That explanation set off Jinneth's alarm bells. She moved a bit closer, seeking to close any remaining physical and emotional distance.
—I also heard what she said to her friend... don't pay any attention to her, Al —she murmured sweetly—. Sometimes we women say things we don't mean, just for the sake of saying something or out of pride.
With every word, Jinneth slid closer across the seat.
—Don't listen to her, Al. Arya is just like that, she pretends to be cold and distant with everyone... let's just not talk about her.
Suddenly, seeking refuge, Jinneth pressed herself directly against his chest. Alaster, who was leaning back against the plush cushions with his legs apart in a relaxed posture, immediately realized he was in quite a compromised position: the girl had stealthily slid right between his legs. She pulled back just a few inches, lifting her face to look at him with gray eyes full of a burning intensity.
The elf was no fool; he noticed that the girl's pink skirt had ridden up quite a bit higher than it should have due to the movement. Looking down, his gaze became hopelessly trapped in her cleavage. The first thing his mind registered was that, from such a sharp angle, he could see absolutely everything without any reservations; the second thing—which sent his pulse racing—was noticing that there was no undergarment beneath her blouse. The warmth of her cinnamon skin ended in a sharp line, giving way to a pure, soft, and enticing fairness that made a sudden wave of heat surge up his neck.
—Let's talk about something else instead —he whispered, forcing a smile to maintain control. He knew he had to break the tension before the situation slipped out of his hands—. You already know I don't have a wife, a girlfriend, or any friends in this place... tell me about yourself. Do you have a boyfriend right now? I assume that after the whole Visius matter, there must be another suitor hanging around.
Jinneth tensed up like a taut wire underwater. The mention of the past made her cast her gaze downward, and she nervously began to toy with her own fingers.
—I had a boyfriend... but... we broke up two months ago.
—Two months? —Alaster tried to mask the surprise in his voice—. I understand. I had a long relationship in my past, and the period immediately following a breakup is always rough.
—No... it's just that I had already been suspicious of him for months —she said, shaking her head with a hint of sadness.
—Well, looks like we're a couple of failures in love, don't you think? —Alaster commented with a lopsided smile, trying to lighten the mood.
—I don't believe you at all! —Jinneth reacted, giving him a playful tap on the chest—. I don't believe for a second that a girl in her right mind would just leave you like that. You're... —she sighed, looking at him with eyes glistening with admiration—... you're incredible, Al. Forget about Arya.
—And you forget about the mystery guy. Why did you two break up, exactly? —the elf pressed, piqued by genuine curiosity.
Jinneth huffed, feigning annoyance, and pulled away slightly as she crossed her arms over her chest.
—You'd be much more handsome if you didn't ask so many questions, Al. But fine... He's the eldest son of a wealthy merchant in the city, and he is very handsome, I won't deny that —the girl began to spill the story in a rush, as if wanting to unburden herself of an old weight—. We had been together for a year... but he lied to me in the worst possible way. I found out he was seeing another girl since before he was even with me, and the worst part is that he's already formally betrothed to make her his first wife.
As she spoke with indignation, Jinneth's gaze unconsciously drifted toward Alaster's abdomen, where the definition of his musculature showed with tempting sharpness beneath the fine linen shirt. Unable to resist, she lunged toward him once more, running her deft hands downward across his torso in a touch that was meant to pass as casual but was overflowing with intent.
—He swore to me that I would be his first... but he already had a prior commitment for his first wife. And to top it off, he gifted her a pendant that I bought with my very first paycheck from the bakery! To Ceska! Knowing perfectly well that we can't stand each other! —Jinneth's voice began to rise in volume from pure rage—. I screamed at him not to come looking for me again until he broke things off with her for good!
—Then why the hell are you still with him if he did that to you?! —Alaster asked, completely baffled by the way she was explaining it.
—I'm telling you, I don't want him anywhere near me!
—But you just said you're betrothed!
—I'm not, damn it! —she shouted, exasperated.
