Prophecies and Lies

Chapter Twenty-One

Well, that's been a while, hasn't it? I'm sorry for disappearing on you guys for a few weeks. I had... well, a lot to do in real-life. And a lot of trouble writing as well; I just couldn't seem to get going on PaL, and so I've tried other stories--even those of the strangest genre ever: fanfics!--and that didn't work either.

Finally, today, my writer's block was done. Or... perhaps it's too soon to tell. At least I was able to write this chapter. Yay.

Enjoy!

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          It was strange. June had spend nights in Terrance’s company before. When camping in the woods, but also in small rooms. At times with Marc present, but sometimes just the two of them, alone. In Dew, they had slept in the same room. And yesterday too! Yet… she didn’t know why, but sleep wouldn’t come. She was tired from the long day, it was late at night, she craved sleep… but it just wouldn’t come, and that left her waiting, tossing and turning, trying to think of an explanation.

          Was it perhaps that this was the first time Terrance and she shared a bed? She knew that they had slept in the same bed the night before as well, but that didn’t count as she was too drunk to remember anything of it. Tonight however, she had not drunk a drop of alcohol, and she was very aware of the man sleeping next to her. She heard his steady breaths, the small motions of his arms as he dreamt of this or that, her sensitive ears even picked up his heartbeat.

          The heart with the symbol of ice tattooed onto it, she thought a little bitter. She didn’t know why Maya’s mother had done that, why she had chosen that specific mark and location to place the seal that bound Terrance’s demon and kept him human. But at the same time, June could imagine what had driven her to the act. And, even though Terrance was able to play it off with a smile and a poem, she secretly hoped that it had stung, if even just a little bit. There wasn’t much that got to Terrance Longeway, but she hoped that had been hurtful.

          However, despite his heart of ice and his way of disregarding people as if they were not the least bit important, Terrance did love somebody. Maya. He loved the little girl as if she was his own daughter, and would do anything to protect her, probably even die for her.

          Peculiar, how someone who cared so little for anything else in the world, could care so much for that child. It made June wonder if there was someone else he cared about as well, perhaps a loved one of the past, or a brother or sister—would there be anyone else in the entire world that Terrance cared about as well? If she’d ask him, he’d probably tell her she was that someone.

          She chuckled, breaking the silence that reigned in the bedroom, and immediately clenched her jaws together, afraid she might have awoken Terrance. But no sound came from him, he was still asleep. She relaxed.

          Of course he would say that he cared for her, that she was special. And he would know perfectly well she wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not. But she guessed that was what she signed up for when she decided to join Terrance in his travels through the kingdom—in fact, he had warned her for it himself!

          But, every time he said something to her, every loving glance he threw her way when he knew she was looking, was enough to make her blush and be convinced he loved her. It was stupid, it shouldn’t happen and she knew he was lying. But… there was something in his eyes. Something in those sky-blue eyes of his that convinced her every single time.