Chapter 60
4.
Just as she began to think there was something oddly deep about the way his red eyes lingered on her, Ael turned away from Kiara.
“Let’s go, Duncan. Where’s Maeve?”
“Oh, that Bretnach bumpkin….”
Duncan, who’d been gawking at them like a stunned ox, snapped out of it and trailed after him. Even after the two men disappeared beyond the door, Kiara continued staring at it for a long while.
The feel of that rough glove against her cheek still clung to her skin — almost painfully vivid. And with it came a hollowness in her chest, strange and unsteady, as if her whole self had been nudged off balance.
Not that anything particularly dramatic had happened.
Ael had shown up without warning. They’d fumbled into each other in a rush. Then, before the warmth had even faded from her skin, some urgent matter had pulled him away again.
It was nothing new. Nothing she hadn’t endured before. So why…
Was it because, for once, he hadn’t vanished while she was asleep or too dazed to register it? Because he’d actually said goodbye this time, awkward and brief as it was?
‘…Still, he said he’d come back tonight, didn’t he…?’
Kiara tried to soothe the raw edges of her mood with reason.
And besides, he’d said it himself. That this was where he stayed now. Her room. That meant he’d come back. Of course he would.
That thought alone made her cheeks flush.
‘Ah, and even if he doesn’t… It’s not like I’m waiting for him or anything… right?’
She rubbed her heated cheeks with a cool hand, then bit down hard on her lip. At any rate, Ael’s safety was now one of the most pressing concerns in her life. Whether she liked it or not, they were bound — soulmated or whatever it was.
So if she was worried about him, it wasn’t for any sentimental reason. Obviously.
‘As long as you’re safe, that’s all that matters. My soulmate.’
Repeating his words to herself, Kiara gave a small nod. Yes. That’s all she wanted too. For him to be safe.
R-right. If Ael was unharmed, then nothing could happen to her either — no danger and no death.
Just as she managed to wrangle her emotions into something resembling order, the heavy wooden door creaked open, and a familiar face peeked in.
“Lady Kiara.”
“Madam Raelin!”
Kiara lit up, a smile spreading across her entire face as she rushed to greet her. It hadn’t even been that long, barely a few days since she last saw her, but something about Raelin’s presence felt especially welcome now.
Raelin, too, looked delighted as she approached.
“Have you been well? Eating properly, I hope?”
“Raelin, it’s only been two days. And you literally brought food over yesterday.”
Kiara recalled the tray left beside her door — piled with more than enough to eat, and a candle or two she’d found even more comforting than the meal itself.
As expected, Raelin’s hands weren’t empty today either, but it wasn’t a tray this time. It was a large basket.
“…What is all that?”
Surely she didn’t expect her to eat all of it. Kiara blinked at the basket, wide-eyed in disbelief. Raelin, clicking her tongue like it was the most obvious thing in the world, lifted the cloth covering it.
“Of course it’s food! You may say it’s only been two days, but since I started looking after you, this is the longest I’ve been away, isn’t it? Last time I only managed to bring a few emergency things. It must’ve hardly been enough.”
Without waiting for a response, Raelin dragged the small table from the center of the room all the way up to Kiara’s bedside and began unloading the contents of the basket one by one.
Soft bread baked with plenty of milk still warm from the oven. Sausages seared to a perfect golden brown with garden vegetables. Fresh butter churned that very morning. Several kinds of cheese. And, most important of all, Kiara’s favorite: peach preserves, gleaming in a glass jar.
“…I didn’t even finish what you brought the other day…”
Kiara muttered faintly, still dazed.
Even after covering nearly every inch of the little table, Raelin didn’t stop. She plunged both hands deep into the basket, rummaging for what felt like forever — until, at last, she pulled something out with a triumphant grin.
“Aha! The food’s one thing, but this is the real treasure!”
What she held up, beaming, was a bundle of candles and…
“Wow! A notebook!”
“Not even pretending to be happy about the food, are you?”
Raelin smiled in satisfaction at the delighted sound Kiara made, then threw in a teasing remark.
“Oh—n-no! The peach preserves! They’re my favorite, you know. It’s just…”
Caught looking sheepish, Kiara let out a nervous laugh. Raelin handed her the notebook.
Cradling it carefully, Kiara ran her fingers along the corner of the cover, voice soft and shy.
“…I just didn’t expect you to find something so precious. That’s all.”
In Altnebra, paper was prohibitively expensive. And bound paper, like books or notebooks, was rarer still.
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