—Why are we yelling?! —exclaimed the elf, bewildered by the sudden shift in pace.
—Because I'm very upset! Why are you yelling?!
—Because you started it! —Alaster roared back.
Both of them froze in place, staring at each other for a second that felt eternal, until the sheer ridiculousness of the situation overcame them and they burst into a clean, shared laugh. The tension in the room completely softened with the laughter.
Jinneth began to close the gap again slowly, her lips subtly parted and her breathing slightly shallow.
—And right now... I'm very lonely, Al —she told him in a vulnerable whisper.
Alaster felt the girl's warm breath brushing against his skin, right on his face, as he gazed into those gray eyes looking at him with a deep and sincere need.
—Then... we're in the exact same boat, Jin —he replied softly.
Alaster closed his eyes, slowly surrendering to the magnetism of the moment and closing the final distance.
CLACK... CLACK.
A few sharp, unexpected taps against the window glass stopped them dead in their tracks. Jinneth's face turned pale instantly; for a fraction of a second, she tried to ignore the noise outside, keeping her eyes closed in a desperate attempt to seek out Alaster's kiss, but the spell had already been broken.
The bay window flew open with a violent creak, allowing a gust of night air to violently ruffle the curtains and cool down the room. Jinneth sat up immediately, startled and furious.
In the frame of the window appeared a young man of about twenty, with messy reddish hair, a face dusted with freckles, and intense green eyes. He possessed an athletic build and wore high-quality clothes, bearing an expression of absolute confidence that bordered on arrogance.
—Uriel! —she gasped in pure frustration—. I made it clear to you that I never wanted to see you again.
Uriel, leaning against the frame with a smug confidence that made Alaster clench his teeth from his position, replied in a smooth, measured voice:
—I heard something dangerous happened at the inn with some guards... I came right away to see if you were alright, my love.
Jinneth didn't answer with words. A sudden chill ran down her spine as she noticed a subtle movement to her right. There, pressed against the outer wall of the bay window alcove and perfectly concealed by the angle of the furniture, was Alaster. The elf had flattened his back against the wall, showcasing that noble, flawless profile that Jinneth couldn't help but admire even in the middle of absolute chaos.
In her mind, the young baker couldn't avoid making an inevitable comparison: putting Uriel next to Alaster was like comparing a crude sketch rushed on a piece of crumpled paper to a museum masterpiece displayed in the finest gallery of the kingdom. The elf was, quite simply, too sexy.
Alaster glared back from the dim light, but his violet eyes radiated a silent, icy fury that conveyed a crystal-clear message: «Get me out of this situation right now, and don't you dare do anything stupid.»
—Are you okay? You seem a bit spaced out —Uriel interrupted, attempting to swing a leg inside to step in fully, gaining ground toward the alcove sofa.
—Yes... I'm fine —she answered, reclaiming a firm, sharp tone to hide her distraction—. Listen, if you don't have my pendant with you, we have absolutely nothing to talk about. You're a damn liar. Get out of here and go back to Ceska, your beloved 'first wife'.
—Look, Jin, the betrothal isn't something I wanted —Uriel sighed, finally bringing his other foot through the window to step onto the room's floor—. It's my father's business. He urgently needs the commercial connection with the Mastis. But what I feel for her has nothing to do with what I have with you. Your pendant... Ceska took it one night when we slept together at her house; I never gifted it to her. When I demanded it back, she denied having it. I like Ceska, I admit it, but you matter so much more to me.
Uriel advanced with a determined, insistent stride, completely ignoring the girl's continuous rejection. The tension in the room reached its boiling point as the redhead closed the distance in his passionate eagerness to hold her.
Jinneth began to back away instinctively toward the center of the room. Panicking at his closeness, she turned her face toward the shadowed corner, desperately searching for Alaster's silhouette with quick, pleading glances. The elf, watching the scene intently, could see the clear fear reflected in the young woman's gray pupils.
