Page 4 of Triplets for the Dark Elf
“Thank you, dear. Keep this one in line, will you?”
I giggle and nod as he leaves with a wave. Instantly, I feel Miothro’s gaze shift to me. “Sniffing the parchment again, little lumiola?”
I turn away to hide just how bright red my cheeks turn. It’s not the first time he's called me that. It’s actually what he called me before he even learned my name. He said I shone like a lumiola beneath the lights of the club, and I told him it was just glitter.
But then Miothro told me that he didn’t mean my skin. He meantIshone, my eyes and my smile and my soul. And I was not meant to be locked up like that.
That and I like trees too much since I like to sniff parchment.
“Mon lutin,you shouldn’t complain that your shop girl loves your products so much.” He grins at my words, and I wonder if I’m butchering it, though he tells me I’m not. I’ve only learned elvish from his business books, but I heard that one in the club.
Miothro told me it basically means ‘my friend’ but the way he grins makes me think it’s a swear and he’s just teasing me. Either way, I like the way he grins when I say it so I’ve kept it. Maybe it has a different meaning to me than it does to others.
“Maybe I’m more worriedwhyshe likes them so much.” There’s a hint of a smile as he says it and I turn to look at him.
Miothro looks so different when he smiles, and sometimes I wonder if I am the only one who gets to see it. His eyes soften and he looks younger, though I know he is twelve years older than me.
Sometimes he looks like he’s lived as long as his father with his firm frown and his rigid shoulders. I can see how he seems intimidating, but that isn’t the Miothro I know. I get the one who smiles and teaches me elvish, and that is something I cherish.
“Worried your parchment is going to go missing?” I ask as I stand, the box now empty.
“Perhaps.” He smirks as his eyes follow me to the back. “Should I be worried about wandering hands when it comes to you?”
There’s something about the way he says it, his tone dipping down low, that makes it sound so suggestive. It’s so unlike him, but I can’t deny I like it. Heat pools low in my stomach and I look down at the day’s books to fight the blush creeping up my neck.
“Oh, Annalise. Are you already guilty of something?” I know he’s only pushing it further because he can see how his teasing gets to me. He doesn’t truly believe I’ve done anything wrong. At least, I don’t think so.
“Unlike you, I know not to ask questions I don’t want the answer to.”
He creeps closer to me, and I look up. There’s something thinly veiled on his face, something that I think he keeps hidden most of the time. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think it was intrigue.
Or interest?
No, that would be ridiculous.
But then his voice drops down to a level that sends electricity shooting down my spine. “Who says I don’t want an answer?”
He can’t be serious. This has to be him teasing me to get me flustered on purpose, and what I’ve never told him, what’s completely unfair, is that he is the only one who can do this to me. Maybe it’s because everything sounds sogoodcoming out of his mouth, but I’ve never been so easily shaken.
Am I shy? Sure. But I’m not innocent. I can’t be in this world. And yet, the slightest hint of anything that could be remotely flirty coming from Miothro has me unraveling.
My eyes snap up as I see he’s leaned closer. “I do,” I tell him.
His eyebrows shoot up as he leans back, and he appraises me for a moment. I can’t believe how heated my skin feels under his gaze, and when he finally reaches my face again, I feel like I’m on fire.
“Maybe I’ll change your mind when I get back,” he muses with a half smile.
“Going somewhere?”
He pushes off the counter. “I have to go check on my other properties. Can you–”
I nod before he finishes. “I’ll watch the shop.”
“Thanks.” He strides toward the door. “You’re the best.”
I watch him go, hating how much I wish he would have stayed.
3