Evan had taken off his shirt because of the heat around him. He was in the back of the shop, working on an assignment he had gotten from someone in the Upper Ring. It had taken him a long time to gather the materials he needed to craft this sword (and also a lot of money), but he thought the result would be neat when he was done. Of course it would be. He was the one who made the sword, after all. But that snob was surely going to pay a high price for the work he had done so far. The emblem he had to craft in the handle of the sword was one where he had to spend a few hours on, as it was a big emblem and it needed to be the right size to get crafted into the handle. It was work he absolutely despised, but it needed to be done. His father would literally murder him if he would mess up an assignment coming from the Upper Ring. He was weakened by his sickness, but he would still be able to knock the shit out of Evan if he wanted to. And the man would never admit it out loud, but that thought was what scared him the most.

The bell in the front of the shop rang, alarming Evan that someone was entering the shop. He frowned and sighed. He hated serving customers. If he had to choose one thing he liked about his job, it was when he could disappear in the back, crafting swords, daggers or other weapons and work on big assignments that would give him a lot of money. He had a few examples hanging around in his shop to show his customers what kind of crafting work they could expect from him, but they never went for it. He also sold a few materials himself, so if he was lucky it would just be for the materials and the customer would go away after that.

Evan didn’t bother to put on his shirt, nor to erase the black marks that had appeared on his left cheek and upper body. He wasn’t ashamed of his tattooed, muscular body because he didn’t care what others thought of him. There were a few scars on his body, but the worst of those were hidden under his tattoos. So with a white towel around his neck he walked to the front of the shop, where he frowned as he saw a woman standing there.

”Are you lost?” was the first thing he asked, which probably wouldn’t be a good question to ask to a girl. But oh well. He also didn’t care about feelings of others either.

Evan quickly looked her over. Brown hair, dark eyes and a pretty face, although he would never admit that out loud. While he was a sarcastic, rude little shit, he could surely appreciate and notice it when a pretty woman was nearby. Not that he would ever show it in his behavior or lower himself to something like flirting, but oh well. His eyes averted back to her face when she spoke her words and he frowned a little. He hadn’t interested himself enough in the competition around in the Middle Ring to bother, but apparently he wasn’t the only weaponsmith around here. It was not like he had not expected that; while Ashmoor could only make deals within Ashmoor itself, there was still a lot of trading and selling done. Maybe not as much as in the kingdoms around them, but Evan was fairly sure, especially within the Agrarian Ring, that nobody would not be able to have a job. That could either be seen as a curse or a charm.

”Tell me what you need and maybe I can help,” he offered, taking the white towel from his neck to dry his black hands. The towel was black in an instant and Evan tried to rub the groom of his cheeks as well, only smearing it further. He didn’t need a mirror to know that he was making a mess of his face, she he just left it at that and flung the towel back around his neck. ”Does your father have a shop here in the Middle Ring?” he asked. It was not making polite small talk. While it may looked like that, he was actually trying to guess how many competition he had. He could probably tell from the materials she would need what kind of crafting her father did and guess how expensive his weapons would be or out of what kind of materials they were made.

But it was also common sense that if he needed materials that Evan sold, they would be evenly matched because Evan could do a lot of things with his materials as well. Or so he arrogantly wanted to believe. He was still young and he didn’t have much experience as a shop owner, but he still felt like there weren’t any greater weaponsmiths around him than himself.

Evan nodded. Coal was very common to use when it came to crafting weapons, if not the most important thing. It was after all the ingredient which helped a crafted mold his weapon. He bought them in sacks of ten ton, which seemed like a lot, but for a crafter it really wasn’t that much. Especially not for a crafter who worked assignment after assignment. ”How many ton does he need?” he asked the girl. As coal was a common thing to use for a crafter, it wasn’t that expensive. It was probably one of the most cheapest material. The not so common used materials were the most expensive ones and Evan’s shop wasn’t any different. If he wasn’t in his shop and he was doing business at Port Silverstone, he would even heighten the prices because he never expected those fools at the haven to suspect that he was basically swindling them in a way. If they wanted to do properly business, they should move out to the kingdoms and not to Ashmoor.

