didn't even say
anything.”

Ikovos raised his eyebrows. “He just had to
look at you.”

I blushed thoroughly now. Ikovos, I'm sure,
knew that I was embarrassed.

He turned ahead. “Sorry,” then paused. “I
just think it's messed up that someone like you could possibly
believe that these people have anything to look down on.”

I kept my eyes on my feet uncomfortably. But
still, his words made me feel safer, more secure.
He does that a
lot.

“And . . . ,” he sang, stopping us suddenly,”
here we are.”

I looked up to see that we were standing in
front of a half stone, half glass, front, building. It wasn't as
tall as some of the others, in fact we'd actually gotten into a
slightly more deserted part of town.

Ikovos walked up to open the door, waiting
for me to go through.

I smiled, said thanks, and passed him. When I
got inside I could tell immediately that we were at the smith shop
. . . well, at least on one side. To the right was a counter and
beyond that the usual fire-pits and large, metal, machinery. Some
wood pillars, hanging tools. Pretty standard.

The unordinary part was to the left. This
almost looked like a regular store,
very
fancy though. From
what I could see, it held neatly displayed weapons and armor.
Obviously more, but I didn't have time to examine further. A voice
interrupted me.

“Hello. What can I do for you?” asked a man
from being the counter on the right.

My eyes widened. “I, ah . . .”

Ikovos walked up behind me. “We're here to
check on an order. Name's Thoran.”

The blacksmith that had addressed me was
downright cliché. Large, muscular, bearded . . . he reminded me of
Boran. “Sure. My papers are in the back.”

Ikovos put a hand out. “I'll follow you.”

The smith nodded to him then turned
around.

Ikovos glanced back at me. “I'll be right
back. Stay out of trouble.”

My brow dipped.
I’m not that bad.

He just smirked at my face and headed after
the man.

I sighed then spun around on my heel. The
workspace back by the forges would have been fun to check out, but
might not be the safest option . . . I thought I should probably
stay on the store side.

I walked towards the first table of
merchandise. It started out with a few plain swords, but they
quickly became more intricate. Tangled shapes and colors. Jewels or
stones embedded into their handles. I studied a few of them, then
turned around to the tiered glass shelves I had wrapped past. These
held simply-colored stones. They were beautiful,
very
magical. The light hitting them refracted all about them.

There was one small dagger in their midst,
out on an open case. The thing looked deadly sharp, coming to the
smallest point at its tip. The handle was fairly plain, unadorned
apart from a single blue jewel at the cross-section. The steel it
was made from looked like a dark silver.

I touched it absently along the edge.

“That's not a very nice one, you know,” came
a woman's voice.

My hand jerked back immediately, eyes
flicking up.

The girl who'd spoken was down the aisle
against the wall in front of me, leaning with her hip against a
table. I had to click my teeth the keep my jaw from dropping.

She was one of those exceptionally gorgeous
girls you hear about but never expect to actually see in real life.
Her hair was black and thick, pulled up into a messy ponytail with
a bandana. Her skin was tanned, eyes dark, lips red. She was
polishing one of the daggers with a slick cloth. From her clothes
and greased arms it looked like she might be the smith's
assistant.

“Oh. Sorry . . . I didn't know anyone else
was here.”

She lifted a shoulder. “It's fine. I gave up
on trying to keep people from fingering the merchandise a long time
ago.”

I winced slightly, though not showing much —
she had her eyes on me unabashedly.

“Do you work here?” I asked, moving
closer.

She grinned. “What? Couldn't you tell by the
outfit?” She spread her hands out shrugging her hip to the other
side.

I bobbed. “Yeah, I guess I should have
known.”

She smirked, setting the weapon down. “So are
you with that boy that just came in?”

I looked over. “Oh, you mean Ikovos, err . .
. the one with the blond hair?”

She smiled. “Yeah.”

I nodded, feeling a little more confident
just at the idea that I knew the boy.

“Oh.” She frowned. Then stuck out two
fingers, swirling them between each other. “So you guys are like .
. . ?”

