Page 250 of Hunters and Prey

Truth

HE FOUND HER on a grass-covered slope.

She stood by a clump of trees, half hidden by them.

Directly below her, a group of young seers were watching strange-looking, fountain-like fireworks go off, leaving blue and green sparks and twisting, colored smoke in their wake.

He walked across the slope towards her, taking the time to study her when she didn’t immediately see him––or feel him with her light.

She stood balanced on one foot, half-leaning on a tree.

She looked uncomfortable, her arms folded, but on the surface, it was nearly a version of one of her psychologist poses, when she was playing the role of shrink, or objective scientist. She watched the light show going on below, but from her face, she wasn’t really seeing any of it. He could practically see her thinking instead.

Keeping his light shielded, he walked closer, cautious.

He watched her eyes flicker down at the fireworks, her mouth firming.

He could almost feel her kicking herself, trying to decide how to go back inside the building she’d just left. Maybe she was trying to think of a way to do it while sidestepping him, or via some excuse that would let her just not talk to him––at least not until later, when they were alone. Maybe she was wondering if she could pull off some excuse for her abrupt exit.

He knew her embarrassed.

This was his wife, embarrassed.

Somehow, the simple vulnerability behind that fact made his heart hurt.

He watched her look from the fireworks to the door of the building she’d left, staying out of her direct line of sight as he approached her from above, having walked up the slight rise over the main courtyard so he could look for her more easily.

He watched her bite her lip.

He watched her think, probably telling herself she just needed to go back in.

Pain wound through his light as he looked at her.

His asshole cousin was right.

He was a complete dick about it, but he was right about everything he said.

Black’s jaw hardened, right before he began walking towards her more purposefully.

That time, he didn’t walk up on her cautiously… he walked straight to her, and she turned, feeling him, then started when she looked up, taking a step back and flushing after she’d focused on his face.

Meeting his gaze, she seemed to hold his eyes with an effort.

Her light-filled, complicated, maddeningly perceptive eyes stared up at him, right before her jaw firmed on a face that still mesmerized him with its combination of delicate bone structure and harder, almost stubborn strength in the line of her jaw and high cheekbones. She looked at him almost defiantly, making her light dense around her body.

He felt the self-protection there, and that hit at his heart, too.

“Black,” she said, a mixture of frustration and embarrassment reaching her voice. “It’s fine. I was just about to go back in.”

“Okay,” he said, his eyes not leaving her face.

“I’m going back in,” she said.

“All right,” he said, not taking his eyes off hers.

She seemed to expect him to leave at her words.

When he didn’t, she didn’t seem to know what to do.

---