Evan flinched when her hand reached for his face. He stumbled a bit back, trying to get out of her reach. Ever since his father found it necessary to daily beat the shit out of him, he didn’t like it if someone tried to touch him, even if it was a soft hand of a woman who wouldn’t hurt him. ”Yeah, I got it,” he told her dismissively, trying to find a clean part of his towel to wipe his face to get rid of the awkward tension that built up within a few seconds. Goddamn. She was just out here to gather materials for her father. Why couldn’t she just stick to that and not try to be a goody two shoes? It annoyed him. But another part, deep down that he wanted to lock up in a cage and never let out, wondered how it would be if someone with good intentions would touch him. He wondered how soft her hand would’ve felt on his cheek. The thought was so absolutely fucking disgusting and nauseous making that he tried to get rid off it at once.

Luckily she tried to fuse the tension with complimenting his craftmanship. ”It’s not so bad,” he said nonchalantly, but his face showed that he was very satisfied with the fact that he had noticed his work. ”Although it also attracts the wrong attention sometimes. Criminals from the Lower Ring or snobs from the Upper Ring who try to steal from me or swindle me. It’s amazing how age can change one’s opinion of how to approach someone.” They always thought he was easy to deceive because he was younger, but that would always back fire right in their face.

Especially since Evan knew some dagger wielding of his own.

Evan frowned a little. That would be one sack, which contained of ten killograms. He couldn’t help but judge her again, having a quick look at her appearance. She might be able to drag them over to her wagon herself, but Evan still felt obliged to help her. He’d rather have that than her trying to prove a point and breaking her back in the process. Then it would be a lot of drama and that wouldn’t be good for his shop. So he was helping her for economical reasons, not because he was concerned about her wellbeing or anything. The thought alone felt ridiculous to him. As he named the price, which was only a few coins, he quickly wrote down the items she had bought. It was a list that would let him keep track of what he needed to gather himself to keep the stock high and would also give him a summary of what he still had in the back. ”I will bring it over to your wagon in a second,” he told her nonchalantly, as if he hadn’t thought about her mental health and was just stating that he was doing business.

He gave nod when she asked if he had made all of the examples hanging around the shop. ”I sure did,” he spoke, now with a slight hint of arrogance. As soon as his father was too weak to continue the shop, Evan had thrown his stuff out or put it on sale and had made his own weapons to create his own style to the shop. He was sure his father would not approve, but the man had been too sick to visit the shop and could only order Evan around when he was at home, which was above the shop. It was still a bit ironic how much of an iron grip the man still had on the younger man; Evan still felt his heart clenched with fear when he sat around his father, even if it was just eating dinner in silence. He hoped the man would die soon enough so that he could be fully at ease, as well inside of his shop as at home.

The awkward moment between them was gone when they found a topic they had a mutual understanding in. Evan gave a nod when she spoke her words. ”I can imagine that for you it’ll be a bit harder than it is for me, with being a woman and all,” he spoke, averting his cold blue grey eyes to look at her. ”I get the feeling women are frowned upon around here, especially doing a job like this.” And not only at a job like this. He had seen enough drunken men in his life who had been catcalling a woman for just merely walking down the streets. It was disgusting behavior. The lowest of the low.

Evan walked to the back of the shop, lifting the sack of ten killograms on his bicep, keeping it in place with his forearm. The weight felt like nothing for him and he easily walked back without breaking a sweat, resting his eyes upon her.

”Where do you want me to put them?”

Evan felt his lips curl up in arrogance when she spoke her words. He couldn’t help himself. He wasn’t praised by his father a lot, almost never, and it just felt kinda good and he felt a little superior when someone praised the work he had done. Not his father, but himself. Evan had made sure that every piece his father made was thrown out of the shop as soon as Evan had taken over. His father must have noticed it, but if he did, he didn’t find it necessary to comment on it. Just like with many things, everything concerning Evan wasn’t his concern anymore as quickly as he could let it go. Evan felt like he used his sickness as an excuse to abandon his son even more and he couldn’t wait until he had saved up enough money to move out of this damn place and buy a house on his own. But the houses in the Middle Ring were expensive and even with the money he made because of the shop he couldn’t save enough to buy himself a space for himself. So he just had to hope that his father would die soon. It would be the only way to get rid of his haunting past.

