Dhampirica

XIX

"I'M SORRY ABOUT cancelling our appointment last night," Lord Dante said to her in the morning, on their way to Invictus Academy.

Yvanna looked at him and then at the window partition which divided them from the driver's seat. She wondered if it was soundproof. She glanced back at Lord Dante. "It's no big deal," she said in a low voice, after concluding that Soren probably could not hear them.

His lips turned down into a frown. "I disagree. I like to consider myself a man of my word. It was rude of me to renege on our agreement like that. Unfortunately, something came up. But I would still like to make it up to you. How about we play that game of chess tonight?"

By "something", he meant reuniting with his previously abroad fiancée, Lady Cerice Burdette, who Yvanna had not heard of until yesterday. She could not help but feel frustrated by the fact that no one in this household, especially her own noble, ever told her anything. She tried to shoo those feelings away.

"It's fine," she said, refusing to meet his eyes. "It was a presumptuous request anyway. You have more important things to do."

She could feel his gaze calling to her, almost compelling her to look at him. She did not want to. She was afraid of what her own gaze might say, in spite of the words which came from her lips.

"It wasn't presumptuous at all," he insisted. "I was looking forward to it, in fact. If you still want to play chess with me, then I ask that you join me tonight. I ask as a friend, of course — not your master." His emphasis on the word friend had her head turning towards him, despite her earlier resolve.

"I can't," she answered reluctantly. Before he could protest, she added, "I have an appointment with Dr Grand tonight; I have to go to her clinic to get an x-ray done. She's booked me in for surgery this Sunday."

"Oh, right. I did say you could have the afternoon off. Very well." He leaned back, his lips tilting with the hint of a smile. "So, Sunday evening then?"

She nodded and turned back to look out the window.

"Then it's agreed," he declared. She could still feel his eyes on her. After a minute, he said, "She's not actually my fiancée, you know."

Yvanna turned back to him. "I didn't ask."

His lips toyed further with that smile, and he shrugged. "I thought it necessary to clarify, and as someone I trust, you should know this stuff. It was something that our parents kind of assumed would happen, since we grew up together. As we got older, I went to Invictus and Cerice moved to Paris to complete her studies, so it's been a few years since we've seen each other. I doubt she even remembers something like that."

Yvanna wondered if his sudden desire to share this information was a result of their supposed 'friendship'. But unable to find an appropriate way to respond, she decided to remain quiet. Lord Dante seemed to accept the silence they fell into, and turned to face out the window himself. They rode to Invictus Academy without saying another word.

At lunch, she sat with West outside in the corridors of the Academy, with Lords Dante and Aaron a safe distance nearby. Though the day had so far been routine, with nothing remarkable or unusual in occurrence, something was scratching at Yvanna's mind. Something she could not explain. Perhaps it was the snowfall which bugged her, and the fact that Lord Dante still wanted to eat outside in this weather. Maybe it was too cold.

But Yvanna did not feel particularly cold. And West, who was seated beside her, was also unbothered. She decided, after some time, that the issue was what Lord Dante had said to her earlier. "As a friend", he had said. Was the fact that they were secretly friends what bugged her?