“So you’re all right, Miss Blake?” he asked.
“I... What?” She shook her head to clear it. “I’m fine. And please, call me Aurelie.” Her shoulders lifted in a small shrug. “If you’d like.”
“Then call me Des. It’s less of a mouthful than Lieutenant Whitlow.”
“Des.” It was the first time she’d said his name out loud. “Is it a nickname?”
His eyes flicked down to his hands, which were braced against his knees. “My full name is Destrier. But again—”
“Destrier? As in a warhorse?”
He tilted his head in an offhand manner. “The Iron Guard took me in when I was an infant. What can I say, they had high hopes for me even then.”
“An infant?”
“Yes.”
She studied her ink-stained fingers for a moment. “Is it true that all guards were orphaned by demons?” She’d heard the rumor before, but it seemed impossible that so many children could have been affected in that way, considering how uncommon demonic deaths were these days.
His nostrils flared as he gave a tight nod. “Yes. We’re brought from all over Wisteria.”
A wash of shame came over her. “I didn’t realize.”
“Few do.”
“My own parents died when I was seven.” She hadn’t planned to say it, but it felt wrong to leave him alone in his vulnerability. “A carriage accident. I don’t remember much of it, fortunately.”
“You were there?”
Aurelie nodded. “We were coming to the university that day. Just for a visit. I didn’t realize my uncle worked here. I certainly didn’t expect that I’d never go home again.” She swallowed the knot forming in her throat. “The only thing I remember was my mother screaming my father’s name.”
Des was quiet for a long moment. Judging her, she imagined. His parents died and he found himself being raised by the Iron Guard, while she ended up in relative luxury.
He surprised her when he said, “I’m sorry. I suppose I’m fortunate not to remember my parents’ deaths.”
She exhaled. “I’ve never found it particularly useful to search for blessings in misfortune. Terrible things happen to good people. Good things happen to terrible people. Trying to make sense of it all could drive a person mad.”
What was she blathering on about? Des was staring at her as though she truly were mad, and she felt her cheeks go hot. “I’m sorry. I—”
His words were so soft she scarcely heard them. “I know exactly what you mean.”
Their eyes met. Aurelie felt as electrified as a raw nerve under his gaze. Her lips parted, though she had no idea what she wanted to say. Except, perhaps, that she was grateful for his honesty. Themoment stretched on, the butterflies in Aurelie’s stomach migrating south as she fought the urge to...
He rose, breaking the tension she’d been nearly consumed by. “I should get back to the fort.”
“Yes, of course.” She nodded and rose, her legs as unsteady as a newborn foal’s. She couldn’t understand why her body would react to Des this way, when she was attracted to intelligence and ingenuity, not burliness and brawn.
Wasn’t she?
“I suppose I won’t see you again,” she said when they reached the door, finding herself oddly disappointed by the thought. “That is, I have no plans to leave the grounds in the near future.”
He gazed down at her. “Who knows. You must get demons here from time to time.”
She licked her lips, her mouth suddenly dry. “Not lately.”
He arched a brow as he turned on the threshold, and for a moment she was sure he could tell she was lying. She wasn’t even sure why shehadlied. Two seconds in the presence of a man and she’d lost control of her faculties. It was a good thing she’d dedicated her life to scholarly pursuits and eventual spinsterhood.
“In that case, goodbye, Miss Blake. Aurelie,” he corrected himself, before she could. “Good luck with your studies.”