Eventide (Meratis Trilogy Book 2) (21 page)

“Wow. Thanks. Yeah.”
Suave, Jeff. Suave.
He stepped aside and held the door for her to come in.

She glanced towards the blanket strewn over the sofa. “Rough night?”

“Not really.” She raised an eyebrow at the obvious lie, and he cleared his throat. “Just a lot on my mind.”

“I bet. It’s not every day someone tries to kill you.”

“Not even in
my
life,” he joked.

The conversation lapsed, awkwardness and tension pressing in on both of them, making it impossible for Jeff to think of anything to say. So many words needed to be said, so few of them he knew what to do with.

“Jeff-” she started, and the same time he tried, “Look, I—”

They smiled.

“Can I just—” he began, while she said, “I want—”

They laughed, clearing the air ever so slightly. He gestured for her for continue.

“I wanted to explain. About the other night.”

“There’s no need. Really. I understand why you’re upset, and you have every right to be. I know I fucked up by keeping my issues to myself, but I’m still trying to make sense of everything, and I really don’t want to drag you into my garbage.”

“I know,” said Cassie. She moved closer to him, stretched out her fingers out as if to reach for his hand, but let them drop back again. “I know that’s what you
think
, but maybe there’s some way I could help you.” A tentative grin crossed her lips. “You know you’re not the best at figuring these things out for yourself.”

“Truer words,” he said, smiling back.

She tilted her head up towards him. “Maybe we could talk things out. Find some kind of resolution.”

Jeff’s mouth went dry. He wanted to jump at the opportunity, but the concern lingered that she had been right—that maybe he couldn’t get over his resentment. Could he take the chance and risk hurting her?

Cassie must have noticed his hesitation, because this time she did take his hand in hers. “But,” she said, dipping her head to catch his eye, “I won’t push you. I just wanted you to know that, if you think it’s a possibility, I’m willing to find a solution.”

Jasmine saved him from having to come up with a reply, knocking on the door and stepping into the room. “Sorry to interrupt.”

Cassie turned with a bright smile. “You weren’t,” she said. “We never got a chance to catch up last night. You look good.”

“As do you. Keeping up the ... Aikido?”

“Twice a week,” Cassie said with a nod, jokingly exposing her well-toned bicep under her t-shirt. “I think it’s going even better now that I’ve had some real experience. Future kidnappers won’t stand a chance.”

“I doubt they ever did,” Jasmine said with a grin.

Jeff rolled his eyes at the two of them. He had to confess that, separate, each woman intimidated him. Together, they were an indomitable force.

“Looks like you’ve managed to keep this one in check at least.” Jasmine jerked her chin towards Jeff. “I know what a challenge he can be.”

“I’ve done my best,” said Cassie, keeping her voice happy and upbeat, in a way Jeff didn’t know if he could have managed. “He doesn’t make it easy. Anyway, I’ll leave you two to chat. We’ll catch up later.”

“Sure,” said Jasmine, her eyebrows raised in surprised at Cassie’s hasty exit. She looked from Jeff back to Cassie as the other woman left the room.

Jeff returned to the sofa and collapsed down onto it, burying his face in his hands.

“Girl trouble?” Jasmine said, sitting beside him.

“Mmhmm.”

“Want to talk about it?”

Jeff’s hands fell from his face. “Do I look like the type of person to talk about feelings?”

Jasmine smiled. “You look like a person who needs to. Don’t be such a man. Come on, haven’t you poked and prodded enough into my love life? It’s your turn.”

“I need food.”

Jasmine’s smile widened. “How about you tell me as we walk to the kitchens. We’ll both bury our problems in one of the cook’s mincemeat pies.”

She grabbed his arm as she stood up, hauling him to his feet. Jeff kept an eye out for Cassie once they reached the corridor, but it was empty of anyone except the odd servant appearing and disappearing in the rooms.

“So what’ve you done now?” Jasmine asked.

“I finally told her the truth. About what the Sisters did—what I did.”

Jasmine’s brow arched. “Only now? What took you so long?”

“Because I didn’t know how she’d take it. I thought she’d freak out.”

“How about feel honoured? Touched? You sacrificed a lot, Jeff. I’m sure she knows what it means and appreciates it.”

He dragged his feet down the stone steps. “Yeah, she does. I know that.”

“So I don’t get it. What’s the problem?”

They reached the main floor and crossed the foyer to the next flight of stairs. Jeff had never been in this part of the Keep before, which surprised him. The smells floating up from below should have tempted him long ago.

“I don’t know. What if I can’t get over it?” he said. “I don’t want to turn into this mean bitter old man.”

“I think this is where I stop you and tell you to smarten up.”

Jeff blinked and nearly tripped as he reached the bottom of the stairs. “What? Why?”

Jasmine released an exasperated sigh. “Because resentment or not, you love her just as much, if not more, than when you traded your imagination in the first place. Work out your problems and try to be happy.” She stumbled over her next words, and Jeff saw how she tried to cover it up by inspecting a crack in the wall. “At least you still have a chance to be.”

They stopped outside the kitchen doors. Jeff didn’t want to push Jasmine’s confidence, so he stayed silent, encouraging her to proceed with a look.

She hesitated, and then said, “Corey.” The name fell from her lips like a weight. “He was my right hand for so long, and when he died I felt incomplete. Like I could never be the woman I was before, never be as good as I was. You have a chance to fix things, so do it. You may be special, Jeff, but not even you can go back in time and change your decision.”

She pushed the doors open to the kitchens, and Jeff’s jaw dropped at the four giant fires built into the walls. Meat on spits and the woodstove glowing orange with the heat of baking bread. He forced his thoughts back to Jasmine.

“And I wouldn’t,” he said. “Change my decision, I mean.”

