The Fateful Heart

Those questions didn't seem to match the amount of apprehension Evaline was carrying about the whole thing. Something else must've happened. And among other things meant something she wasn't saying.

Did she want to tell him?

What did Reed do?

He hoped by the gods that he didn't hurt her.

"What... other things? Did he ask?"

Realization that she had to tell James was overwhelming her, especially as she started to hear the worry in his voice. But she didn't get hurt. She was okay.

Evaline could remember Reed's unwavering stare up and down her body, and she unconsciously crossed her arms. Nothing happened, so there was no reason to feel defensive about this.

"It's okay, nothing bad happened," she said with a sudden change of tone and demeanor. "He asked me for drinks. That's all."

James blinked, and felt a swirling mess of emotions all at once.

Relief, that Reed hadn't hurt her physically - at least, it didn't sound like it. She said nothing bad happened. He assumed by that, she meant she wasn't hurt.

But he could only imagine what that must've been like. Reed was a disgusting man, and James only had bad memories of him, and picturing Reed trying to convince Evaline on a date of all things was not something he wanted to imagine. It made his blood boil.

She said he'd been insistent. Had he not let her say no?

"I'm so sorry," he said quietly, looking over to her, hoping that his empathy was conveyed in his eyes. "How did you get him to leave you alone?"

Evaline numbed whatever she was feeling, but the emotions poked out as she looked up to meet James's eyes. Even if it was dark, she could see in his eyes that he was listening and that he cared for her.

Unlike Reed's empty eyes.

She tried to force an appreciative smile, but couldn't.

"Well," she quietly began again, dropping her gaze to the ground. "I didn't."

She paused, then realized that that sounded plain depressing.

"I mean, I didn't. Two women read the situation and pretended I was their friend. It worked."

James was relieved to hear it, but he knew Evaline probably didn't want to dwell on it too long. He knew he wouldn't either. He was just glad that she was able to tell him, but he didn't want to force her to talk about it any further.

"I'm glad they were there to step in," he said gently. "Were those the friends you talked about making?"

Evaline was glad that he switched subjects.

"Yeah," she said with a brighter voice. "Thessa and Olivia. I'll probably never see them again, but it was nice while it lasted."

She looked down at her outfit, and she finally wondered what James may have thought about it.

"They were actually the ones who took me to the clothing store. They even picked out this outfit."

James managed a small smile and nodded. "They did a good job," he said. "It looks very nice on you. And it should make riding easier for you without that skirt."

Evaline smiled. "I'm glad," she said.

It was nice to hear his approval, especially since he claimed to be a man of fashionable tastes.

"I hope it was okay that I spent some of the money for myself. And also used a bit of it to increase our quality of life."

She looked over and shot him small smile. "I hope you don't mind smelling like spearmint and rosemary."

James raised his brows and looked back to her, meeting her eyes and mirroring her smile, but with one of curiosity.

"Oh, yeah? I'm assuming that's the kind of soap you got?"

Evaline let out a small chuckle. "Soaps, yes. And that one is yours. Mine is lemon and basil. We can't be smelling the same."

"Oh, for sure, of course not," James said in agreement, with a little smirk. "I do appreciate the variation."

And though he wouldn't say it out loud, he was sure she would appreciate him smelling less like the woods, and sweat. He did wonder if she picked spearmint and rosemary because it was a smell she enjoyed, or if she thought it was one he would enjoy. But he chose not to think about it much further than that.

"So, what else did you get, then? Besides the new outfit?"

"Oh, right," Evaline said through a nod, remembering the other things she bought. "I bought my own journal. I also bought a book. And I also... I bought you a book, too."

She faced forward as she walked, glancing up at the bright moon illuminating the sky above them.

"It's not very big since we don't have much room, but I remembered you saying you liked reading history. I figured this can be another way to entertain yourself at night. And..."

But she trailed off, not finishing her sentence, deciding to stop while she was ahead.

James's footsteps started slowing.

She got books. Two books?

A book for him?

He'd lost all of his books a few months back after a near-capture. He had come to terms with the fact that he might never own any books again, but all of a sudden his heart was soaring, and he tried to do everything in his power to try to keep the excitement from oozing out of him. He'd changed the subject, and Evaline seemed less stressed, but he didn't want to just - well -

He looked at her, trying to keep back a smile.

"Can I see?" he asked a little too quickly.

Evaline wondered if she should have just said those words out loud, but then she looked over and realized that she passed James. She stopped walking and turned to see him... well, she couldn't really read him, but from the sound of his voice, he sounded eager.

"Oh. Yes, of course," she said, walking over to the saddlebag and reaching in the sides where she propped it up against the lining of the bag.

She pulled out the two books and showed him. The Isle's End was on one hand, and A Record of Wrongs was on the other.

She didn't know why, but she started to feel nervous. This would be her first gift to James. Would he like it? Did he already read it? She started to nervously ramble.

"I know we're limited by what we can take with us on the road, but I hope you don't mind I bought these two. If we don't have enough space, we could always toss it, or, uh, burn it... I guess. And I don't know if you've read A Record of Wrongs yet—or either of them, really—but the girls said it was a good book. But now that I think about it, I don't know if they've even read it. And I picked The Isle's End since it was one of the best selling fictional books, apparently, and the summary reminded me of the Nye song you sang once."

James gingerly took the book out of Evaline's hand. A Record of Wrongs.

He bit his lip, trying to reign himself in, but as he started flipping through the pages, and the smell of a brand new pressed paper met his nose he started grinning from ear to ear. He bounced on his feet and had to very determinedly not grip the book roughly at the risk of bending its pages.

He couldn't stop smiling.

"I haven't gotten to read this one yet," he said quietly, still trying not to be too excited. "This author, Pattinson, he's probably one of the few unbiased historians I've ever found. I read one of his other books, Moonlight's Peak, before that one got banned in the kingdom libraries, and mysteriously disappeared off the shelves. Pattinson himself died quietly under mysterious circumstances too. His writing wasn't very popular, but ah--"

A small almost-squeal of happiness escaped him and he looked down at the ground, his face burning suddenly.

"This is wonderful," he said, lowering his voice just a tad in pitch. "I'm so glad you found this. They don't really sell his books much anymore, but I know outside the Moonlight Kingdom they're still pretty well respected for their factual retellings of history without all of the extra -- well --" he cleared his throat.

"Sorry," he said, still not really looking up at her. He held the book close to his chest.

"The Isle's End is a good book. I read it a few years ago and remember really enjoying it. Jarrah is the main character and it's told from her perspective. She has a very entertaining inner narrative. It's got a lot of humor in it, if that's something you like."