Shadowburn (2)

Chapter 48

The sun was setting, and they still weren't back. Thorn wasn't sure whether he was amused or irritated by it all.

On the one hand, he was still struggling with his jealousy--but that was something he'd been struggling with for a very long time, long before Grigoli pointed out to Sin that Thorn loved her. This sort of thing was never supposed to be an issue between them, and Thorn could handle it. That wasn't to say that it wouldn't be a whole lot easier if Andreas wasn't rubbing the situation in Thorn's face.

To add insult to injury, it was obvious that both Andreas and Sin were trying to make the bet difficult on him by showing him exactly what he was missing out on. If Thorn had actually managed to resist the little nymph earlier, he would be seething. And very, very uncomfortable.

As it was, he felt a strange mixture of guilty and annoyed.

And he still couldn't keep his blasted eyes off Caelei.

Nothing about her made sense. Nothing about the entire situation he'd found himself in made sense. He liked her.

He'd admitted that he liked her.

He didn't understand it at all. There wasn't any reason for it, none at all. Thorn freely admitted--and had for the last four years--that he had a tendency to use women and throw them away. Even Sin found it annoying.

That hadn't stopped him from continuing in his habits. Maybe it had something to with his lack of exposure to anyone before that point, but... Thorn needed the interaction. Needed to feel like he had control over something.

So he didn't understand--couldn't understand--why all of a sudden this one woman was so blasted... something. Important didn't feel like the right word.

Attractive fit better. And annoying. Confusing.

She shouldn't have been different from the other women Thorn had met over the years--and he'd met a great number of women. She shouldn't have been special. She wasn't special.

So... why?

It was as if, from the moment she handed him that leaf after Andreas nearly killed him, Thorn's focus had been entirely centered on her.

It didn't make sense.

He'd never experienced anything like it before. Well, that wasn't entirely true.

He'd experienced it once before.

The day he found Sin cursing up a storm as she sank deeper and deeper into a dis'erln pit with no way to get out.

Thorn still couldn't figure out why he'd stayed. Or what had made that one little human girl so important to him so quickly.

It was almost frightening to consider that he may have found a similar connection to this random--or not so random, thanks to Raiden and a stupid dragon--nymph.

The question, he supposed, was whether or not he wanted to further that connection. If it was purely physical, then the answer was a resounding--and terrifyingly certain--yes.

Unfortunately, Thorn didn't think it would stay purely physical for long.

And he didn't know how he felt about that. Or if he felt anything at all.

Which was even more confusing than everything else put together, blast it, and Sin wasn't making things easier on him with her ridiculous 'matchmaking'. As if she thought he didn't know what she was doing.

Thorn sighed to himself. These thoughts were pointless, and no matter how long he turned them around in his head they weren't going to do anything but frustrate him further.