Evan felt how his cheeks got warm when she spoke her words. Even though he was a man, he was very good at picking up hints and he knew she referred to the behavior he had shown when she entered the shop. He coughed in his hand and averted his eyes, looking purposefully at a very specific piece of art that hung in the corner of the shop, showing a blade with two dragons, surrounded by an inferno, wrapped around it. ”I was talking about the disgusting behavior on the streets,” he stubbornly muttered, still looking away from her. He wasn’t going to admit that he looked down on her as well when she entered the shop. No way.

Luckily his distraction came in the form of bringing the sack with coals to her wagon. Apparently she wanted to show that she could be capable of his work just as well; she offered to take the sack from him. Evan wasn’t going to be a gentleman and he was still annoyed by the stinging comment she had made just now, even though she had said it very gently. So he just nodded at her and then almost threw the sack at her. ”Catch,” he spoke a little too late. The weight of the sack could be a lot of you weren’t used to dragging them around and it probably wasn’t very nice of him to throw it like that, but she had asked for it.

Right?

Evan drew in a deep breath to get rid of the red color that had probably already spread towards his cheeks. He hated it when someone made him blush. It was such an unnatural thing to do for him that he wanted to get her out of the shop as soon as possible. But another part of her caught his interest; the way she seemed to be able to stand up for herself. She wasn’t the type of woman that would be a damsel in distress and if he had to be completely honest with himself, that was the type of woman he liked and respected the most. He hated when he had to play the hero just because a woman had a foul mouth and couldn’t stand up for herself when push came to shove or when she was so irritable shy that she could be easily walked all over. No, he’d rather have someone like this.

”I wasn’t worried about you,” he spoke coldly. ”I don’t see how it would be my problem when you would get in trouble anyway.” He averted his eyes to his counter, where he pretended to write down the items she had bought from him. Or nearly bought, because she didn’t give him the money yet. After that he quickly retrieved the sack of coal for her, which he threw in her direction after receiving a comment that she could handle it herself. He raised his eyebrows in mild surprise when she caught the sack of coal, even though it took her some effort. But she seemed to be a stubborn specimen and the corners of Evan’s mouth curled up when she placed the sack of coal with some effort in the wagon.

”That’ll be two silver coins please,” Evan said, nodding at the sack of coal. It wasn’t that expensive so he wouldn’t made a lot of money out of it, but money was still money. ”Or did you need anything else?” He raised one of his eyebrows at her. He didn’t know why, but kind of wanted the conversation to last longer. She was interesting and quite easy to talk to, if she knew how to keep her distance at least.

Evan gave a satisfied nod when she spoke that it would be her problem indeed, not his. Yeah, that was what he thought. But a silent voice in his head asked if he could truly back off if something were to happen to her right in front if his eyes. He was a skilled wielder of weapons and he could handle himself pretty well. He also had a bulky frame which scared of most thieves to try to steal something from him. With his shirt off he could show off his muscles even more, even though that wasn’t his intention. It was just so damn hot in the back of his shop, especially when working with the oven and with iron. He wasn’t showing off, but it still was nice to know that his appearance scared off the people who had wrong intentions. So maybe he didn’t have to ponder something happening to her because in his presence she would be safe anyway. And when she would be out of his sight, he wouldn’t have to worry about that stupid stuff anyway. Out of sight, out of mind.

Luckily she broke his dumb, annoying thoughts by giving him the silver coins he had asked for. He thought that would be the end of their conversation, but apparently she didn’t have to be back for another hour and her horse was thirsty. Evan made it a point to roll with his eyes at her and gave her a nasty frown. ”Do I look like a stable boy to you?” he asked harshly, but he already spun around on his heels and mentioned her to come inside. The sooner he would give her the damn water, the faster she would leave him alone with her annoying requests. His behavior was also a consequence of his annoying thoughts, although she couldn’t possibly figure that out. But Evan wasn’t going to explain his actions or the words he said. If she decided to linger a bit longer in his presence, then she would just have to deal with it.

