"Are you free later? Want to go somewhere?"
Amelia did not answer.
It was Tuesday, lunch break, the cafeteria loud with the usual scrape of chairs, overlapping conversation, and the clatter of trays being set down too hard.
Soren sat with his own tray pushed a little to one side, elbow braced on the table as he leaned towards her, watching for even the smallest reaction.
Across from him, Felix was still eating with the same lack of refinement he brought to everything, and beside Soren, close enough that a slight shift would have made their shoulders touch, Amelia sat with her posture loose and her face blank, eyes fixed somewhere ahead rather than on him.
To anyone else, it would have looked like indifference.
To Soren, it felt distinctly worse than that.
Something was wrong.
Felix glanced from Soren to Amelia, then back again, his expression sharpening with interest before it turned into a grin.
"Did you do something to the big bad wolf?"
Soren ignored him.
His attention stayed on Amelia's profile, on the faint angle of one ear, on the stiffness in her shoulders, subtle but there if he looked for it.
She had not turned towards him, had not acknowledged the question at all, not even with one of her usual clipped half-responses.
That alone said enough.
For the past week, something between them had gone wrong in a way he had no right to be surprised by.
The strange part was that, on the surface, almost nothing had changed.
Amelia still sat too close.
She still appeared beside him between classes as if she had always intended to be there.
She still shadowed him through corridors, courtyards, and the paths between academy buildings with that same quiet persistence of hers.
But the silence had changed.
Before, it had been easy.
Now it had weight.
And Soren knew exactly why.
— I'm sorry, but Professor Roseblood has something she wants to talk about with me.
— Sorry, but I need to have lunch with Lilly today. We can eat together tomorrow.
Excuses, again and again, never completely false, but excuses all the same.
Ever since he had started giving Lilliana blood every few days, his schedule had shifted around it little by little.
At first, he hadn't thought much of it.
Then it had happened again, and again, and before long Amelia's invitations had begun to meet refusal more often than acceptance.
He had not set out to push her away.
But that didn't matter much when the result was the same.
Of course, Amelia already knew what Lilliana was.
As a member of the Einhardt royal family, she had been informed early about things like that; matters involving vampires and similar races were not something the royal family would leave unknown to one of its own.
So it was not secrecy in that sense.
The real issue had been simpler and more awkward.
Lilliana had not wanted Amelia there.
— It's embarrassing. I don't want to be watched.
Soren had not pushed.
At the time, it had seemed obvious enough why she would feel that way, and he hadn't wanted to make an already delicate arrangement worse by forcing the matter.
But Amelia had taken it badly anyway.
For a few days she had almost stopped following him at all, keeping a distance so unusual for her that the absence itself had felt unsettling.
He had noticed it more than he wanted to admit.
Then she had learned about what had nearly happened to him that night, and after that her behaviour changed again.
Now she was there constantly.
She just barely spoke.
Which left Soren with the worst possible version of the problem.
Amelia's presence remained solid, close, and unwavering, but some quieter part of her had pulled back from him, and because she was still always beside him, there was no way not to feel it.
It was miserable.
He let out a breath, then leaned a little closer.
"Pretty please?"
Still nothing.
Felix gave a short snort of laughter.
"Isn't she just going to follow you anyway? Why bother asking?"
Amelia tilted her head a fraction, the movement so small it would have been easy to miss if Soren were not already watching her far too closely.
It looked enough like agreement that Felix's grin widened immediately.
Soren dragged a hand down his face.
"That's not the point. I'm asking if she wants to do something together."
That got a reaction.
Her ears lifted, quick and sharp, and though her expression barely changed, something in her posture did.
Not much, but just enough for Soren to feel the difference.
Felix noticed it too.
"Well, she looks interested, doesn't she? Isn't that a good enough answer?"
Amelia didn't speak, but she also didn't deny it.
The faint tension in her shoulders eased by a degree, and behind her chair the end of her tail moved once, then settled.
Soren caught it and had to stop himself from sighing.
So that was how it was.
'Is it pride?' he wondered.
Or perhaps something close to it.
Amelia always seemed like the type of person who would bluntly state what she thought, but that wasn't the case.
Sure, she could express herself easily, but it felt as if she rarely wanted to, especially when she felt slighted.
Even now, with him making the invitation as plainly as he could, she was intentionally making him work for it.
Which, frankly, was fair.
He had been the one mishandling things.
Still, even knowing Felix was right, even knowing Amelia would follow him after classes whether she answered or not, Soren found that he wanted more than that.
He wanted her to choose it.
He wanted, in some clumsy late way, to make it clear that this was not just convenience, not just her tagging along because she happened to be there.
He wanted to fix it.
Not all at once, because he doubted either of them knew how to do that, but enough to make the distance feel smaller than it had these past few days.
Amelia finally turned her head and looked at him.
Her face was as unreadable as ever.
Then she gave the slightest nod.
It was small enough that Felix could easily have missed it, but Soren did not.
Relief came so quickly it was almost embarrassing.
"There," Felix said, pointing with his fork as though he had personally solved the matter. "See? Told you so."
"Whatever."
