Chapter 19 Routine inspection
Ira’s POV
Ruel just stands there, making the entire hall feel smaller. Under his intense gaze, the air becomes tighter, the guards straighten like statues, even the candles on the walls seem to shrink from his presence.
“Commander Ruel,” the nearest guard salutes again, as if speaking louder will hide his fear.
Ruel nods once, coldly. “Routine inspection.”
His voice is calm. Too calm. His jaw tightens slightly as his gaze sweeps the room. His eyes drift to the beds, the walls, the windows trembling from the strange wind. But then his eyes return to me.
And dear goddess do they remain on me.
I swallow hard. Why is he looking at me like that? As if I did something wrong. As if I offended him when I have barely breathed tonight.
Sia shifts beside me, uneasy. “Do not look directly at him,” she whispers.
I lower my head, but curiosity drags my eyes upward again. Ruel’s gaze is sharp enough to slice through skin. There is no softness in it. Not a drop of warmth. Just an intense emotion I cannot name.
Anger? Confusion?
I'm not going to pretend like I expected him to be smiling but for such look to be directed at me for no reason at all is very unsettling.
Cold sinks into my skin as the wind moans loudly outside the window, dragging against the building like devilish nails across stone.
“W..why does the air feel so strange?” Chloe whispers lowly, wrapping her blanket over her shivering shoulders.
Ruel finally steps fully into the hall. His boots echo loudly across the stone floor while guards follow behind him with stiff shoulders, a hint of worry in their expression.
“Check the bedding,” he orders.
The guards obey immediately, lifting sheets, roughly pushing servants aside to open cupboards, scanning corners... Even the tiniest bits. All while we servants bow lower.
My heart thuds painfully. I try to breathe slowly. I try not to remember. But Anna’s scream keeps echoing in my skull. The blood. The wolves. Her accusing finger. The pain in her voice.
I swallow, feeling my eyes well up as I find it impossible to forget those sunken red eyes and how much hatred they carried.
I never wanted to hurt them. We could have just stayed back at Felisha's crumbling shelter... We should have.
Ruel moves again, inspecting the torches, touching the wooden frames of windows and peeping outside, testing the locks. He moves calmly as though taking his time.
But every few steps… He glances at me again.
Not lightly and definitely not by accident.
My fingers curl into a fist inside the blanket spread around my legs. I do not like the way his stare makes my chest tighten. I do not like that he is looking at me like I have stolen something that belongs to him.
Why?
What did I do?
A guard clears his throat. “Commander, everything seems stable.”
Ruel ignores him.
He walks instead toward my side of the room.
Sia tenses and shifts slightly in front of me, as if she can shield me from him.
I honestly would have laughed if I could bring myself to do so.
Ruel stops two steps away.
His shadow falls over both of us, tall and cold.
His voice is low when he speaks. “You screamed.”
My mouth dries up instantly. The room behind him seems to fade. Every other sound in the room instantly dies and I just know…
They are all listening.
Sia steps forward fearfully. “S..she was only scared, Commander.”
“I asked her,” Ruel cuts in without shifting his hard gaze from my eyes.
My breath stutters as I'm suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling of being watched. I screamed... and so what? Why should he bother? I'd that why he came to inspect? Did he think something bad was happening?
If he normally does this then why does everyone keep speaking about his nonchalance? And why is everyone just as shocked as I am to hear him as me such a question?
This is definitely not a normal character for the commander so why...
"Ira,"
Goddess, why does my name drop off his tongue like that?
I look up slowly. “I… it was a bad dream.” I summarize.
The commander's brows tighten. “Then why trouble the peace of the base?” he asks harshly.
“I did not mean to,” I seethe, barely controlling myself. Of course he's still an asshole. What was I expecting? Silly of me to think he actually cared.
But he continues staring, searching my face like my skin is a map and he is looking for something hidden beneath it.
He looks away only when a stack of metal trays collapses suddenly on the far side of the hallway.
The sound explodes through the hall, loud and sharp.
The girls silently panic while two guards jump forward immediately, their swords drawn as the proceed to check it out.
“What was that?” Cortis demands, her eyes cautious. I've long realized from her behavior and aura that she must be the head of the guards.
“It must have fallen,” another guard responds calmly, picking up the tray.
But my eyes catch the angle of the trays. They did not fall from a high place. They slid. Almost like something pushed them from the side.
Ruel turns quietly studying the mess. Then his eyes snap back to me. Harder this time.
My heart leaps painfully. Why does he keep looking at me like that?
One guard walks back. “The wind, maybe?” he mutters.
“Wind cannot push metal objects in a closed hall,” another says with a frown. But Ruel raises a hand and they all fall silent.
He looks at the rusty trays again, then at the windows, then back at me. A flicker crosses his eyes. Something unreadable. Something calculating.
The silence between us stretches in a way that makes my skin tingle. He is not just suspicious. He looks offended.
I look down quickly. There's too much going on in my head and heart for me to focus on another person.
“Why is he looking at you like that?” Chloe fearfully whispers behind me. “Did you do something?”
I shake my head, feeling just as confused myself.
“No,” I whisper. “I did nothing.”
But the words sound just as broken as I feel.
Ruel turns slowly, scanning the room again, then he addresses the guards. “Continue your rounds in the other hall. I have some unfinished business. And,” he pauses, turning to Cortis who tears her worried gaze away from me.
”Yes Sir?”
“Come to my study first thing in the morning.” He adds before sauntering off.
"Yes Sir." She nods, her warm eyes finding me again.