Chapter 10

Reaching his room, Evin unlocked his door and stepped aside, flourishing Miri in with a grand bow. Still mortified that her pride had been hurt, Miri walked stiffly past Evin without any acknowledgement to his flattering courteous manner.

Upon gazing around his living quarters, Miri took in everything that she had suspected - Evin clearly had been in a rush this morning. Shirts and trousers sprawled all over chairs, the floor, and his unmade bed, and there were three messy piles of what seemed to be important documents spread across his desk.

"Sorry about the mess," Evin said apologetically, "but I haven't been on top of things lately. I've been too distracted."

"With what?"

"You, mostly" Evin told her, smiling. "It is hard to concentrate with you floating into my head all the time."

"Me too."

Miri hadn't meant for that to slip out. And again she wished she had been born with the Gift, so that on these occasions she could simply disappear. Evin, however, was quite pleased that he wasn't the only one in this relationship to be distracted, and quickly pecked Miri's cheek as a thank you for her honesty.

"Most women can't, I suppose," he drawled, changing the mood, "when they have such a handsome Commander to admire."

"Who said it was you?" Miri asked, her face serious.

"You wound me!" Evin exclaimed, clutching at his heart. "Here is your love, confessing the torment of his days on gaining your affection, and now you mention there is another rival! You cruel, heartless women! I wonder why I ever..."

"Shut up," Miri whispered, weaving her hands into his feather-soft hair, causing his head to drop, making their positions perfect for a passionate kiss. Evin was taken by surprise, but soon recovered enough to deepen the contact. However, Miri abruptly broke it off and smiled smugly up at Evin.

"That will be your only kiss today, Evin, if I am to be your helper."

"Surely not!" he exclaimed. "What if, for some drastic reason, I collapse and am in need of your kiss of life?"

"Then you will have to be extra careful, and make a quick will," retorted Miri.

Evin sighed in defeat. When Miri spoke in that tone of voice, there was no use in arguing, and to a certain extent she was right. By having this bet, he was technically compromising Miri's reputation in the sense of being a woman. Just recently, Evin had had to relocate one female Rider who was a brilliant captain, because the man, who happened to be under her command, she had courted and then broken off with no longer accepted her orders. Evin had disciplined the man, but his friends were not happy about the situation either.

Some people needed a real education on manners, thought Evin grimly. He pushed away the responsibility of Riders duty and concentrated on spending a whole day with Miri, without kisses, was worth it for Evin. Soon enough they won't have time to sit around in the palace chatting like friends than for Evin to think about becoming man and wife. Marriage? Evin stopped in his track of thoughts. Whoa, calm down, Evin, you are jumping too far ahead. Stay with the here and now, he told himself.

"So what do I have to do?" asked Miri with a small sigh.

Evin pulled away his gloves and used his fingers to count off the points. "Firstly, I will have a bath, because I didn't have one earlier, and I think I might have several bruises from our duel which will need your attention. Secondly..."he gazed about the room. "As you can see, the room needs some tidying and organising. Two of your best qualities." He smiled a boyish grin to the unimpressed Miri. "And thirdly, I definitely command you to use your brain on the several difficult math problems I have to perform for the Riders' supply lists."

"That sounds fine," Miri said, relieved it wasn't something worse. "Where do you want to start?"

"My bath."

"I leave you and come back in an hour?"

Evin shook his head. "No. When I'm having a bath, you could pick out fresh clothes and grab a clean towel from the cupboard. After I am decent, I will need your help in putting bruise balm on my back," he told her, rubbing his back gingerly as if the pain was unbearable, which made Miri's mouth twitch at the sides, but she held her tongue. She vowed to herself that she would take anything Evin handed her with the maturity he seemed to be lacking at the moment.

"Of course, sir."

Evin's eyes widened at the formality, but his face quickly resumed a neutral expression. So Miri was determined to hold her sharp and witty comments to herself. Well, Evin found that this could be a challenge.

"Well, I'll be off."

With that Evin started to unbutton his shirt in front of Miri.

"Shouldn't you do that in the bathroom, Commander?"

"Oh, yes...thank you... I forgot," Evin said innocently, and saluted Miri at the bathroom door before disappearing to relax in the warm water.

If he thinks that by showing off his lean and muscular figure, he is ever going to receive a look of interest from me, then he is sadly mistaken, thought Miri. She laughed aloud to the empty room at Evin's attempts of persuasion. I've seen it all before anyway, mused Miri as she headed towards the cupboard Evin had pointed out earlier, for the last eight years and let me be honest it is still in perfect condition. Wait! Miri screamed inside herself. What was she doing? She sounded like the women who drooled over men if they were the only objects of their lives. Get a hold of yourself, Miri scolded herself.

