Untitled
586 Words
---
*Chapter 4
The kitchen was barely big enough for one person to be mad in.
Now there were two.
Lilith busied herself with the kettle. Back to him. Shoulders square.
She could feel him anyway. Standing in the doorway like he owned the cottage.
Like he hadn’t just accused her of abandoning him in mud ten minutes ago.
Footsteps.
He didn’t sit. He _loomed_.
“Do you always make tea after ruining a man’s night?”
His voice was low, right behind her.
Lilith poured water without looking. “Do you always break into cottages after getting drugged?”
A pause.
The kettle hissed. She set two chipped cups on the table. No saucers. No sugar.
She slid one across to him.
He didn’t move to take it.
“You left me,” he said again. Softer this time. Like he was testing the words.
“I did,” Lilith agreed. She finally turned.
Doe eyes, unimpressed. Arms crossed.
“And you walked in anyway. So we’re even.”
He stared at her. Really stared.
At the flour on her sleeve. The braid coming loose. The way she didn’t flinch.
Most people flinched.
He could have left.
The door was right there. The night was right there.
But he didn’t.
He chose to inconvenience her.
He sat. The chair creaked.
Picked up the tea. Blew on it.
“My name isn’t for people who leave me in gardens,” he said into the steam.
Lilith sipped hers. Burned her tongue. Didn’t react.
“Good. I don’t want it yet.”
That got a reaction. One brow lifted.
“Aren’t you curious?”
“No.”
“Liar.”
She set the cup down. “Curious gets people killed. I’m just trying to get through the week without the palace guards knocking.”
The mention of guards made his jaw tick.
Outside, the wind pushed through the roses. The cottage smelled like bread, rain, and whatever cologne was still clinging to his ruined coat.
Expensive. Royal. Trouble.
Lilith stood to wash the pot.
His eyes followed her.
“You’re not afraid of me,” he observed.
“I’m afraid of a lot of things,” she said. “You’re just not one of them. Yet.”
He exhaled. It might’ve been a laugh. Might’ve been defeat.
He drank the tea. All of it.
Set the cup down precisely in the center of the ring it left on the wood.
“I’m staying tonight,” he said. Not a question.
Lilith dried her hands.
“I figured.”
“Where do you sleep?”
She pointed to the narrow door off the kitchen. “There. One bed.”
His gaze flicked to it, then back to her.
“...Is that a problem?”
“For who?”
Neither of them answered.
The fire in the other room popped.
The roses tapped the window.
And two people who absolutely should not trust each other
decided to share a kettle instead.
-
---
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD