Shadowburn (2)

Chapter 42

Thorn stood utterly still, fists clenched, eyes following Sin as she hauled herself with an expert's ease up the smooth earthen wall.

You really should have known me better.

But how was he supposed to have done that? It was true that she rarely--never, in fact--bothered with speaking to others. What she'd said was true--if she had wanted to hurt Caelei, she wouldn't have used words. Which she'd done just a moment ago when she embedded a dagger in the nymph's arm.

But she had changed, changed so much, everything had changed. How was he supposed to tell the difference between her boredom bringing out her manipulative side and her actually trying to help someone other than herself? How was he supposed to know?

And what had she meant, anyway? What was the point? Why did it matter if he cared that Caelei was hurt, when it was obvious that the nymph's only interest was hurting him?

None of it mattered.

None of it.

He heard a curse behind him and turned slightly to see the little nymph pull Sin's dagger from her arm. Her blood dripped from the blade, coating the sleeve of her tunic and splashing onto the floor of the pit.

Thorn sighed, debating with himself for a moment. But it was his fault, and even if she didn't want his help, he didn't figure Grigoli would be helping her.

So Thorn walked over to her and drew a quick rune on her skin, in her blood. It glowed silver and sank beneath the surface of her flesh, and then the wound was gone, the blood fizzing into vapor around them.

He sighed again, turning away before he could get a glimpse of Caelei's expression. He didn't want to see the anger in them, knew she'd probably be even more upset because he was helping her again.

She'd probably find a way to make it seem like he'd healed her wrong, too.

But it didn't matter.

None of it mattered. It didn't matter--it didn't make sense. He didn't care.

And Caelei didn't care, so why did it matter to Sin if he cared that this strange, irritating, admittedly adorable, smart mouthed naiad was hurt?

And why, by all that was an Echo, did he actually care?

*****

Andreas didn't stick around long enough to see what Thorn decided to do with his revelation. Although he hadn't been able to understand the conversation the elf and Sin had been having, the look on his face told Andreas all he needed to know.

Sin, however, was not listening and was completely overreacting. And Andreas couldn't just let her leave without making her understand.

Words wouldn't help at this point, he knew that. But there was no way he'd let her go sit and stew somewhere by herself.

He flashed himself out of the hole and appeared right in front of her as she walked away from it. She bumped into him, and pushed him out of the way without as much as a second glance. Andreas followed her, matching her stride.

"Sin, do not walk away from me," he said, his voice low.

"Andreas, do not tell me what to do," she snapped at him in a dark tone.

He sighed and grabbed her wrist, to pull her to a stop. She gave in easily--too easily as she let him pull her back. In fact, she fell back--and spun on one heel to snap her other arm--and its fist--into his jaw with a swiftness and strength that no human had ever possessed. He could have stopped it if he'd really wanted to, had known she would probably react this way--but he didn't. The hit connected, his head snapping back just a little, and a second later, he grabbed both of her wrists. With speed almost matching that of teleporting, he had her pinned against a tree, her wrists held above her. His body leaned into hers, air barely separating them.