The Ebon Knight (The Chronicles of the Ebon Knight Book 1) by James Wood

Author:James Wood [Wood, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Book Writing Cube
Published: 2023-11-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Kelso wasn’t sure if he deserved to be relaxed, much less happy, but in Ava’s presence he was at ease in ways he couldn’t quite describe. Even though she loved to pick on him, Ava was a balm for the ugly, festering wounds that plagued Kelso. He had scars on the outside, sure, but most of his scars were on the inside. Invisible to all but grievous, nonetheless. So many scars, in fact, that Kelso believed he was damaged permanently. Ava helped him feel almost normal again, though.

Almost human.

This scared Kelso. If he could feel again, he could be hurt again. As he studied her features in the firelight, he hoped he wouldn’t blow it with the Princess, but he had a history of doing just that.

Ava was quiet, eyes deep in thought as she watched the fire. Her glass was empty, and as he noticed this, she held it up imperiously for him, not even looking his way.

“More wine, peasant,” she commanded playfully.

Kelso shook his head in mock disgust at her rudeness but heaved himself from his chair to take her glass. The Knight had been sitting in one of two brown leather monstrosities in his postage-stamp-sized living room. In the kitchen, he saw the bottle was dry, and he wasn’t sure he had anymore. Turning to search, he almost hit Ava in the head with the wine glass.

In utter silence and eerie quickness, she must have somehow lifted Charlie’s still-snoring head off her lap, got up from the floor, and followed Kelso as he made his way into the kitchen. Kelso’s senses were superior to that of any normal human, but he had not detected a single whisper of sound in her stealthy pursuit.

She moved like a ghost, and her utter competence impressed Kelso deeply. Just like her gliding and graceful waltz across the snow earlier, Ava’s effortless displays of ability were hard to get used to.

Ava rolled her eyes suddenly, and he realized she probably thought he was an idiot, standing half-turned with the wine glass mere inches from her face and mouth open like a fish. He was probably a few seconds away from drooling.

The first thing he did was close his mouth, and the second was to turn fully to look down at her. Ava was in her bare feet still; she was even shorter than he had originally believed. He was still in his cowboy boots, so the height difference between them was amusing. Kelso was literally looking down at her, chin almost to breastbone. For her part, Ava looked directly up at him, the back of her head almost between her shoulder blades. They still had a few inches of open air between them, even so.

“How tall are you?” he asked suddenly, a wolfish smile spreading across his face.

“Tall enough,” she responded immediately, right eyebrow raising in challenge.

“How tall is tall enough?”

She sighed. “Five feet, thank you very much.”

“You sure you’re not sneaking in an inch or two?” His smile in full bloom now.

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