Retrieving a white shirt, brown trousers and a towel, Miri waited patiently for Evin to enjoy his bath as she sat on his bed contemplating the state of the room. The more she stared at the living quarters, the more unbearable the mess came to be. Wasting no time waiting for Evin, Miri began collecting all the cups, mugs, wine glasses and plates, piling them on three trays, and stationing them at the door.

Miri returned to the cupboard where she had notice dusting cloths. Using these to their potential, Miri wiped every surface that had any dust – tables, chairs, chest-of-drawers. She was finding the small table near the couch the hardest to wipe, with the many tea stains wanting to stay attached to it. Muttering under her breath at the lack of cleaning, Miri did not hear the murmuring of her name. It was the hot air blown onto the back of her neck, and the smell of freshness which invaded her concentration.

Half-kneeling Miri spun around to see a bemused grin on Evin face.

"What?" she exclaimed.

"Oh, nothing... I didn't know that you like cleaning so much.... and that you are mad, from the amount of talking to yourself that you do."

Instead of retorting, Miri combined her frustration and the duster to express her feelings on the comment Evin had made. Being attacked with the dirty cloth, Evin threw his arms up to save himself and stumbled backwards. However, Miri did not stop her advancement, which made Evin stumble further. Soon enough the back of his legs were hitting his bed, which left no room to escape, and Miri, still upset, kept up her onslaught. Evin tried to stand his ground, but it was no use, as Miri whacked him the stomach with a broom, toppling him over.

The last thing Evin manage to do was grab out for support, though that also fell onto of him as he pulled Miri down. They landed on his bed, arms and legs tangled. Evin couldn't see, due to Miri's hair spread across his eyes, though he knew that she was struggling to get up, but the for life of him, Evin's arms were not obeying his orders to release her. Breathing in her scent – slightly musky, mixed the aroma of strawberries and wild flowers - making Evin want to stay in this position forever and just smell Miri.

"At least we landed on something soft," Evin said breaking the silence of the room and the one-way track of his mind.

"Speak for yourself," retorted Miri. "I landed on your chest."

"And that's not comfortable?"

"Not when it's still wet and....Evin, did you forget to put your shirt on?" asked Miri calmly, though her heart was pounding at making this discovery. Evin, half-naked on his bed, with you on top of him. Not a good idea. Miri mind started running in circles with their positions, the opportunity, and the thought that Evin's chest was comfortable to be squashed against. "Could you break your viper grip on me?"

Evin heard the words, but was having an inner debate with himself about the code of chivalry. With her body squirming against him, and more importantly her beautifully carved mouth inches away, begging to be kissed, it was difficult to play the gentleman, but he wanted Miri to understand that he did not think this relationship to he whimsical. Slowly, even reluctantly, Evin began to loosen his hold, savouring the touch of her long back under his hands.

Miri jumped away as soon as she could move, and offered Evin a hand to help him stand up. She knew that her face probably resembled a bright red tomato at the moment, for she could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. Evin couldn't help noticing that Miri's sparkling eyes darting everywhere except him, and that a blush was creeping into her lovely face. Maybe she's not as immune to me as I thought, mused Evin. Very interesting.

Evin sighed, causing Miri to look at him with wary eyes. His expression was hidden, as his face still gazed downwards, causing his hair to block his eyes.

"Could you do me the kind service of rubbing in the bruise balm on my back?"

"Certainly," Miri told him, still avoiding looking into his face.

Evin turned around and picked up the jar which was on the bed, and grabbed his shirt too. He placed the jar into Miri's hands and turned around again so that she could do the task. It only took a matter of seconds, but Miri felt that her blushes should be tattooed to her face so no one would notice the difference. His back showed the full strength of Evin's body, as every muscle was tense and lean. Miri admitted to herself honestly that yes, her friend of eight years was a very handsome man, and that any woman would be lucky to have him. But she also swore that she would not be jealous of Evin's wife when he eventually got married. Miri knew that Evin would like to settle down and become a father, as he loved children. Must come from having a large family, thought Miri. She stepped away from his back as she rubbed gently on the last bruise.

"Finished."

Miri moved to the shelves on the right side of the bed, and placed the balm next to Evin's other medicines. By the time she turned around Evin, he had his shirt on and had seated himself behind his desk. He grinned at her as he pointed to a chair next to him.