Vividly recalling the assault from that very afternoon with the drunk guard, Alaster decided that under no circumstances would he allow Jinneth to be forced or cornered again. He had to intervene immediately; not out of some ordinary impulse of jealousy, but from a mix of innate chivalry and pure pragmatism. Besides, he didn't intend to just stand there like a passive spectator to the intruder's harassment.
He glided out of the room with the silent grace of a shadow, taking advantage of the fact that Uriel's attention was entirely fixed on the girl. After walking a few paces down the corridor, he took off his linen shirt with a highly calculated plan in mind to completely catch the guy off guard. After a few seconds, he retraced his steps, pretending to return from a quick trip to the latrines and the building's common kitchen. He opened the wooden door to Jinneth's room and closed it with a heavy thud, feigning that he had just walked in from the hallway.
BAM!
Uriel and Jinneth jumped violently, spinning toward the entrance. There, framed by the doorway connecting to the corridor, stood Alaster. His perfectly defined, sculpted musculature, bathed in the faint glow of the candles, highlighted an anatomy that looked divine.
—Hey, kid... calm down a bit —Alaster declared. His voice—deep, calm, and incredibly grave—seemed to make the wooden walls vibrate—. Do you have the slightest idea what you were about to do?
Uriel was struck entirely speechless, paralyzed by the imposing presence. His green eyes scanned the elf from top to bottom, taking in everything from the exotic pale blue hair down to the powerfully developed torso. Entirely all of the redhead's arrogance evaporated in a split second when he looked at Jinneth; the girl's eyes were slightly welling with tears, and she was gazing at the newcomer with absolute relief, like someone looking at their savior. Uriel felt a tremendous weight in his chest as he saw himself reflected in this situation, realizing he was acting like an absolute jerk.
—I... I'm sorry —Uriel stammered, lowering his head in humiliation—. Are you... are you the one she's seeing now?
Alaster merely gave a sideways smirk, an enigmatic expression that kept his cards close to his chest. Jinneth, without taking her eyes off the elf, declared coldly:
—Yes, he is my boyfriend. So you'd better leave right now, Uriel!
The redhead let out a long sigh, finally understanding that he had lost not only the young woman's love, but any shred of respect or affection. He looked at Alaster one last time, nodding in a silent apology between men, walked slowly toward the window, cast a sorrowful gaze at Jinneth, and slipped outside, vanishing into the darkness of the night.
Alaster exhaled a long breath of air, relaxing his posture. «Thank heaven he turned out to be mature enough not to make a scene,» he thought with relief. However, the silence that settled over the room was dense and heavy. He crossed his arms, well aware that he was still bare-chested.
—I thought you didn't have a boyfriend? —he asked Jinneth with feigned sternness.
—I really don't! —she cried, experiencing pure relief—. Al, I swear it's not my fault that idiot appeared out of nowhere through the window.
Jinneth looked at him with a sudden sweetness in eyes, modulating her voice to sound soft and honeyed:
—Why don't you relax a bit, lie down on the bed, and let me give you a wonderful massage while I calmly explain everything that happened?
—I understand the situation rationally, Jin —Alaster replied, starting to pull his linen shirt back on—. But let's bring some reality to the table. That guy completely killed the mood. We were a millimeter away from kissing, and your ex-boyfriend breaks through the bay window to deliver a dramatic speech. Honestly, I'm just not in the mood for a massage right now.
—Don't you dare leave things like this, Alaster! —Jinneth lunged toward him swiftly, bringing her hands to his chest and looking up at him with pleading, helpless eyes—. Don't be upset with me over this... stay here.
Alaster felt the electric touch of those hands tracing his abdomen. A distinct shiver ran straight down his spine, but using his strength, he stopped her with a firm yet tender embrace that contained her momentum.
—First, we should at least go grab a coffee, head out, and get to know each other a bit more, don't you think?
Jinneth pouted in deep frustration, pursing her lips. However, her annoyance completely evaporated in an instant when she imagined the look of absolute envy her friends and rivals at the guild would have upon seeing her walk down the main street on the arm of such an elven god. Her mood did a drastic hundred-and-eighty-degree turn into radiant, overflowing joy.