Felix's grin only deepened.
Soren ignored him again, because it was easier than indulging him, and because Amelia was still looking at him now, directly this time, with those neon eyes of hers that never seemed to waver once they settled.
For all her silence, she had said yes.
That was enough for now.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
After classes, students spilt out from the academy in loose groups, conversation filling the courtyard as people peeled away towards dormitories, clubs, shops, and the city beyond.
Soren stepped through the main doors and saw Amelia almost immediately.
She was standing a little off to one side of the entrance, not leaning against anything, not fidgeting, just waiting with the same stillness she seemed able to hold indefinitely.
Her gaze was forward rather than searching, as though she had known exactly where he would appear and had no reason to check twice.
The sight of her there settled something in him before he could stop it.
That, more than anything, made the guilt bite harder.
He walked over and lifted a hand to tap lightly at her shoulder.
"Did you wait long?"
She shook her head once.
He studied her for a moment.
Up close, the distance between them was as strange as ever.
Emotionally, she still felt a little withdrawn, but physically, she stood near enough that if he shifted half a step, they would be crowding each other.
With anyone else that kind of spacing would have felt absurd.
With Amelia, it had somehow become normal, even with this awkwardness sitting between them.
"Want to get something to eat?"
A small nod.
"Come on, then. I know a good place."
She fell into step beside him at once.
Not behind him, not properly shoulder to shoulder either, but close, very close, the space between their arms so narrow that sometimes the fabric of their sleeves brushed when their stride lined up.
For Amelia, that probably counted as keeping a distance.
For anyone else, it would have looked like the opposite.
Soren noticed it anyway.
He noticed everything about her lately, perhaps because he had spent the past week measuring every silence and every almost-conversation, wondering where he had gone wrong and whether she was angry enough to stop speaking to him altogether if he mishandled it a little more.
They walked through the city without speaking.
The afternoon sun had already begun to lower, casting long shadows across the stone streets, and around them the usual life of the academy district carried on, students in uniform, shopkeepers calling, the smell of warm bread and smoke drifting out from open doors.
Normally, silence like this might have felt strained.
With Amelia, even now, it did not quite manage it.
Because for all her reserved mood, her tail told on her.
It moved behind her in a steady, restrained rhythm, not wild enough to be childish, not slow enough to be hidden either.
There was a quiet anticipation in it that softened the edges of everything else, and Soren, catching it from the corner of his eye, felt some of the tension leave him.
So she was pleased, even if she was also displeased.
That sounded about right for Amelia.
When they reached the restaurant, he pulled the door open and stepped aside for her; she went in without a word, eyes already moving over the interior with quick, assessing focus.
It was a nicer place than the ones students usually frequented, quieter, polished, the kind of establishment where the cutlery was refined, and the staff looked like they had been trained to glide rather than walk.
Soren had only found it because of Louise, but once he had remembered it, bringing Amelia here had seemed almost obvious.
He approached the counter.
"Table for two, please. Somewhere quiet would be appreciated."
"Of course, ma'am. Right this way."
Soren's mouth opened on reflex, annoyance rising before he could help it, then he stopped when he saw Amelia's expression.
The corners of her mouth had lifted.
Only a little, but enough.
The irritation vanished as quickly as it had come.
They were led towards the back, away from the louder groups and nearer a window where the light fell more softly.
Amelia sat opposite him, though when she pulled her chair in, it ended up closer to the table than most people would have chosen, and once again, he had the odd thought that even when she was being reserved, she still had no proper sense of what counted as personal space.
Soren picked up one of the menus and handed it to her.
The change in her was immediate, though still subtle in the way only Amelia could make obvious interest seem restrained.
Her eyes sharpened.
Her ears lifted.
The slight heaviness that had been hanging around her all week eased by another degree as she scanned the list.
He had expected that.
Over time, he had learned that Amelia was a remarkably picky eater.
She could endure academy food without complaint, but endurance was not the same thing as enjoyment, and genuine enthusiasm from her where meals were concerned was rare enough to be memorable.
Because of that, he had chosen this place on purpose, somewhere expensive enough and meat-focused enough to suit someone raised in the Einhardt household.
A princess with the appetite of a hunting dog was still, unfortunately for her dignity, predictable in some ways.
Soren hid a smile behind the menu in his own hands.
'Got you.'
Once they had ordered, the waiting began, and with it came the quiet again.
Not empty this time, just a little careful.
Soren rested an arm against the table.
He was hesitant to say what was on his mind, not because of any petty emotion like pride, but because he was worried that if he made a mistake, everything would end there and then.
The food arrived before he could begin talking, and whatever words might have come next disappeared the instant the plates were set down.
For perhaps the first time since he had known her, Amelia looked genuinely thrown off balance by a meal.
The scent hit first, rich and warm, properly seasoned meat with none of the sad compromise of academy dining hall food.
Her shoulders tensed, not in irritation but in visible restraint, and he watched her throat move as she swallowed, eyes fixed on the plate in front of her with an intensity that bordered on alarming.
For a moment she kept both hands in her lap as though she were making one final effort at civility.
