Cold Iron by Miles Cameron

Author:Miles Cameron
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2018-10-22T16:00:00+00:00

55

People began to know his name. Dahlia never seemed to have work of her own. She was available whenever he was, which seemed odd, as sometimes Aranthur wondered if she even liked him. Her lovemaking was enthusiastic, but she was distant, virtually uninterested in conversation. When they walked together, she didn’t look at him; her attention was elsewhere. And he had the vaguest suspicion that she’d searched his room, which was probably insane of him, but he’d found her standing there …

As the term began to wind down and the sun began to climb the sky and the ground began to soften and everything smelt of mud, Aranthur’s whirl became a maelstrom. He’d fully translated his second full spell from the Safiri grimoire; it was not a high-power working, but it was very complicated—much more advanced then the simple shield. Now he was working directly with the Master of Arts, which was very frustrating, as she would be interrupted constantly, leaving him to efface himself.

He had two more drill days, which effectively sabotaged any attempt he made to hoard a little time.

After the second drill day, when he forgot to tell Dahlia that he could not meet her for even a fish pie, she came to his room. He was asleep in his reading chair and she slammed the door.

“No one stands me up,” she spat.

“I’m sorry.” He really was tired, but he tended to wake up badly, and his “I’m sorry” sounded petulant.

“There’s mud on your shoes. You went riding?”

“Yes. Ariadne needed exercise.”

Dahlia shrugged. “I understand. You are a compendium of duties and obligations, not a person. Your swordplay comes before me. Your horse comes before me.”

Aranthur could have said many things, but what he chose to say was, “Yes.”

She nodded. “Well. That was refreshingly honest.”

She turned and walked down the stairs.

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