Alaster, watching intently as the girl's micro-expressions morphed in a matter of seconds from unfulfilled desire to a near-settled euphoria, could only sigh internally: «There is definitely no human or elven way to understand women.»
Alaster stepped out into the inn's hallway feeling completely exhausted. Jinneth's relationship drama, combined with the tense physical fight he had undergone hours earlier with the city guards, had completely drained his last mental energy reserves.
«I'm way too old for this kind of pace,» he thought bitterly. He was a walking contradiction: he possessed the stature of an ethereal, young, and perfect elf, yet he carried inside the tired soul of a man from Earth who at that moment only wanted a comfortable bed, silence, and a bit of peace.
As he walked out into the corridor, the deathly silence of the inn seemed to amplify the monotonous echo of his own footsteps on the wood. Alaster was just about to grasp the doorknob of his room when he felt a soft, warm pressure brushing against his arm. Jinneth had caught up to him at a quick pace; her face was dimly illuminated by the flickering glow of a distant candle at the end of the hallway.
—I'll be staying in the room next door tonight, Al... —she whispered, searching his violet eyes with an intensity that was meant to be mature and transparent—. I don't want any more misunderstandings between us... I just want you to fully trust me from now on.
Alaster froze, his fingers still resting on the cold metal of the knob, listening to her in silence.
Jinneth, staring intently at him, wished with all her might to leave the chaos of that night behind. «I don't want him to think poorly of me because of what he saw...» she reasoned internally, her heart skipping a beat. «He saved me today... He so chivalrously stopped that disgusting drunk Grolen from forcing himself on me, and just a moment ago, he protected me from Uriel without a second thought...»
Gazing at the striking figure of the blue-haired elf, a wild thought flashed through her mind: «God... he's just so incredibly hot.» The young woman bit her lower lip hard as her gaze flicked downward for a fraction of a second, noticing the obvious, prominent bulge straining against Alaster's trousers. A sharp, burning jolt traveled straight from her core through her entire body, making her lean forward slightly from the sheer thrill of the shudder.
Trying to compose herself and adopting an utterly suggestive posture, Jinneth took a step back, locking him in a gaze loaded with playfulness and promise.
—I'll head to my room then, Al... but I'll be right here next door... just in case you happen to absolutely need anything at all during the night —she added in a slow, honeyed drawl that left no room for the imagination.
Alaster, for his part, stood frozen like a statue. The girl's previous words about avoiding misunderstandings had triggered a rusty, painful spring deep within his memory. Suddenly, the hallway of the fantasy inn faded away; he was back on Earth, arguing in an identical hallway with Raquel. He remembered the fury in his ex-girlfriend's eyes when he dared to question her strange "casual get-togethers" with her own ex. Raquel always resorted to the exact same manipulation strategy: she called him immature, jealous, insecure, and—the word that had cut deepest—toxic. She made him feel as if he were losing his mind for suspecting what was blatantly obvious.
He let out a silent, dry laugh, laced with a bitterness that burned his throat. Months after those accusations, fate had ended up proving him right in the most brutal and explicit way possible: opening his own bedroom door unannounced, he had found the two of them together in his bed. Trusting another human being after seeing your own reality distorted to hide a betrayal was something that had cost him years of cynicism, detachment, and profound loneliness.
«Raquel made me feel guilty for my suspicions back then,» Alaster thought, returning to the present and looking at the beautiful baker before him in a whole new, clean light.
«But Jinneth... she is doing the exact opposite. She really seems worried about how I might feel or think.»
He felt an unfamiliar, comforting warmth creeping up his neck, a slight blush at the realization that, for the first time in a long time, someone genuinely cared about not hurting his trust.
—Get some rest, Al —she finally added with a tremulous smile, before turning toward her door.
Shortly after, putting the night's drama completely behind him, Alaster finally found himself alone in his room, staring at the ceiling in the dark.