Chapter 2
After their run in with the dwarven jester, and nearly getting killed in his cave, Hadrian was glad that there weren't any dwarves in Medford. Otherwise, Royce would probably have slit the throat of the first dwarf that had the misfortune of crossing their path. Royce didn't like dwarves on a good day because he always claimed that the little bastards were the only ones that could make locks he couldn't pick. But now, after nearly dying in one of their stone creations, he outright hated them.
While Hadrian's broken leg and the claw marks on his chest were healing, Riyria was forced to stay in Medford. Royce took a few small jobs on his own, but he turned down anything that would have taken him further away from Medford than a one-day's ride.
Hadrian told him that it wasn't necessary to do that, especially since they had not been paid for the last job, but Royce only grumbled that they had enough savings to take a small break for a while. Once again Hadrian was left to try and interpret what Royce wouldn't say out loud.
Even though Royce said he didn't want to leave Medford for longer than two days at a time while Hadrian was still out of commission, the he didn't spend much time keeping Hadrian company during his healing process. Instead, he seemed to be distancing himself from Hadrian, choosing to spend more time with Gwen. Hadrian told himself that he didn't mind; he was happy for Royce and Gwen, but he did feel a little prick of jealousy deep inside him nonetheless.
Hadrian chased away those thoughts and took a sip from his beer. It was just starting to crawl into the afternoon hours of the day and he was sitting in the dark room in the back of the Rose and Thorne on his own. Royce was out of town, stealing a couple of love letters from a Viscount, so the husband of the cheating wife, a well respected merchant, could extort the Viscount to change his alliances. Apparently the merchant only cared about his business, while the Viscount would do anything to keep his affair a secret from his wife and the society.
Hadrian had nothing to do but sit around all day and keep his broken leg still and elevated, which sounded like a welcome respite. Alas, with nothing to do all day, it wouldn't take long for him to start growing restless.
The sound of the door opening made Hadrian look up from turning his tankard of beer around lazily in his hand to find Gwen standing in the doorway.
"Can I come in?" she asked with a smile, and Hadrian nodded in response.
Even though the Rose and Thorne was her property, she always asked before entering the dark room that Royce and Hadrian had taken over for their business, but this time she did it out of courtesy.
Gwen was wearing a white blouse and a dark green skirt, and the topless corset around her waist was effective in showing off her curves. Her long black hair fell over her shoulders and her cleavage in soft waves. Once again, Hadrian couldn't help but admire how beautiful she truly was.
Gwen closed the door and sat down on the other side of the table across from Hadrian and watched him with her dark eyes.
"Royce is not back yet," Hadrian said uncertainly, and an amused smile appeared on Gwen's lips.
"I know. I wanted to talk to you. How is your leg?"
"Still hurts when I try to put any weight on it, but it's getting better," Hadrian answered and Gwen nodded.
"Give it time."
Hadrian smiled miserably. "I'm not very good at doing nothing for long periods of time."
"You and Royce are very similar in that way," Gwen said amused. Hadrian simply grinned at her.
Once again, Gwen looked at him with a wistful smile on her lips that Hadrian was unable to interpret.
He cleared his throat. "What did you want to talk to me about? Is it about Royce?"
"Yes, it is," Gwen confirmed, tilting her head to one side. "You don't like that he has been spending so much time with me since you came back from your last job."
Hadrian was surprised by Gwen's words and his first instinct was to deny it, so he quickly shook his head.
"It's not like that. I am happy for both of you. Royce and I are just friends, that's all."
Gwen's eyes darkened. "Hadrian Blackwater, don't you take me for a fool and don't you dare lie to my face."
Hadrian had once stood unwavering in front of hundreds of enemy soldiers, had faced down wild beasts and Ghazel in the arenas of Calis, but one look at Gwen's expression at that moment made his heart skip a beat and he gulped in alarm.
Before he could come up with a response though, Gwen's eyes softened as she continued to gaze at him. "I know that you and Royce are closer than either of you wants to acknowledge. And that is the problem. Royce has been hurt so many times during his life and tries not to care about anyone, because experience taught him that everyone betrays him eventually. So in order to distance himself from his feelings for you, he spends more time with me instead. I don't know what exactly happened during your last job, he hasn't talked to me about it, but something scared him, badly. You on the other hand just want Royce to be happy, even if that means giving him up. But that's exactly the wrong thing to do."
Hadrian said nothing for a moment. He wasn't surprised that Gwen had figured all of this out, she had always been very observant. Rather that was a product of her job or if it was just Gwen, Hadrian didn't know.
"So you don't mind that Royce and I…" He didn't finish his sentence but he didn't have to. Gwen sent him a small smile and shook her head.
"No, I don't. I'm a whore, Hadrian, and yet Royce keeps coming back to me regardless. He deserves every bit of love that he can get and I will not stand in the way of that. You are good for him."
"You are good for him as well," Hadrian answered. Seeing her smile widen, he knew Gwen was pleased with the statement.
"We both are, so it's a good thing that we both care about him as much as we do. The challenge is to show him how much we care and that he doesn't have to choose between the two of us."
Hadrian huffed. "Well, good luck with that. Because I have no idea how to do that."
Not only didn't Royce show his emotions, he tended to run if anyone got too close. Just like he was running right now.
The corners of Gwen's lips picked up slightly in an almost smugged like grin. "Leave that to me."
