Drawing blood

Heading to meet Kannen, Adela's legs throbbed as she climbed the final hill separating her from the freeloft mews, but it was worth it, visiting him was a habit of hers whenever she felt like distancing herself from all the humans around her.

"What were you planning on doing with that sword?"

The sudden unexpected voice made her flinch, the power behind his vocals violating the silence of the afternoon and the little peace she managed to recover after what was said and done in that celebration hall. Egon von Conradie was the last person she wanted to talk to right now.

She picked up the pace.

"Why are you always running away?"

Putting his incomprehensible question aside, she vaguely wondered why his feet were not making the faintest sound as he walked right behind her while her footsteps were embarrassingly noisy.

"I am not running away, I am leaving,"

He gave a loud scoff.

"Right, running away and leaving are two different things, much like the guilty helpless who take their own lives and the innocent forest that takes the blame for it,"

Dumbstruck by what he was saying, the next shaky step she took up the hill was one that made her slip and fall right into his arms.

Neither of them made the slightest effort to move.

In the back of her blank mind, her previous theory about the lack of armor being the culprit behind the fire was rendered obsolete. The now familiar burning sensation attacked her chest, torso, and the small of her back where his armor and gloves balanced her.

How pathetic...

The cold weather vividly mocked the way she panted drawing continuous fleeting misty clouds of her exhales around them, while he held her in perfect composure as if the only heart driven to further speeds due to their proximity was hers.

She searched his dark eyes looking for what she did not want to admit herself. Unable to find it, Adela looked away and straightened up with Egon's help, the dull ache of her pride screaming questions at her.

"Why do you run?" He rephrased before completely letting her go.

It was the softest she heard him speaking, the words were closer to being deep musical vibrations than a question. But she felt vulnerable and overwhelmed, her defensive instincts took over her tongue, "Why do you follow, my lord?"

His mellow front crumbled making way for his usual brutal one.

"I follow because I can — Because unlike those who are around you, I have nothing to hide,"

Adela had the sudden unexplainable urge to protect her family, "You seem to be under a false impression, my lord,"

"I am nobody's lord!" He snapped, "Enough with that!"

Adela failed to see what pushed him over the edge this time. Even if he did not descend from a noble lineage, a man with Egon von Conradie's wealth could straightforwardly go and buy the title of his dreams or marry into a noble family. She shook her head once to clear it and focused on what she was about to say before he rudely interrupted her.

"House de Lanark holds honesty at the very top of all other virtues, we are compelled to be honest in our interactions with each other and with those around us,"

She narrowed her eyes in disbelief when the irascible man almost smiled, one corner of his lips twitching up into a cynical smirk, "Honesty you say? How about you think thoroughly about the events that followed your comeback, was there nothing unexplainable of any kind? Were you not asked to do something strange by anybody? Did they not test you in any way?"

Test me? His confusingly offensive questions gave her a headache. She struggled to keep her emotions at bay and carry on with a refined argument, a near to an impossible task at the current moment.

"A few might argue that taking some measures of secrecy protects one's honesty… whilst flaunting one's…I do not know… immense wealth at every possible opportunity for example? It makes people wonder..."

His forced smile not once wavered, "What do you wonder about, exactly?"

Utterly provoked now, Adela took the only step that was left between the two of them, glaring right into his dark eyes, "I wonder why some people try blinding others with what shines so brightly when they claim that they have nothing to hide,"

His smile slowly vanished as he scrutinized her expression, "You have failed to provide answers to my previous questions,"

Done with and drained by the negativity of their conversation, she spun around to carry on with her way without giving him the answers he wanted, but his gloved hand grabbed her by the elbow and spun her his way once more so harshly that she ended up slamming into his armor.

Something in his eyes changed, he let his head hang back and stared at the sky for one second before he pushed Adela with enough force to have her stumble and fall backward.

What just happened?!

She was on the ground still recovering from the shock of being manhandled for the first time in her life when a horrific nonhuman screech came from above her head. A huge bird half Adela's size dropped from the sky at an incredible speed as if knocked out of thin air and attacked Egon's face.

"Kannen! No!"

Terror had her leaping to her feet when she heard the heart-clenching sound of flesh and bone smacking against metal, it was followed by a painful screech her falcon let out before he flew away, Adela's eyes followed to check his body for injuries, then she watched with another jolt of terror how he clenched his claw, preparing to strike Egon again.

The sound of a sword cutting through the air next to her had her throwing herself between the man and the animal, giving her back to the one she trusted and facing the one she felt most threatened by.

"Stop! He will listen to me!" She cried out holding Egon's gaze while putting her arm out and letting out a short whistle.

The bird obediently changed his hostile posture and then descended until landing on her gloveless arm, it was the first time for the two, but they both had enough confidence in each other to pull it off without getting hurt or hurting each other.

Kennan leaned his head on Adela's.

"A bird of prey for a pet? The Lady sure has a peculiar taste," he said with his eyes on her bird and his hand lowering down his sword.

"He never attacks without a reason,"

"It is not without a reason, your bird attacked an enemy,"

An enemy?

As if to provide an affirmation, Kannen shrieked again clawing the air with his long and curved talon.

Adela's tongue was tied — her eyes kept darting between her bird's bloody claw and Egon's handsome face that seemed to have a faint scar on it, one that should have been caused by an old wound that healed some time ago.

There was never a scar on his face before...

Only one scientific explanation existed for that which had transpired right in front of her, but the rejection she felt toward that possibility was acutely nauseating, she took one step back and moved her forearm, a cue for her bird to fly.

"My lady,"

She turned around with a loud gasp and a hand pressed against her anxious heart. It was somewhat a déjà vu to see Andreas holding his hands up, palms pushed forward, regarding her with a mix of sympathy and apprehension in his blue eyes as if she was a wounded animal.

"I must have frightened you, my apologies... Your cloak is all ruined," his eyes shifted restlessly between the falcon in the sky and Egon before they settled on Adela. "What happened in here?"

The same tyrannical tendency to defend Egon dictated her next words, "I think...I believe it looked like the bird was about to attack me?" She looked up at Egon's face, the iciness in his big dark eyes made her doubt her own explanation, but what had her knees shaking beneath her was something else entirely.

The scar she thought she saw on his face was nowhere to be found.

"Your bird must have been hunting before it attacked my cousin, wearing armor today of all days was very fortunate. Am I right, Egon?"

A small part of her brain rejected what Andreas was saying, nothing was appetizing for Kannen around these particular hills. But the bigger part welcomed it without reserve, and she made a conscious effort not to look Egon in the face.

"If you would excuse me, gentlemen," she curtsied.

"Of course," Andreas spoke with haste.

Giving one final signal to Kannen not to follow, she turned around and planned on going straight to the Archduke's manor. All she wanted to do was lock herself in her chamber and think about anything other than Egon von Conradie.