Evan led her all the way to the back of the shop. He head some buckets he used to drag some of his stuff back and forth from the back to the front of his shop to prevent himself from having to walk the same route over and over again. He emptied one of the buckets and walked to a low hanging faucet, opening it to let the water fill the bucket. He crossed his arms as water running in the bucket filled the silence between them and looked at her with a frown.

”I’m quite surprised that you find my presence to be enjoyable enough to not want to return right away,” he spoke bluntly, then smirked at her. ”I’ve seen people who were less appreciative of my appearance before.” It made him wonder why she didn’t leave as soon as she could. He wasn’t the most enjoyable person to be around and surely she could let her horse drink somewhere else? So why did she decide to stay?

You don’t look like anything to me. Evan felt his posture stiffened after she had spoken those words. He thought he had steeled himself for comments like that, pretending like it didn’t bother him, but it still stung. Because it was what his father would say to him on a daily basis when Evan was still dependable of him. It shouldn’t bother him as much that a commoner like her would say those words, but stupidly enough it did. He only hummed when she quickly spoke her words after that. A talented smithy. It was just something related to his work, related to his father. But he was recognized on his own accord and not because his father was with him. That was worth something, right? But no. It felt like she was just trying to make up an excuse to soften the words she had spoken earlier. It didn’t mean anything if it was said to fix a blunt mistake she had intended to make and Evan didn’t felt like commenting too much on it.

As he was filling the bucket, he looked up at her. ”Because apparently people can’t handle it when I’m blunt to them,” he spoke, shrugging his shoulders. ”It’s not like it’s bothering me though. The less people I have around me, the better. Get too involved with someone and you might end up getting hurt.” Evan clenched his jaws. He didn’t mean to delve into the details like that and he felt his skin getting slightly warmer because of embarrassment, but he quickly averted his eyes so that she wouldn’t notice it.

”Save it,” he spoke quickly when she tried to deny that she enjoyed his presence. It was just a stupid remark he had made; she didn’t have to take it so goddamn seriously. He grabbed the handle of the bucket after it had been filled to the brim and walked past her, the muscles of his left arm bulging as he dragged the bucket outside. He placed the bucket in front of the horse and crossed his arms as he watched the animal drinking slowly, but eagerly.

It was reminded to him once more that he wasn’t wearing a shirt when two women walked by, giggling to themselves. Evan fixed them with a harsh glare as they didn’t make it a secret that they were checking them out, but his aggravating glare only made them giggle more and Evan rolled his eyes and let an annoyed sigh. Well, at least it was an unwelcome distraction from the awkwardness that he felt around the woman next to him.

Evan felt himself stiffen up again when she spoke her words. Yeah, and cows could fly. Evan didn’t make it a secret that he was mocking her words by rolling his eyes, feeling the need to tell her that she was naïve although he had made that clear through his actions. If he could be blunt with her words and just blurt out everything she thought, why couldn’t he? So what if he hurt her in the process. It was not like he would see her again after he had given her horse some water to drink and after seeing her off. Maybe they would be doing business with each other again in the future, but once Evan knew who her father was, he was going to make it a point to not visit that certain shop. She was starting to hit too close to home and he didn’t like that. ”You’re just naïve. Keep seeing the world through that big fat pink cloud of yours and it’s going to stab you in the back later,” he snarled at her, pointedly avoiding his eyes from her after saying that. She was just a naïve little girl. Why did he even fucking bother with her?

”I don’t care whether you enjoy my company or not,” he spoke coldly, returning to the cold distant man he was as always. ”We’ll probably never or rarely see each other again after this, so why explain yourself? It doesn’t matter.” But deep down it did matter, because her words had actually stung him a little while back. But Evan was too proud to admit that to her. Words couldn’t break his bones, but actions surely could. He had learned from his father that it was better to not get too close to someone. She may seem gentle and kind now, but under every layer of skin could be a black heart hidden, waiting to show itself after a certain amount of time. And he just wasn’t willing to take that risk.

