Chapter 8

With a soft click, the doorknob to the house turned. Finally, the door that had been closed the entire day swung open to admit Ahel.  She froze as she stepped inside. Her eyes darted to where Ray was lying quietly on the sofa reading a book. This was the first time she had even come home to find someone waiting for her.

Normally, she was greeted by the shadows dancing in the corners, not the warmth of another living person. She could do nothing but stare at him for a long, long while.

Finally, Ray looked up at her. “You’re back?” It wasn’t a sweet, fairytale greeting, but it was more than she was used to. She was glad he at least pretended to be happy to see her.

She nodded once, then headed straight to the kitchen. She had to start preparing dinner. But no matter how hard she tried to concentrate on the food, all she could think about was Ray sitting on the sofa in her living room.

How long is he planning to stay? While it was nice to feel something more than just the chill of her empty home, it was also strange and uncomfortable. Leaving him alone here meant he had access to all her things. He had probably looked through everything and used whatever he wanted to.

Could be a few days, could be just one night, Ahel mentally repeated those words as she washed and skinned a potato. She cleared her throat and finally asked,  “So… How long are you going to…” The rest of whatever she had been about to say was cut off when a firm, warm arm wrapped around her waist.

She gasped in surprise and her body stiffened. What the hell? She hadn’t even heard his footsteps. The only sound he’d made was a few moments ago when he had closed the book. Her keen sense of hearing was just one of the many skills she had learned at Pelanders.

She should have kept her eye on him.

She had been trying to learn his gestures and tells, but his movements were swifter than any assassin she had ever met.

Other than coming to hug her from behind, Ray didn’t move again.

“Why… Why did you do this?” she asked as calmly as she could with all her thoughts rushing through her mind. Her grip on the knife in her hand tightened.

Ray reached over and covered her hand with his.

At the feel of his hand over her tiny one, she dropped the knife in shock, sending it clattering onto the cutting board.

He tapped her hand gently as if he were approving her actions, then he let her go and stepped back. “I wanted to check something,” he said in a low voice that tickled over Ahel’s ear.

Goosebumps prickled their way over her back and the hair on her arms pricked up. Her throat went dry, feeling like she hadn’t drunk anything in days. She swallowed hard against the feeling, then finally managed to ask, “Check… what?”

Ray said nothing in response. Instead, he swept her hair aside and pressed his hand against the warm skin on the back of her neck.

Ahel bit her lip, barely managing to hold back a small noise at the feeling of the hard, calloused fingers raking slowly over her skin.

He burst into pearls of low laughter when she winced and tensed like a rabbit in the presence of a predator. Because he was standing so close to her, his rumbling laughter seemed to echo through his body, and stroke over her skin through his fingers. His breath whispered through Ahel’s hair, ticking against her ear.

Ahel clenched her fists tightly against the feelings rising in her body.

Then, in a whisper he said, “Hush, hold on. Just hold on.”

Is he really so clueless? Or is he pretending to be clueless? Ahel thought to herself, trying to calm her racing heart. But there was no way she could calm down with their bodies pressed so tightly together.

Ahel squeezed her eyes shut at the rising tension in her body, doing her best to maintain control. She could feel his fingers moving across her neck, drawing a line from one side to the other… Wait! My neck!

Her eyes snapped open when she finally understood what he was doing. Combined with his strange words from earlier, things were starting to make sense. What exactly does he want to check?

By the time she figured it out, Ray had already removed his arm from her waist.

Ahel covered her waist with her hands and turned around to stare at him. She came face to face with the visage of a predator about to leap onto their prey. His green eyes were so bright and vivid that Ahel couldn’t help but take a step back.

She clamped her bottom lip between her teeth, barely suppressing a shiver at the sudden change in atmosphere. I don’t like this strange reaction of his.

Ahel reached back and grabbed the countertop with hand, so hard that her knuckles turned white. It seemed that this was the only way for her to gather her wits.

She had realized too late that Ray had been trying to see the tattoo on the back of her neck. The only reason he would have gone to check it is if he already knew about it.

Ahel summoned all her courage and looked at him with a sharp, penetrating stare. “What did you want to check?” she asked in a voice that was a little more shaky than she intended it to be.

Ray raised his eyebrows in surprise at her question. “Do you really not know what I want?”

“You were trying to see that tattoo on the back of my neck, weren’t you?” Ahel asked, despite Ray’s cold attitude.

Ray narrowed his eyes, looking at her critically, trying to figure out what else was hiding behind that simple question. But before he could say anything else, she spoke again.

“You know what my tattoo is, don’t you? You know about it.” As her calmness started to buckle, Ahel’s voice took on a nervous quiver.

She wanted to grab Ray and hold him hostage, just like he had done to her. She wanted to force him to tell her everything he knew about her tattoo. But, just by glancing at him, she knew that wouldn’t work.

She didn’t know why, but Ray was suspicious of her.

“You don’t seem to know what that tattoo is,” Ray said, sounding more relaxed than he had been a moment ago.

Now that he seemed a little less hostile, Ahel found it easier to talk to him, “Correct. I don’t know what it is.”

“You don’t? Are you sure?” he replied, raising his eyebrows and staring at her with those bright green eyes.

“I honestly don’t know,” she said again with a little more resolve. She didn’t even back down under the assault of his intense stare. She faced him, as though she was no longer scared.

Ray locked eyes with her, holding her gaze as though he were trying to will the truth out of her. Then he looked away. “You really don’t know…” he mumbled to himself.

He was silent and motionless for a few moments as he considered what she had said. Then, he suddenly looked up at her and said, “How am I supposed to believe you? Can you prove what you said is true?” he asked mockingly.

Ahel was shocked. How was she supposed to prove something she didn’t know?

She stayed silent, but she knew she somehow had to make him understand. This was only the second time in her entire life that someone had recognized the tattoo.