Four Suits (Book 1)

Day 52-2: Go Fish

DAY 52-2: GO FISH

   Her imminently haughty composure does little to affect him. Mainly because Rhett doesn't accept her superiority at all.

   Balling his fists and exposing his assortment of criss-cross stitches and rings, he parts his lips, letting out a cry on a calibre she's never before heard, "Guards!"

   His shout is comparable to a screech—as irksome as fingers being drawn along a chalkboard. But when nothing but silence encompasses the room, he looks more and more on the verge of exploding. Either from immense embarrassment for things not escalating into a typical movie-scene where a swarm of men haul her off to who knows where, or frustration.

   "Are you perhaps calling for those men in armour?" Smirking, Leda tsk-tsks under her breath. "Even I could tell they were occupied running around. There a search party going on or something?"

   She expects the strange man with the bird nose to attack her like a feral beast. Even stomping up to her and dragging her off by the hair like some contemptuous kidnapper. Which is why when the man ultimately drops his hands to his sides, shoulders slumping as if from defeat, Leda watches in undeniable confusion.

   Rhett's bright green eyes fix themselves onto her, callous features and silk garments fortifying his upper status. Chin high, he releases an exhausted breath. "Your species is truly..."

   Leda flutters her eyelids, the dots in her mind remaining unconnected. If he truly isn't going to attack her, then can she have hope that he isn't as evil as she predicted? Well, she was honestly waiting for him to charge at her so she could strike him down with the gun—granted she got the aiming part right—so this kind of anticlimactic reunion only works to instil a sense of unease through her.

   As the man bends over to collect the books sprawled across the glimmering floorboards, he pays her no mind. Instead, he strolls toward the massive bookshelves, casually placing them into their required positions.

   His untimely poise succeeds in rubbing her the wrong way.

   Is he underestimating her as a threat or does he honestly not care about her existence as a whole?

   Before she has the chance to ask, the large doors to the top floor of this tower swing inward.

   In enters Nia who performs a mannerly curtsey, head cast low. "Master Rhett, I've spoken with the guards and they still haven't been able to locate Sir Orian."

   All means of calmness Rhett is emitting vanishes. He swerves her way, large red coat blowing after him.

   "That idiotic wolf!" The scrunching of his features only works to diminish his handsome looks. "Hiding upon learning my plans...!"

   "I apologize," Nia mumbles. "If I had listened and chained him down in the cellars like you advised."

   "Chaining him down would have amounted to nothing," he responds, perfectly arched eyebrow twitching. "He's smart enough to find a way out. Next time, we need to chop off one of his legs to keep him from running entirely."

   "How morbid," Leda speaks up between bites of the meat. "Even if he is a wolf, amputating his limb is a little harsh."

   As if recalling her presence, Rhett rounds and glares at her in utter disgust.

   Nia raises her head as well, but unlike Rhett's hostility, she's hit with a wave of shock. She gawps as if she's seen a ghost. "You— I left you back in the cage!"

   Ever so nonchalant, Leda lowers her legs and recrosses it over the other. "Nia," she drawls, reclining further into the comfortable chair, "I tried speaking to this Master Rhett guy but he still hasn't answered any of my questions. This is seriously annoying. Can one of you elaborate and extinguish my curiosity already?"