Page 14 of November Reign
Without my sister around, the only person who knew everything, there was no one to call me out on my bullshit. If she was here instead of in Abrocaelum with the elves, her wife and their daughter, then she would be screaming at me to either tell the truth and see where the cards fell, or to draw a line and stick to it.
Hell, with her here, I would be as far away as I could be. No, that was another lie. I wouldn’t leave Zin and Pops to fight Basil alone. Not with baby Sage being so small. It would be easier to have some distance from Thyme with them around, though.
This all started when I changed how I was dealing with Thyme. Me being nicer to him gave him expectations of more. He thought, and he wasn’t wrong, that I cared about him. Problem was, caring about him could make everything fall apart, especially if he got too close. We could be friends and that was about all. Even then, he couldn’t know everything.
Thyme was so much better than me. He should be going for someone who could give him their entire heart and not the crumbled remains I had.
After the first fumbled attempts, I tried to put physical distance between us. Every time he came close, I took a step away. It fucking hurt to be the one causing Thyme pain and confusion. I saw the way each time he was politely rebuffed struck him like a blow.
Softening each try wasn’t helping matters. I could see the mixed signals I was giving him, and hated it.
“Oak?” Cody asked one morning after a lesson. Damon had pulled his brother away to the kitchen to make something for lunch.
“Hmm?”
I wondered what this was going to be about. Cody had never cornered me about anything before. It wasn’t that we weren’t friends or even friendly, there just wasn’t a whole lot of time to work on something with him before and after his mating to Toth. They kind of kept to themselves a lot of the time, which I understood. Either that or Cody was spending quality time with his dad. Mori was big on growing a bond between them.
“What’s going on with you and Thyme?”
Okay, so I knew this was a planned ambush or intervention or something. Damon had cooked up this interaction and Cody had been the one to draw the short straw by asking me what the hell was going on.
“We’re friends,” I answered, simply.
He looked disappointed. “That’s it?”
“It’s all it can be.”
Cody jumped on that slip immediately. “Why?”
I stayed silent for a minute, but this was Cody, a witch who until earlier this year had no magic of his own, or at least barely a spark of power. He grew up in a home where he was mistreated for the circumstances of his birth. Punished for things outside of his control. He could outlast my staredown.
My sigh was long and resigned. “Look, Thyme is well out of my league. He’s only slumming it with me because we’re cooped up in a house with couples.”
There was no way he’d look twice at me otherwise. Not after all I’d done with the accusations, icing him out, everything over the weeks and months we’d been cooped up together. I’d been a jerk, yet somehow he still had a crush on me. As soon as someone came along to treat him properly, he’d be in love with them. It’d be for the best, really.
“Hey! That’s not fair. You’re a catch!” Cody protested.
“I’m a mess.” I fixed him with a look. Cody reddened but didn’t look away.
“Thyme doesn’t think so,” he said stubbornly.
“Maybe not, but he’s wrong. He’d be better off with literally anyone else. What about Barr? He’s cute.” Just the suggestion stung. I knew it was pointless, too. Thyme coddled Barr like he did Damon.
Cody scoffed. “Barr’s in love with Jorgoth.”
I frowned. “Who?” The name was familiar, but I couldn’t place the connection.
“He’s a water elemental from Toth’s orchard. Well, no, he’s currently in the capitol in jail—“
“Jail! Why?” Was this guy a criminal? Did Barr have feelings for someone dangerous?
“Basil knows his true name so…”
Just his name had me suppressing a shudder. That didn’t make my confusion any better. Eventually Cody realized I didn’t have the full story, and continued.
“They are keeping him in this really nice place that’s spelled to avoid summoning. It takes a while to get out of these contracts, and with Jorgoth working for Toth they thought it was best to confine him rather than have him be used against us all. Jorgoth was happy about it. In the meantime they are trying to pin down his family tree, see if there is a royal connection.”
“Because royals can’t have contracts.”
