CHAPTER ELEVEN
1684 Words
The gathering was louder than usual.
Her father was in one of his rare, talkative moods—retelling a story Phaeryl had heard a dozen times, her mother laughing in all the right places, the fire casting a warm, flickering glow across the table.
Her mind ran back to last night and tried to think of what Xhanes could've possibly been discussing with the trio.
Alpha Astor always held gatherings on days he was enticed to boast of his greatness.
It should feel normal. But it doesn't.
Mainly because Xhanes was there.
Sitting across from her.
Quiet. Watchful. Like he always was—but somehow more… present today. As if he’s not just observing but fitting.
“And then,” her father continues, gesturing with his cup, “the i***t thought he could outrun me—”
“He couldn’t,” Phaeryl mutters under her breath.
Her father grins. “He definitely couldn’t.”
Her mother shakes her head fondly before her gaze shifts to Xhanes.
There was a brief pause. But long enough.
“You’re quiet tonight,”
Phaeryl quickly noticed the way his attention sharpened.
“I’m listening,” Xhanes replies simply.
Her father leaned back, studying him now with a different kind of interest.
“And what do you think?” Astor had thrown the questions as if he had been preparing it.
Phaeryl’s grip tightened slightly around her cup. With a slight anticipation of the random answer Xhanes would give.
Of course, he would ask that.
Xhanes didn't answer immediately.
He threw a quick glance ,just once,in Phaeryl’s direction
“I think,” he says slowly, “you’ve told that story enough times that the ending should have improved by now.”
Silence.
Suddenly, her father’s laughter breaks through it.
Phaeryl’s head snapped up before she could stop herself.
Her mother smiles, eyes glinting. “Careful. He doesn’t take criticism well.”
“I’ve survived worse,”
There’s something in his tone. Dry. Almost amused.
It shouldn’t affect her.
It does.
The conversation continued, but something had shifted. Was it possible Xhanes was still reading her mind?
Her father kept pulling Xhanes into it—asking questions, drawing him out. And Xhanes… answers. Not much,but enough.
Enough that he’s no longer just a presence. He’s part of the table.
Phaeryl didn’t like the fact that he was easily fitting into her life.
How her mother refills his cup without asking.
How her father nods at something he says.
How Espen would bet on winning him in a fight and would still lose shamelessly
How it looked so natural.
“You two would make a really good pair.” Her mother's voice broke off her trail of thoughts.
The words rolled off her mother's mouth and landed lightly. “Back when I found out I was bonded to your father….” Eira continued failing to notice the subtle change in Phaeryl’s expression.
Her mother didn't look like she had just said anything strange. She just reached for a dish, casual as ever.
Her father hummed in agreement.
And Xhanes didn’t react. At least not visibly.
She ignored the part of her that wondered what it would be like if they took their bond seriously.
“Brother Xhanes can only get my sister if he fights me for her” Phaeryl was maffled at Espen's numerous strategy on getting Xhanes to fight him but more at the part when Espen started addressing Xhanes as brother.
It happened after his first loss against Xhanes; they had both betted on the fact that Espen would call him brother if he lost.
“When are we going to fight?” Was Xhanes seriously planning to heed to Espen's stupid request?. During the last fight, Xhanes was obviously going easy on him. If he had seen Xhanes’ speed at the Keld palace, he would've probably understood Xhanes’ insane power level.
“This afternoon”
“Ok” Xhanes’ quick agreement to Espen ‘s request admist her father’s laughter to their conversation was much rather shocking.
Phaeryl had already told herself she wasn't going to watch the fight. Yet she was entering the Lanster private training ground. But she needed to be there. Right?.
She sat down on the bench before her eyes searched the area. No one was here yet. Espen was always late to their sparring, but she at least expected Xhanes to be early.
Her finger immediately went to her ring to twist. It reminded her of her little visits to her grandma and the memories of their time together before she died.
Her short moment of reminiscing was cut short when she felt a familiar energy. Xhanes had arrived.
The thought of both of them being alone in training grounds stormed her mind. The last time they were in this situation, they got into a petty fight.