Soren almost smiled.
"You don't have to wait for me. Go on."
That was all she needed.
She picked up her cutlery with immaculate precision and cut into the meat.
The first bite went into her mouth, and Amelia's entire expression softened in a way so immediate and so sincere that Soren had to look away for a second just to keep from laughing at how blatant it was.
Her eyes unfocused slightly.
Her ears lifted.
Her tail began moving behind her chair with a quick, irrepressible rhythm she either did not notice or could not control.
It was not dramatic, not loud, but it was still one of the clearest displays of happiness he had ever seen from her.
Soren leaned back a little in his chair and let himself enjoy the sight.
She had not left the academy in months.
Three months of institutional food would grind anyone down, and for someone raised on royal standards, it had probably felt like exile.
The academy kitchens were good for what they were, but they were still academy kitchens.
They could not compete with a noble household, let alone the Einhardt family.
So yes, he had brought her here on purpose.
And yes, it was satisfying to be right.
He ate more slowly, partly because he wanted to, and partly because watching Amelia discover decent food again was unexpectedly entertaining.
She didn't rush exactly, but there was an unmistakable efficiency to it, the kind produced by someone exercising every scrap of self-control she possessed while still very obviously wanting to devour the entire plate in half the time.
By the time she finished, every trace of irritation in her earlier mood had been replaced by something softer.
Then she looked up at him, and he realised he had been too optimistic.
Her expression changed again.
The contentment receded.
Her mouth drew into a line, not severe, just uncertain, and her gaze lowered for the first time since they had sat down.
Even her tail, which had been moving so happily a moment earlier, slowed and dipped behind the chair.
Soren straightened.
This, more than the silence from before, felt unfamiliar.
Amelia usually spoke plainly once she decided to say something.
Hesitation did not suit her.
Which meant whatever she was about to say mattered enough to unsettle even her.
"I'm sorry," she said.
Soren blinked.
"What?"
"I'm sorry."
He had expected to apologise properly at some point during this meal.
He had been turning the words over in his head since lunch.
Hearing them from her instead left him flat-footed.
"Why are you apologising?"
"For being a nuisance."
"You weren't."
"I kept following you."
"I didn't mind that."
Her gaze stayed lowered.
"I was being petty."
Soren let out a quiet breath.
"So what?"
A short silence passed before she spoke again.
"I was jealous."
He opened his mouth to dismiss it on instinct, then stopped halfway through.
"…What?"
Amelia's fingers shifted against her lap, small and tense.
"I was jealous."
"Of what?"
This time she looked up at him, and the directness in her eyes made the answer land harder than he was prepared for.
"You have others," she said. "I only have you."
The words struck with embarrassing force.
Soren went still.
They had known each other for barely a few weeks, maybe a little more depending on where he counted from, and even from the beginning, it had been obvious that Amelia's sense of distance, emotional and physical alike, did not work the way most people's did.
She attached quickly, stood too close, and treated presence as something simple and absolute.
Friendship, to her, seemed to leap over the cautious middle ground other people relied on.
Even so, hearing it said that plainly was something else.
She meant it.
Not lightly, not carelessly, and not in a way she would even know how to soften.
He felt guilty all over again, and more sharply than before, because suddenly the past week looked even worse from her side.
He had been brushing her off, making excuses, assuming there would always be another day to smooth it over because Amelia would still be there anyway.
Meanwhile, she had taken it seriously from the start.
Soren rubbed lightly at his face.
"I'm sorry."
Amelia shook her head straight away.
"It's my fault."
"No." He lowered his hand and looked at her properly. "It isn't. I should've taken this more seriously."
She watched him in silence.
He hesitated, because admitting this out loud felt faintly ridiculous, but she deserved honesty more than he deserved pride.
"Having you around is comforting," he said. "After what happened, I've been… not exactly relaxed about leaving the academy alone. But when you're there, that goes away."
Amelia's ears twitched.
Soren looked aside for a moment, then forced himself to continue.
"And, well, no sane person is going to hate having you follow them around."
Her head tilted a little.
"Why?"
He stared at her for a second, wondering whether she truly didn't know or whether this was some private punishment for all the times she had made him work for basic conversation lately.
Then he sighed.
"Because you're attractive."
Amelia absorbed that with complete seriousness.
"Oh."
That was all she said at first.
Then, after a pause long enough to make him regret answering, she added, just as calmly.
"You're attractive too. I like your face."
Soren stared at her.
There was no embarrassment in the way she said it, no teasing, and no awareness whatsoever of how impossible a line like that was to answer normally.
It was just Amelia, blunt as a hammer and somehow more dangerous for it.
He gave up on trying to recover with dignity.
"…Are we still friends?"
"Yes."
The answer came immediately, as if there had never been any real uncertainty on her side about that part, only hurt.
Some tension he had been carrying since last week loosened at last.
"Thanks."
Amelia's tail began to move again behind her chair, slow at first, then with a little more life to it, and just like that the strained distance that had been hanging between them all this time felt smaller, not gone completely, perhaps, but no longer choking the air every time they sat together.
For now, that was enough.
————「❤︎」————