Page 3 of Soul of Thorns
I kissed her in a moment of passion. I’d thought she was going to die. She almost did die. And I acted on my craving. But maybe the desire is one-sided.
Maybe she hasn’t forgiven me for believing the worst of her over and over.
Caelynn presses her palms to her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Nothing,” she says, rubbing her face rigorously. “Just a dream.”
I let out a long breath, working to convince my body I don’t need to fight something. It’s hard to imagine we’ve spent three days in the middle of fae hell, with a bounty on our heads but without facing any new wraiths—well, so far. I glance out the one tiny window at the end of the room. The other is boarded shut.
The room is small, just a bed and a “kitchen” with pots, a heath, and a narrow well. There are three crates lining the far wall filled with emptied jars and tin cans. The sorcerer that built this place to study the wraiths had brought a significant amount of supplies but went through almost all of them before his departure.
I stride to the stove and spend a moment building magic in my palm until it grows hot, then I cast a small ray of light onto a chip of glass made to magnify light. In only a moment, there is a spark of flame, and in a few more, the fire is strong enough to heat a pot of water.
“Tea?” I ask her, though I already know the answer.
We only have four servings of tea left, but we hadn’t planned on staying much longer.
She nods slowly.
“Want to tell me about it?” I ask casually. Caelynn isn’t exactly forthcoming with her emotions, and I don’t get the impression she wants to push the boundaries of what we already are. Even just a moment of our eyes connecting causes pain to flicker in her expression.
Caelynn has had enough pain in her life, I don’t need to add to it. And since I am not in a position to promise her anything, I haven’t pushed her on it. Maybe one day. Maybe I’ll figure out what I feel about the incredibly beautiful shadow fae. Maybe in some faraway future, there is hope for us. It’s small, but I refuse to accept that there isn’t some way we could each find happiness.
She shakes her head in answer to my offer.
I smirk. Very articulate, this one.
“Hurry with the tea, we should get going,” she says as she swings her legs over the edge of the bed, trying to hide a wince.
I roll my eyes. “We don’t have to rush out of here. The wraiths haven’t bothered us in the slightest and—”
“And you want to wait until they do?” she spits, meeting my eyes for only one quick moment before returning to her mud-caked boots. I suppose it’s a good thing I left out my face to face with a wraith moments ago. I glance out the small window again, but there doesn’t seem to be any sign of the wraith. Maybe it was a coincidence.
“We agreed we’d leave today,” she says. “The faster we complete this quest, the faster we can get you out of here.”
I pause, staring at the boiling pot of water.
Me. Get me out of here, not her.She’s never, not once implied she would want to leave this place in my stead. Why? Doesn’t she want to save herself? Doesn’t she hope for something more than this?
Don’t you? a voice whispers in my mind. I take in a deep breath. I do want more. I have hope for a grand life. Of power and adoration, of making a difference. Of being remembered. But only one of us can have that chance. And she just freely gives it away without so much as a blink.
One day, I want to give something meaningful back to her. I’ve taken so much without even realizing it. She shielded me from it all. She let me hate her when she could have come out with the truth and eased her punishment.
I peer out the window. We’re several miles into the Schorchedlands by now. I can’t even see the thorn walls that border these lands. All I can see are the rocky hills surrounding us and the dull sky, but even so, I know there’s a whole world out there waiting for us. For me. My eyes drift back to Caelynn busy buttoning her jacket.
She’ll willingly leave all hope behind for me, but that’s all the more reason to fight for her.
