House of the Rising Son Read Online Free PDF

emotions. You seem to be very caring and extremely inquisitive. All of those are emotions, too.”
    Were they?
    â€œI have emotion?”
    â€œYou seem to, yes.”
    Could it be that she’d had emotion all along and never knew it? Her body did react to things, but she’d written them off as automatic responses she couldn’t control.
    Like his bulge.
    Was it possible that those physical reactions were emotions she’d disregarded?
    â€œAri? What do feelings feel like?”
    He set the pole aside and turned her to face him while they talked. “They’re hard to define. But I shall try for you.” His handsome brow furrowed as he considered it. “Well … sometimes I have an ache in my chest when my brother appears sad or is hurt about something. That’s sympathy pain because I want him to be happy and healthy.”
    â€œWhat does love feel like?”
    Aricles fell silent as he looked at the childlike wonder on her face. The way the sunlight made those incredible hazel eyes glow with her fire and beauty. In his heart, he knew he was already in love with her, had been for weeks now. Ever since she’d started joining him for his peaceful afternoons.
    But how could he explain what he felt?
    â€œThere are different kinds of love.” That seemed like the best starting point.
    â€œSuch as?”
    â€œWell, I love my father, but that’s more obligatory. He cared for me when I was a boy and I care for him now that he’s older.”
    â€œBut you said he didn’t care for you when you were young.”
    Aricles licked his lips as he tried to explain a very complicated relationship that often left him as confused as she was. While he did love his father and would die for him, a part of him hated and resented his father, too. “He took care of us until the death of our mother. He was a great father when we were small. Then the loss of the woman he loved, crippled him until he could no longer support us emotionally.” Or even financially. Rather, his father had given up on life for a long time. “Without my mother, he didn’t want to live either, and so he crawled into his cups and stayed there. So someone had to take care of him and the farm.” Aricles tried not to remember those first years after his mother’s death. They’d been hard and harsh as he struggled with his own grief while trying to care for his brothers and father, as well as their farm.
    â€œSo love is obligatory?”
    â€œNot exactly. I mean … yes, it is, but it’s not.”
    She rubbed at her forehead. “I don’t comprehend this.”
    Aricles pondered it for a moment. “Love obligates you because you want to take care of the person who holds your heart. Their happiness and well-being mean much more to you than your own. So yes, but it’s not truly obligatory, because you don’t really have to take care of them. It’s your own desire that makes you feel such.”
    â€œAh … that makes sense.”
    â€œAnd,” he continued, “when they’re gone from you, it’s a harsh loss that haunts and saddens you. All you want is to see them smile. To watch joy light up their face, and to be with them.”
    Bathymaas nodded. “I think I understand now.” It was how she felt about him. She didn’t like to see him struck in practice, and when he bled, it caused pain to her chest. Like now … she was still concerned with the fact that he was bulging when she’d never known him to do that before.
    And the thought of him hurting …
    It, too, gave her a pain in her chest.
    She lowered her gaze to his groin. “Why are you not bound today?”
    The color returned to mottle his cheeks. It was so adorable and sweet that it somehow made her want to touch them and ease his embarrassment. “I was injured in practice and didn’t want to risk reopening the wound with the