Evan rolled his eyes again as she spoke her words about the girls. ”They enjoy my muscles and God knows what kind of fantasies they have about the rest of my body right now, not the person I am. That doesn’t count.” He looked directly at her. ”If I wanted to get laid with every fucking girl around the Middle Ring, I would’ve worked on my attitude. But I don’t waste my time with that kind of stuff. It isn’t worth it.” Of course he was still a man and he would need to blow off some steam from time to time, but he would take care of that by himself. Having intercourse was another cause of intimacy he couldn’t allow himself to have.

Not now, not ever.

Evan stopped with what he was doing for a short moment when she spoke her words. He was angry with himself because of the uncertainty he felt inside that was surely visible in his eyes for a few seconds before they became hard and cold again. His father had taught him that kindness meant nothing. Evan had tried to be kind to his father and had tried to help him out whenever he could and all he ever received was a fist in either his face, abdomen or somewhere else his father liked to hit him. Bottles of glass had flown around the house multiple times, giving Evan enough cuts that had scarred him both inside and out. So no, he didn’t believe that kindness would be repaid after a certain amount of time. ”Or they use it as an excuse to take advantage of you. And once you find out, it’s already too late,” he mumbled, keeping his eyes firmly on the horse after speaking those words. He didn’t want to be seen as weak again, which surely would be the case if he looked at her now. He didn’t want to find out himself what was reflected in his eyes right now anyway.

He shrugged when he spoke her words, showing once again that she cared too much about what people thought of her. ”Stop worrying about those things. So what if I think wrongly of you? It’s not like you’ll ever see me again, so I don’t see how that matters. You should try to let things go more easily or they’ll get to your head.” Evan bit his lip after that. He didn’t want to give her any advice, but here he was, giving her life advise as if he cared about her. He did not.

Evan narrowed his eyes when she spoke her words, rolling them when she seemed shocked with her own words. ”It’s just a figure of speech,” he mumbled, but he the annoyance in his eyes was replaced with what almost could be described as amusement as he looked at her. ”Stop apologizing for who you clearly are meant to be. It doesn’t suit you,” he told her in a cold tone, willing himself to stop the smile from creeping up around the corners of his lips.

This girl was definitely something else and it was annoying him to no end.

Evan stiffened when he saw how her eyes wandered over his upper chest. He knew he had several scars scattered there, remnants of his father beating the crap out of him because he had done something wrong. Some were healed properly, many were not. He didn’t want to show off his body and his scars, he didn’t want her pity or anyone else’s for that matter. Because he was certainly that he read that very expression on her eyes: pity. It made him mad. He didn’t need her pity. He wished he had thrown a fucking shirt on before wandering to the front of the shop. If he had known that the conversation would go as deep as it did now, he probably would have. Why was she even delving into his business anyway? ”I think that’s none of your fucking business,” he snapped rudely, adjusting the towel slightly so that the longer end of the towel was covering some of his scars. But it was too late. She had already seen them, which she clearly gave away by wandering her eyes from him.

Evan’s eyes widened a bit when she spoke her words. Although he had felt frustrated with her just a few seconds ago, the corners of his mouth lifted up slightly when she spoke her words. So… the girl did have some fire in her, hmm? ”Alrighty then,” he spoke, shrugging his shoulders. ”At least I’m not the one who will be laying awake at night, wondering what kind of stupid opinions people will have of me.” If she wanted to be stubborn, then that was her fucking problem. Not his.

He just scoffed when she spoke her next words. No, of course she wasn’t. She insulted him and the next thing she did was apologizing for doing so. She had clearly intended to insult him, so she shouldn’t play the fucking saint and pretend like she hadn’t meant to say what she said. It was pathetic. Evan narrowed his eyes when she told him that being an ass didn’t suit him and he rolled his eyes. ”Then tell me, sweetheart,” he spoke sarcastically, closing the distance between them so that his nose was a few centimeters at distance from hers. ”What kind of attitude does suit me? I would be happy to know so I can adjust myself to your wishes.” His words were laced with disgust and sarcasm as he gave her a cold look.

Only now was he aware of the way she smelled. A sweet smell was hanging around her that he refused of distracting him. He was fairly sure that his scent was a mix between aftershave and sweat, but that shouldn’t bother him in the slightest. She was provoking him, not the other way around. So he shouldn’t allow himself to be aware of stupid thoughts like these.