21 Chapter 21: Intimate Enemies (1/2)

SALEM: I wasn't a poet. Nor a romantic. But even I could tell when a man and a woman were...well, together. Something in the way they talked. A sense of intimacy, familiarity. Trust.

I glanced at Elina. A real couple could immediately that she and I are enemies.

Wait.

Elina said something like that before.

”We'll be at each other's throat sooner or later. Just like a husband and wife.”

That's it.

I could tell the man that my wife wasn't happy with me. That we had an argument. Maybe something about...what did married couples usually fight about?

I had no idea.

But there was another problem.

Unlike the time when we met the merchant and the mercenary, we couldn't go our separate ways so quickly. The rain kept us prisoners in this little hut. There was nowhere else to go. Nowhere to hide.

I said, ”Change to your human form.”

”It's done.”

It's surprising how corporative she's acting. Maybe she knows something. But when I looked at her, she simply tilted her head and smiled mischievously. Like this was fun.

Like she has something planned.

No time to ask her.

I pulled the hood of her cape over her head. Hopefully this will prevent the couple from paying too much attention to her.

The man tied up the horse outside and the woman stepped in.

She said, ”Oh!”

Wavy brown hair down to her middle back. A cape wrapped tightly around her. Sturdy leather boots, leather trousers. A belt with a short sword sheaved. Bow and arrows slung around her shoulder. Maybe around her 20s.

She wasn't a normal woman.

She said, ”I wasn't expecting anyone to be here.”

I said, ”Just hiding from the rain, ma'am.”

The man stepped in. Dressed like her. Black hair down to his shoulders. Not like a merchant. More like a mercenary. But no madness in his eyes. Just a cool indifferent look. Which wasn't the look of a mercenary.

This wasn't a normal couple.

He introduced himself. His name was Syrus Abernathy. His wife Julia Abernathy.

I told them my name. ”And this is my wife...err, Elina...Udell.”

That just sounded weird. Elina Udell.

Elina bowed her head. She snickered under her breath.

I told them that I was a merchant, transporting corn to Merkelborough. My wife was kind enough to come with me, to lift the burdens of the lonely road and cold nights.