I looked at her confusedly, then my eyes
widened. “Oh no. No, no, no.” My face must have been turning red.
“Just friends.”

She raised her eyebrows, looking over to the
other side of the store intently. “Really. . . . He's pretty cute.”
She bit her lip. “Is he single?”

My eyes hardened instantly, but then her gaze
narrowed back to me, despite the uneasy feeling, I blinked them
clear enough to look half normal. “Ah . . . yeah, Yes. He's
single.”

She grinned ruefully. “Good, good. You'll
have to introduce me when he comes back. My name's Amy by the way.”
She stretched out a hand.

I shook it. “Evelyn.”

“Are you guys visiting here, or? . . “

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“Will you be in town long?”

My head shook. “I don't think so. Just till
tonight.”

She pouted her lip. “Too bad. . . .” then
picked another stone up and began to polish it.

I tried to quell the knotting in my stomach.
What’s my problem? This girl is just being nice . . . And it’s
completely understandable that she'd want to meet Ikovos.

What do I care if she likes him anyways?

Two knocks on the glass behind me pulled me
out of my internal dispute. I spun around to see Jaden leaning
around the edge of the glass. His hair was hanging sideways into
his eyes, looking as unnaturally dazzling as ever.

“Eve. There you are.” He smiled just slightly
as he said it.

It made me feel happy all of a sudden. I
smiled back. But when he walked around the edge and his eyes moved
past me I got a
not-so-happy
feeling.

My head turned to Amy who was staring up
directly.

“Make a friend already?” Jaden asked.

I shook my head out, looking to him. “Ah . .
. yeah. This is—”

“Amy,” she finished for me, walking up
towards us.

My chest tightened substantially as she
reached her hand out.

He took it. “Jaden.” Then relaxed casually,
turning back to me. “Is Ikovos around?”

“Ah . . .” I fumbled under his stare. “Yeah.
He went in the back. He’s checking the order.”

Jaden nodded, glancing off. “Okay. I'll just
wait for him to get back.”

I wish you wouldn't.

“So, I interrupted.” He gestured towards us.
“What were you guys talking about before I came?”

I looked to Amy. “Well, we—”

“I was trying to get Evelyn, here to stay in
Rizenn longer . . . there's quite a lot to miss out on if you leave
before dark.” She leaned up as she said it.

My eyes tightened, I couldn't help it. I
don't think I was just imagining that her voice had gotten about
fifty times sultrier since Jaden had arrived.

“Any particular suggestions?” he asked.

She threw a hand out. “Well, the club down by
the south plaza is nice. . . .”

“Vigarow?” he tested, lifting his head.

“Yeah.” She grinned. “You've been there?”

He nodded.

“What about the Shardon?”

His eyes skewered. “Is that the one with
the—”

“Tank,” she finished.

“Where you can get the lobsters.”

She laughed shortly. “Yup. Hey, you must get
around.”

He shrugged. “This isn't my first visit to
Rizenn.” His eyes moved down to me as he said it, casually. I
forced a fake smile.

Amy continued. “It's too bad I didn't run
into you before.”

He smirked dryly. I don't think he was
oblivious to what she was doing . . . but she was gorgeous and
charismatic, I'm not sure he minded.

“Have you been working here long?” He asked,
pointing around.

She grinned. “Six months now.”

“Unusual job for a girl.”

She leaned to one side artfully. “It makes
for a lot of excitement.”

“I'll bet,” he said, humored smirk
resurfacing. When he finished his eyes slid to me again.

I had to look away immediately this time. I'd
never been able to talk to him like she was now, and . . . my
stomach was just really starting to feel not well. . . .

I tried to blink clear once, then turned
further to re-examine the knife in the glass case. It was a
thankful distraction to the scene, until Jaden moved in closer to
me, almost immediately.

My chest twisted.

“Know anything about knives?” asked Amy,
clearing her throat.

Jaden picked up the one in front of me. “A
bit.”