"Now, Rider Miri, you might not know this," Evin smirked, "but it takes a lot of hard work to run the Queen's Riders, and there are many complicated wording and equations..."

"Evin," interrupted Miri, "please just let me do the sums that you want me to do, and then I won't have to listen to the nonsense coming out of your big mouth."

Frowning comically, Evin handed Miri several sheets of paper, ink and writing utensils, and, being the mature Commander he was, naturally stuck out his tongue at Miri, as she had ruined his speech.

"Stop acting like a child," Miri told him, completely ignoring his antics. "Once out on the field, I won't be allowed to be so honest, and might have to kiss your arse just to have a conversation."

"Hmmm, that sounds promising." Evin voiced, though in reality he disliked people grovelling as if he was the King.

"Will you stop with your dirty mind, or I'll fling you in the next pond."

Evin sputtered, "I assure you, my mind was not thinking anything of the kind."

Miri rolled her eyes to show her disbelief, putting Evin in a grumpy mood. Exasperated at not being believed, Evin busied himself with paper work and manage to complete half of the load when his mind started to defer to the person sitting next to him. This isn't fair! Evin said to himself, annoyed that he couldn't stay angry with Miri. Why can't she stay irritating like the rest of the ladies I take a fancy too? Then you wouldn't love her like you do stupid, argued the other part of his conscience. Evin mumbled something under his breath, which caught Miri's attention.

"Anything wrong?" she asked, her eyebrows raised in a questioning glance.

"Nothing," Evin replied hastily. you do this problem now? I need it for this report which is going to the King today."

"Show me."

Evin passed the paper across and Miri busied herself with solving it. With her hair blocking Evin's view of her face, he decided that stretching his legs would do him a world of good. Standing and pacing around his desk, he brought himself the opposite side of Miri, and contented himself by perching on his chest-a-draws to watch her. As she was completely unaware of the giddy feeling she was causing in him, Evin allowed himself the rare action of blushing. He knew that if he kissed her here and now, that he would end up on the floor with too many broken bones.

Evin cleared his throat. "You know that we heading towards the Tuisaine border, because there has been reports of raiders hitting remote villages, and the King informed me last night to tell the Rabbits, Wolves and Hemlock to be ready for a quick leave?"

Miri nodded her head.

"Well it looks like we'll be leaving tomorrow morning, though the King would prefer if it looked like we disappeared with the new trainees that are headed for Pirate's Swoop. Anyways, as my helper, I am asking you a huge favour. Would you accompany me to Numair's mid-night gazing that he is putting on again?"

Miri split her ink, and turned to beg Evin. "Please, Evin, anything but that...please!"

"I'm sorry Miri, but I really would like some back up," Evin told her, shaking his head "You would also have to wear a dress..."

"Don't even think about it! I'm not going to freeze myself to death in a dress, outside, at midnight, knowing that I have a heavy ride the next day!"

"It's protocol, Miri," said Evin wearily, rubbing his eyes.

This action stopped Miri from issuing another plea. For once, Evin looked worn down with his responsibilities, and dejected about the whole trip back to the field. She knew that there was information that he had to hold back, and this added to the strain. Even if she didn't go, Evin would have to.

"Fine," whispered Miri. "Though I don't know which dress to wear."

"The green one," came the quick reply accompanied by an easy grin.

"You do know that you are going to pay for this," stated Miri.

"I know." Evin lifted Miri out of her chair and envelop her in a huge hug, squeezing out all her air. "Thank you." He let go and kissed Miri's forehead quickly as she tried to regain oxygen in her lungs.

"I said, no more kisses." Miri hoped she sounded annoyed, but she was too busy trying to breathe.

"Sorry, I forgot," he replied; though the twinkling in his ocean-blue eyes said otherwise. Miri returned to finishing off the equation, while fighting the urge not to kill her Commander, who would be in the best of moods for the rest of the day. After finishing the paperwork, Evin gave Miri the task of collecting the laundry from the bathroom and stripping his....bed. Too stiff to react to the jibe, Miri wandered off in the direction indicated by Evin.

However, Evin's smile could not be wiped off at the prospect of spending an evening with Miri all to himself. A quick knock at his door sounded, and Evin strode over and pulled the door open, ready to greet the person with great enthusiasm he felt. His face dropped at noting the person.

"Good afternoon, Commander Larse, may I have a word?"

Ok thank you for reading this chapter! I would like to say a big thanks to my beta reader Lily Rose Depp for all the useful advise and reading my terrible bad English!!! Will have next chapter up soon but who is at that flaming door????