Arabella soldered her gaze on him, the sympathetic look on her stronger than ever, "I am terribly sorry to hear that. I hear this time of the year is much colder than the rest around those parts of the kingdom," she half asked.
"That is no lie," he muttered, still unable to meet her eyes.
"And with the king's drafters coming around this period can't be easy either. Everything has to look and sound perfect and so everything that is deemed unworthy of their eyes is shoveled to the back and ignored," the consolling look was no more. On her face sat something new. An air even Silas couldn't decipher.
"Not easy at all," the boy shook his head but then froze at once, his eyes widening.
Erik finally lifted his gaze towards her and did so in an agonizingly slow motion, shivering in his seat through every second of it.
