Page 6 of A Winter Crush
“Bordertown?” Wareth said, frozen in shock. “What? I didn’t even know you were considering moving. I thought you were happy here!”
“It’s just…” Rin stood. “I’ve lived my whole life in this village in the middle of nowhere. And ever since we visited Laurel in Bordertown two years ago, it’s all I can think of. I want to get out of here and see what’s out there. I want to meet new people and… I just… I just can’t stay here anymore.”
Wareth hadn’t liked Bordertown when they’d visited. Too loud and too crowded. How could anyone get any peace and quiet? Still, if Rin was going…
“All right,” Wareth said, “then we’ll move to Bordertown.” He hated the idea even as he spoke the words. “If that’s what you want.”
Rin didn’t speak for several moments. “Actually, I was thinking I’d go alone. I mean, you hated Bordertown,” he rushed out. “You were relieved to return. I can’t imagine you being happy there.”
“But if you’re going—”
“I just think it would be best if I went alone,” Rin blurted.
So Rin left their little village in the mountains to start his new life in the city. A life without Wareth.
Wareth hadn’t seen him since.
After that, Wareth had retreated to working in the studio with Rin’s grandfather. He’d closed himself off and continued his life. He found comfort in the steady flow of his work and the routine of it. When Rin’s grandfather had passed away, he’d left Wareth his cabin, including the pottery studio.
He didn’t need a cute oread to disrupt the peace of the life he had made for himself. He just needed to be left alone.
“I’m fine,” he said as he wiped down the wheel with a cloth.
“Are you?” she asked. “Ever since Rin left, it’s like you locked yourself away and cut yourself off from anyone and everyone.”
“I have you,” he said.
That earned him a smile. Of a similar age, they’d been friends most of their lives, becoming even closer after Rin had left. He enjoyed having her around, even if she did poke and probe him at times. But he knew it came from love.
“Come over for dinner tonight?” she asked.
“Fine,” he said. Maybe it would help him forget a pair of silver eyes. Somehow, he doubted it. Especially considering Ori had threatened to return the following day.
ChapterFive
“Where are you going?” Aunty Yelan asked.
Ori’s aunties sat cross-legged on the woven mat on the floor of their cave. Aunty Suroth nibbled at a bit of smoked fish, and Aunty Yelan popped nuts into her mouth, chewing slowly. Technically, they were not his aunties, but they had raised him and his brother for the last ten years.
“I am going to the village,” Ori said as he walked further into the cave to where they stored their food. Whilst he and his brother had their own cave, they and their aunties combined their food and kept it here, stored on shelves or hanging from the cave’s roof.
“Again?” Aunty Suroth asked. “Weren’t you just there yesterday?”
“You brought back a plate,” Aunty Yelan said.
“You don’t like it?” Ori asked. “I thought it was very pretty. Isn’t green your favourite colour, Aunty Yelan?”
And the fact that Wareth’s big hands had made the plate was a definite bonus in Ori’s eyes. To be honest, he’d not intended to ask for a plate. He’d been standing in the pottery studio, stuck in Wareth’s gaze, trying to work out what to say, and he’d just blurted out the first idea that came into his mind.
“It’s very nice,” Aunty Lela said. She smiled at Ori. “Really beautiful! I see why you wanted it.”
“It is very pretty,” Aunty Yelan said, eyes narrowing. “I’m just not sure why you felt the sudden need for one.”
“I thought it would be nice,” Ori said.
“Hmmm.” Aunty Yelan clearly wasn’t buying his explanation. “Why are you taking all that ellfish?”
“We have so much,” Ori said.