He sat down across from Jasmine at a table in the corner, watching the cooks bustle about to prepare the day’s meals. Jasmine waved at a large smiling man, who nodded and opened the door to one of the ovens.

“So what do I do?”

Jasmine waited to answer until the cook set a pie dish down in front of them. The sweet smell of apples wafted towards Jeff’s nostrils. His mouth filled with saliva as the cook cut two pieces.

“Enjoy, my lady,” he said. “Fresh picked this morning.”

Jasmine took a bite and beamed up at the man. “Never leave us.”

He winked and left them. Once he was gone, Jasmine set down her two-tined fork and leaned forward. “Talk to Cassie. Be honest with her. It’s probably why she came to see you today, anyway. And if you want more advice, I say do it before that pretty man decides to step in.”

“He is a stupid pretty man,” Jeff grumbled.

“Eat your pie.”

Unable to let the food go to waste, he shovelled a large bite into his mouth, moaning in appreciation as the spices hit his tastebuds. Almost good enough to push all thought of Darcy and his predicament from his mind.

Jasmine smiled and started in on hers, propping her elbows up on the table. The way her braid fell over her shoulder, stray hairs dancing, she looked softer than Jeff had ever seen her. He also noticed the sadness behind her sea-green eyes.

“How about you, Jax?” he asked. The nickname still felt weird on his tongue after years of calling her only by her full name. Yet another detail he hadn’t learned until he came here. “How are you holding up?”

“You’ve been talking to Brady.”

“He may have mentioned something.”

Jasmine frowned. “He sees too much.”

“He cares about you.”

Her shoulders slumped forward as she sighed, her turn to poke at the few bites left on her plate. Jeff eyed them, his own plate bare except for a few crumbs.

“Enough,” she said. “Talking about it won’t solve anything, and it won’t bring us any closer to figuring out what to do about Raul. I can’t believe this still isn’t over.”

She turned her head away from Jeff, hastily wiping at her cheeks. Then she pushed her plate away and got to her feet. Jeff did the same, swept away by the sudden change in emotion. It wasn’t unexpected—Jasmine would rather be seen in a pink tutu than caught crying—but he had to take a minute to adjust to Jax disappearing and Lady Feldall taking her place.

“We’ll find him,” Jeff assured her as they strode out of the kitchen.

“Of course we will,” replied Jasmine, glancing over her shoulder as she opened the heavy wooden door to the stairs. “There is no other option.”

The reprieve in the kitchens hadn’t been nearly long enough. After the moment of serenity, the sudden burst of energy jarred him. So many battles to fight and no clear way how to start. But while Jeff became weighed down by the mind-spinning worry, Jasmine looked rejuvenated. Her eyes were bright, and her pace sped up the closer they got to her office.

“I’m going to see if any of our messengers have come back with news. And you,” she jabbed a finger into Jeff’s chest, “are going to go talk to Cassie and get your issues resolved, yes? And then you’ll go see Maggie and see about going home. None of this is your problem.”

“Venn is—”

“Our responsibility,” said Jasmine, taking hold of the door. “I wouldn’t ask you to put her fate on your conscience. Go on, we’ll talk later.”

She shut herself in, and Jeff stood alone in the corridor.

Spend time with a whirlwind, expect to be disoriented
.

But Jasmine had left him with orders, and he thought that maybe he was ready to see them through. If Jasmine was right, it was long overdue.

He headed upstairs to Cassie’s room to find it empty. From there he tried the library, his room, a few of the parlours on the main floor. He wanted to try the Haunt, but with all the pops and bangs floating up from the basement, and the fingers of smoke creeping up from the stairs, Jeff hoped Cassie was nowhere near it.

He was just about to head back up to Cassie’s room to wait for her when he heard laughter coming from the direction of the foyer.

“I’m not kidding!” Darcy said. “The sword probably had a few pounds on the kid, but somehow he held on, just waling at the queen’s champion until he pleaded for mercy.”

Cassie’s face was flushed, the anger and stress from the morning replaced with an ease and joviality she didn’t show around Jeff anymore.

Doesn’t show yet
, the confident voice in the back of his mind said.

Won’t
, said the other voice that Jeff was more inclined to believe.

She caught sight of him and the smile vanished, her shoulders drawing back. It was a difficult transformation to watch, and having Darcy as audience didn’t help.

Have to try,
said the first voice.

The second voice grumbled, wanted to argue, but told him the same thing.

“You guys taking the tour?” he asked, the forced cheerfulness grating to his own ears.

Cassie didn’t answer so Darcy stepped in. “Miss Murphy was showing me the grounds. It’s got a good layout—the training yard especially.”

A few quips rushed through Jeff’s head along the lines of
“
You would go straight for the fighting, wouldn’t you, you broad-chested, sword-wielding …” but he bit down on them and said instead, “I’m glad you’re finding your way around. I hate to interrupt, but can I talk with you for a minute, Cassie?”

From the look in her eyes, the way her body turned towards the stairs as if ready to fly up, Jeff knew she would turn him down. Darcy looked from one to the other and opened his mouth, maybe even to be a decent guy and offer to leave, but he didn’t get the chance.

A burst of chaos sounded from the dungeons. Men’s shouts and the clatter of metal against bars. The prisoner causing grief, it seemed. Then another silence fell, the problem contained.

The interruption broke the spell of their stand-off, and Cassie took a deep breath. “All right, I guess we can—”

Footsteps echoed, and the head of a servant appeared in the stairwell from below as he hurried towards them. He made for the next flight of steps, but when he saw Jeff he curtailed his path and approached.

“Forgive me, sir, but I was asked to summon you to the dungeons.”

“Why, what’d I do?” Jeff asked, only half in jest.

The servant didn’t answer, just pressed his lips together in a forced smile before walking away.