She exhaled slowly, steadying herself, then turned. “Are you seriously doing this? Espen is hotheaded. You can never know what is going to happen. You might lose this time” She was lying, and Espen still had to improve his skills. There was no way he was going to beat Xhanes.
He was leaning against a pillar, arms crossed, expression unreadable. But his eyes fixed entirely on her.
“I doubt that,” he said. He sat on the bench, leaving little space between them. It was like he was testing how much space she’d give him before she pushed back.
Phaeryl didn’t move.That was her first mistake.
“Are you avoiding me?,” he added.
She scoffed, folding her arms. “I live here. It's hard to avoid someone who keeps appearing where I am.”
“Not hard,” he said quietly. “Intentional.”
Something in his tone made her chest tighten—low, certain, like he wasn’t guessing. Like he knew.
She tilted her chin up. “You think everything is about you.”
“And you think nothing is,” he shot back.
The silence stretched between them, thin and taut like a wire pulled too tight.
“Why were you following me?” The question he had been wanting to ask for a while.
Phaeryl’s pulse jumped, but her face stayed calm. “I wasn’t.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I’m not—”
“You were in the trees,” he cut in, voice sharper now. “Badly hidden, by the way.”
Her eyes narrowed. “If I was badly hidden, then why didn’t you call me out early enough?”
His gaze held hers, unblinking. “I wanted to see how long you’d stay.”
That… caught her off guard. She couldn’t deny he was quick-witted with words.
She recovered quickly, inching away and putting a little more distance between them. “Maybe I was just curious.”
“Curious about me?” Xhanes threw back with a mischievous smirk on his face.
Phaeryl hesitated. Xhanes’ made her realize she was a little bit curious about him. The fact he spent most of his life away from socialization. Or maybe how he raised himself.
That was her second mistake.
Xhanes noticed and inched closer. Almost as if he was teasing her.
“Or worried?” he pressed.
“I don’t worry about you,” she retorted quickly.
“Right.”
The way he said it,flat and
disbelieving,made irritation spark in her chest.
“Why do you care?” she snapped, not understanding why. “What I do, where I go to, is none of your business.”
“Everything you do becomes my business when you’re sneaking around me in the dark.”
“I wasn’t sneaking around you—”
“You were watching me.”
His voice dropped on the last word. He was right about that part.
She held his gaze, refusing to look away. “Maybe I didn’t trust what you were doing.”
“Then ask.”
“I don’t owe you that.”
“No,” he said softly, shifting closer again, “but you owe yourself the truth.”
She gulped down, trying to ignore the tingling sensation around her eyes.
He was close now. Too close that she could feel the warmth coming off him, could see the faint flicker of something in his eyes that wasn’t just frustration.
It made her chest feel tight in an annoying way.
“You hide a lot,” she said, quieter now.
“And you assume a lot,” he replied.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then his gaze dropped,just briefly,to her lips.
Subtle and quick.
But she was faster and saw it.
And it sent a sharp, unexpected heat rushing through her.
Phaeryl inched back on the bench immediately.
She needed distance.
“Was that all?” she asked, her voice steadier than she felt. “Or did you come here to accuse me of things you can’t prove?”
His eyes lifted back to hers, darker now.
“I came here,” he said slowly, “to figure out why you can’t stay away from me.”
Phaeryl forced a small, unimpressed smile. “You’re not that interesting.”
“Yeah, Sure” His tone sounded flat and unconvincing.
She opened her mouth to protest but stopped. Because he was right.
And they both knew it.
The silence that followed wasn’t empty this time.
“Next time you’re curious,” he murmured, his voice low, almost rough, “don’t hide.”
Her heart was beating too fast and loud now. If it was a little more quiet, Xhanes would've surely heard it.
“Next time,” she shot back, lifting her chin, “don’t give me a reason to follow you.”
A smile flickered at the corner of his mouth.
“Careful, Phaeryl,” he said.
“Or what?”
His gaze locked onto hers.
“Or you might find something you’re not ready for.”
“Seems like you guys are having a heated conversation. Can I join in?” Espen's loud voice pushed back the words she wanted to throw at Xhanes.
- Writer
