He’d nodded when she agreed to come but as soon as he saw the white of her bare shoulder, he turned right back around. It was like she was trying to tempt him at this point...which, if that was the case, was par for the course in his limited Leventi women experience. However, he kept his hand out anyway and grasped the garment when she finally handed it to him. He sighed once it was back on his body. Thank the gods.
The night air was still warm but on bare skin, it could be a little chilly, especially with the ever present wind. He did not give her anything but a side look when she said she’d been enjoying his new, invisible clothing style. Her bluntness was still catching him a little off guard but he did prefer honesty over coy lies. So when she said it, he decided to believe her. ...though that didn’t exactly comfort him. He couldn’t exactly respond with, “You too,” even though that was true.
When she gave him the kitten’s basket, he listened without interrupting as she warned him not to try at soften any blows that might be sent her way tomorrow. What he didn’t want was for her to be prepared, so he simply said, “Alright.” She let go of the basket and they walked in mostly silence back into Vasiliadon. It was as he’d suspected. There were not many people in the streets and those that were, were of the Order, keeping peace, or those seeking entertainment that neither he nor Evangelina looked like they would give.
He insisted on walking her straight up to the gates of her manor and seeing that she was safely inside before turning and walking the negligible distance to his own manor. Their villas were close to one another and because his family’s was much older, it took up less space than some of the newer, more ostentatious ones. If he’d chosen, he could have forced other families to give way around him so that his grounds could be better but, really, he was here so little that it didn’t matter.
As he’d thought, Alexa was abed by the time he got home. A servant met him at the door and took the poor cat to be taken care of elsewhere. Gavriil ordered a bath to be ready for him a little before sunrise and with that, he went up to his room, stripped out of his clothes again, opting for ones meant for sleeping, and then lay down in his bed. Rarely was he a man with a scheme, but Evangelina had necessitated one. He fell asleep dreaming and planning it, thinking that it wasn’t the best one he’d ever come up with, but definitely not the worst.
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