“I tried to tell her that that wasn't a very
nice one,” said Amy, moving in to my left. “She seems to like it
anyways.”

Jaden fingered it carefully, then flipped it
around a few times in his hand. “Well, Evelyn has a way of seeing
things other people don't.” He stopped it by the blade and held it
in front of me. “You wanna get it?” His voice was soft.

I looked up, body melting. He smiled down
knowingly.

In that moment I couldn't have been more in
lo-
Stop, Evelyn.

I took it weakly, strength lost, then looked
down.

“We'll take it,” said Jaden, glancing back up
towards Amy.

She moved back. “Great. I'll just . . . go
ring it up for you.” She grabbed it from me, the sudden irritation
in her tone quite obvious.

By the time she'd disappeared around the
corner, my heart was beating uncontrollably. I can't believe what
I'd just thought . . . and now I was alone with him. In this state
I was likely to say something I shouldn't.

. . . Evelyn. He called me Evelyn and it
sounded wrong. I didn’t realize it till now . . . that he still
calls me,
“Eve . . .” I whispered.

He looked down. “What?”

I thought about all the times . . . then
turned up. “Eve. You never stopped calling me Eve.” My eyes were
intense. His were too.

His jaw clenched for a moment, but then he
forced a slight smirk. “Don't you like Eve better?”

My chest rose . . . and his smirk fell. I
didn't really care in that moment what was smart or not.

I took a breath. “Jaden, I—”

“Evelyn, are you back here?”

My head cleared immediately at the voice. I
looked down, shaking it.

Ikovos came around the corner shortly. “There
you are. Oh. You're back too?” He looked to Jaden whose eyes were
still on me. I caught them once, curious and hesitant, then his
head turned.

“Yeah. . . . I came to tell you we have a
problem.”

Ikovos glanced at me oddly, then back. “What
is it?”

“I went to get the parts for the socket, but
most of them were special order. The earliest they can be here is
tomorrow.”

“Did you—”

“No one else had them.”

Ikovos nodded.

I took a slight breath, trying to keep up,
but still recovering somewhat from what had just happened.

“Well, what are you thinking?”

Jaden shrugged. “I ordered all the parts
either way. But I know Master Boron needs them pretty bad. I think
we should just stay here an extra day.”

Ikovos considered, nodding once. “It's
probably is the best idea.” He looked at me. “Evelyn, would that
bother you, if we stayed?”

I shook my head quickly. “Oh, no. That's
fine. I'll just go with the flow.”

Ikovos looked back to Jaden. “Okay, sounds
good. Ah . . . I still have to check the mail at the tavern. We'll
get the room there too.”

Jaden pursed his lips. “Slight problem.”

Ikovos narrowed. “Another one?”

Jaden eyed him. “It cost quite a bit extra to
express order the parts.”

“We don't have money for a room?” guessed
Ikovos.

Jaden's head rocked. “We have some, just not
enough to stay in the usual place. We'll have to go further
downtown.”

They both looked at me, though I couldn't
think of any particular reason why. I was mostly trying to figure
out why Jaden had bought that knife for me when they were already
running so low on money.

Ikovos sighed lightly. “I suppose that's
fine. We should look for a place now, I don't want to be wandering
around when it gets dark.”

Jaden nodded.

My eyes narrowed. The comment brought up a
very upsetting rule I used to have to follow. “I don't understand.
What difference does it make whether it's dark or not? I've never
gotten that idea. You know, until I was fifteen I wasn't allowed to
walk to town by myself at night. What's so unsafe about it?”

Both boys eyed me derisively.

“How are you still alive?” asked Jaden after
a moment. Ikovos just shook his head.

My brow narrowed. “Hey, I—”

Jaden rolled his eyes and started off out of
the room. “This is gonna be an interesting night.”

“No kidding,” added Ikovos, following
behind.

I did the same. “Come on, you guys already
said that earlier!”

*

After paying for the knife and repeatedly
attempting to get the boys to explain what was so treacherous about
night time, we started down the road in search for a cheap place to
spend the night.