head to peer through the thin wall separating us, I was relieved to find him yet asleep. My eyes lingered on the outline of his frame as an old longing rose up.
No.
I grasped my head with my hands so my hair created a curtain around my vision. I had dreamed for the first time in centuries. And all my dreams had been of him of course. I could never escape him, he had sworn in his fury.
“Lost to all mortal boundaries, forever you shall be my Orona…”
“You’re already awake, huh?” Cain’s voice was rough from sleep.
I jumped, startled to hear Seid’s voice coming from so different, yet so similar a man , and stared owlishly up at him.
Ca tching my expression, he laughed. “Sorry I got the jump on you. Just another one of my mad ninja skills.” His eyes gleamed brighter until they borrowed the shade of the morning sky. “So did you sleep okay? If you hate the couch I can give you the bed.” His smirk faded when I continued to blankly stare. His eyes wandered and confusion clouded his aura. The tight mask I had seen him wear over his expression the night before was back in place when he turned.
I g athered my legs up from beneath me and rested my chin on top of my knees. “It was fine.”
“Good,” he said in a distracted tone.
My eyes drifted over him as he walked past the bar and into his kitchen. Besides his dark sweats and socks, he only wore a skin-tight sleeveless shirt over his bare chest. The latter was solely for my benefit, I sensed, so he did not embarrass me. Like most men, the less clothing he wore to sleep the better.
I could sense everything he was feeling as he began sifting through cupboards and drawers. He was distracted by something and frustrated even more by something else. An underlying ache had remained with him ever since our eyes first linked. And had he not been my mission, had I not seen him look at Lissa, I might have wondered if that ache was for me.
Smashing his palms on his countertop, he leaned forward and glanced sheepishly up at me. “So… I don’t stock up on normal stuff. Wasn’t expecting you, so I don’t know if you’d like my food or not. It’s an acquired taste.”
“I do not eat,” I answered with a shrug and not for a second worrying how crazy that would sound.
His eyes widene d. “Um… okay then. Guess that takes care of that problem.” Chuckling to himself, he rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head. Under his breath he murmured something about crazy, desperate women.
The truth was I had not required a single meal in two thousand years. Somehow I held enough sense to keep this, at least, from the human.
Cain did not feel it necessary to fill the silence with useless words, something I was grateful for. I watched him eat his food for a time and wondered what the taste would be like to me now. In my time the fruit from my mother’s garden would have filled my belly. The substance he shoveled into his mouth hardly looked like food to me.
He frowned through his breakfast, an expression that turned into a grimace while he washed his bowl and set it out to dry. By the time he was finished, I could feel the determination rolling off of him in waves as he crossed the room. His eyes lingered everywhere else in the room but me, though I sensed he desperately wanted to do otherwise. Crossing his impressive arms over his chest, he attempted to break the ice.
“So I didn’t ask you last night because you looked like you needed the handout. But seeing as we’re stuck here together till this storm breaks, I figure we need to talk through a few things.”
“Yes.”
His eyes flicked up suddenly and roamed my face then, lingered on the curl of my tresses resting along my back and trailing over the magic bed. His brown skin burned a deeper shade of rust. After taking in another breath he shut his eyes and began, “Yes, you agree or yes, you’re just saying that because you don’t know much English?”
“I know English,” I said, though my
No.
I grasped my head with my hands so my hair created a curtain around my vision. I had dreamed for the first time in centuries. And all my dreams had been of him of course. I could never escape him, he had sworn in his fury.
“Lost to all mortal boundaries, forever you shall be my Orona…”
“You’re already awake, huh?” Cain’s voice was rough from sleep.
I jumped, startled to hear Seid’s voice coming from so different, yet so similar a man , and stared owlishly up at him.
Ca tching my expression, he laughed. “Sorry I got the jump on you. Just another one of my mad ninja skills.” His eyes gleamed brighter until they borrowed the shade of the morning sky. “So did you sleep okay? If you hate the couch I can give you the bed.” His smirk faded when I continued to blankly stare. His eyes wandered and confusion clouded his aura. The tight mask I had seen him wear over his expression the night before was back in place when he turned.
I g athered my legs up from beneath me and rested my chin on top of my knees. “It was fine.”
“Good,” he said in a distracted tone.
My eyes drifted over him as he walked past the bar and into his kitchen. Besides his dark sweats and socks, he only wore a skin-tight sleeveless shirt over his bare chest. The latter was solely for my benefit, I sensed, so he did not embarrass me. Like most men, the less clothing he wore to sleep the better.
I could sense everything he was feeling as he began sifting through cupboards and drawers. He was distracted by something and frustrated even more by something else. An underlying ache had remained with him ever since our eyes first linked. And had he not been my mission, had I not seen him look at Lissa, I might have wondered if that ache was for me.
Smashing his palms on his countertop, he leaned forward and glanced sheepishly up at me. “So… I don’t stock up on normal stuff. Wasn’t expecting you, so I don’t know if you’d like my food or not. It’s an acquired taste.”
“I do not eat,” I answered with a shrug and not for a second worrying how crazy that would sound.
His eyes widene d. “Um… okay then. Guess that takes care of that problem.” Chuckling to himself, he rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head. Under his breath he murmured something about crazy, desperate women.
The truth was I had not required a single meal in two thousand years. Somehow I held enough sense to keep this, at least, from the human.
Cain did not feel it necessary to fill the silence with useless words, something I was grateful for. I watched him eat his food for a time and wondered what the taste would be like to me now. In my time the fruit from my mother’s garden would have filled my belly. The substance he shoveled into his mouth hardly looked like food to me.
He frowned through his breakfast, an expression that turned into a grimace while he washed his bowl and set it out to dry. By the time he was finished, I could feel the determination rolling off of him in waves as he crossed the room. His eyes lingered everywhere else in the room but me, though I sensed he desperately wanted to do otherwise. Crossing his impressive arms over his chest, he attempted to break the ice.
“So I didn’t ask you last night because you looked like you needed the handout. But seeing as we’re stuck here together till this storm breaks, I figure we need to talk through a few things.”
“Yes.”
His eyes flicked up suddenly and roamed my face then, lingered on the curl of my tresses resting along my back and trailing over the magic bed. His brown skin burned a deeper shade of rust. After taking in another breath he shut his eyes and began, “Yes, you agree or yes, you’re just saying that because you don’t know much English?”
“I know English,” I said, though my
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