Sweet Innocence and Gentle Sin || 𝐀𝐂𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐑

Chapter 33: Communication is Key

I hate you for what you did, and I miss you like a little kid.

~)(~

For the next two days, I avoided him like the plague. I didn't know if I would kill him, punch him, scream at him, or stare uncomfortably at him. None were good options.

I did a pretty good job of avoiding him until we had to pack up and enter the Fog Forest. To my understanding, the forest existed because of the mix of the Summer, Autumn, and Spring Court magic, causing the climates to intermingle and make a rather weird environment. Perfect for hiding, not for living.

It was chilly, yet the air held a humidity it shouldn't have. An uncomfortable warmth that made sweat bead down my temples, and the lack of wind made it all the worse. There were flowers and green grass, yet the trees were covered in yellow and orange, hiding the brightly lit clouds. A canopy of tangled branches barely visible, dropping leaves that tickled my arms and stuck to me from the moisture. And the fog... well, it was there.

I couldn't see anything ahead, just the ground in front of my horse, and even that was misty. It wasn't exactly dark, but the blindness of fog was rather similar to the blindness of night. I hated it with every fiber of my being and spent a long time petting the mane of Luas. That seemed to calm me down a little, though my heartbeat was to be determined.

There were sounds. Lots of sounds. The snapping of twigs and the rustle of bushes nearby. I swore I could hear a growl at one point and pivoted inward enough for my horse to nearly slam into another. My leg bumped painfully against the rider, and I jolted at the feeling of a hand against my gloved one. The heat got through the leather and the light squeeze and rub of a thumb made my hands immediately loosen, even if I didn't want them to.

I looked down at the scarred hand and then up, and he thankfully pulled away before I could bite him.

Yet, I didn't move away. There were more sounds in the woods, a distant howl, even. And I was absolutely not a coward for feeling afraid. Anyone in this situation would be. I used it as an excuse to keep that closeness to the one person I really shouldn't be near if I didn't want to get in trouble for punching someone.

But... the shadows. It was always the shadows, wasn't it? They were whispering. I couldn't understand them one bit, but it didn't matter, because they somehow, without him knowing, slipped past the space and curled delicately around my ears. Almost invisible and so small they could hide there forever. I felt them tangle through my short hair, brushing against my shoulders. They whispered like white noise to drown out the sounds of crunching leaves and breaking branches.

And I was worried that if I moved too far away, they would go back to their master and leave me alone again. And I really, really didn't want to be alone right now. So I'd endure the closeness if it meant the shadows could whisper and snake across my neck—rather like a hand would.

The whole thing felt like an intimacy I hadn't ever known. The soft pull as hair is twisted around a finger, the tracing of muscle from the base of the collarbone to the tip of the ear, the press to temples to relieve a headache.

Just touching for the sake of touching. I always recoiled at the touch of skin, worried my magic would sear and blister. Perhaps that's why I always wore my gloves, always wore long sleeves. I pretended it was for normal reasons, but I really just hated my skin. I hated the marks of flame scattered where power lingered too long, and the strange glow of my veins when I let myself feel too much.

But the shadows didn't feel like others. They drifted across my skin and felt nothing of pain or burning. They moved like fingers did, pressing slightly to the nape of my neck, feeling my pulse under my ear.