Page 35 of The Heart of Winter

I turned away and walked off, my jaw clenched, just like Jacob’s had been earlier in the car.

Funny. Almost ironic.

Jacob found me attractive, and I found his son attractive. Too twisted, too sick. At the very least, complicated.

On the walk home, I picked up my pace, emotions swirling inside me, pushing crazy fantasies and scenarios into my head, trying to tell me something about myself that I’d kept hidden forever.

About the life I could have had if I wasn’t so angry and proud.

And frozen.

But at the same time, my well-practiced persona, the one that was always in control, always rational, was hacking those feelings down like a machete, cutting through them with logic and solid arguments.

Why did I even come here? A needless disturbance in my life.

All I’d done was stir myself up over something that practically had the worddisasterwritten across it in bold, top to bottom.

SARIEL

That evening, I got an unpleasant surprise at home. My father entered my room without knocking.

I was in the middle of sketching another ice elf, one whose facial features bore, of course, a striking resemblance to a certain someone who absolutely hated my guts.

One could say I didn’t learn anything from my little back and forth with Winter. And one would be right. I guess there was no way to pin me down and turn me into a good boy.

Father didn’t bother to say ‘hello’, or ‘how are you’. He got right to the chase.

"Director Nolan told me you’ve been bothering him. Are you trying to sabotage this job from the start by playing some weird game, just because I wanted you to work there? Do you just have to be a contrarian, Sariel?"

My eyes almost bulged. "What game? For fuck’s sake, I just helped the man with his goddamn car battery!"

"If you wanted to be a mechanic, you could’ve just told me!"

That sounded completely absurd. I stared at him for a moment, noticing a strange stirring in his body, almost on a subliminal level. There was no way we’d ever see eye to eye. That much was clear.

"I didn’t do anything wrong. I just wanted to help someone in need." My voice surprised even me, it stayed calm and assertive.

But there was no reaching him.

"Leave him alone. Do your job and stay out of Winter’s way."

"Why are you taking his side, Father? I’m your son. Other parents—"

"What do you mean, 'taking sides'?! You’re talking and thinking like a teenager. Get a grip, Sariel. Grow up."

"Are you in love with Winter or something?!" I snapped.

My father flinched, then suddenly pressed both hands to his face like he never wanted to look at me again, like I was a hopeless case. Or like he wanted to cover his expression, for whatever reason.

"For the love of God, Sariel." His voice had a strange edge to it. "What am I going to do with you… Leave Winter alone. That’s an order. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" I snarled.

He lowered his hands. His gaze was just… really, I couldn’t describe it if I wanted to.

Then he slowly turned his eyes to the screen, noticing the elf, but his expression didn’t change.

Then I froze. The drawings!

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