Grey Thorns

Chapter 12- Marked

I wake up alone the next morning and scan the room for him but he wasn't there. So I wander down the hall until I hear laughing from a room and peer in to see Liam with Jacob fighting on the mat. There was a lot of motion envolved. Jacob was throwing a lot of swings and Liam was blocking them with ease until Jacob aims one for his stomach and Liam grabs his fist and twists it around, and then slamming him to the floor. It looked painful but Jacob lets out a huff of air and groans in annoyance. Liam, with sweat dripping down his chest, seemed relaxed as he faintly laughed down to Jacob. As he helps him up he catches my movement as I walk to the bench. "Morning gorgeous." he says and Jacob looks at me.

"Come on! Old man." he says to Liam and Liam laughs. "You've actually been doing good for little training you've had." he compliments and Jacob snorts at him. "Come on." he orders.

Liam shrugs and stands in a relaxed position. "Okay, begin." he says. Liam didn't look like he was gonna do anything but when Jacob took the first swing, he grabs his fist and again, flips him on his back.

"Jacob grabs his leg though and pulls it out from underneath him resulting in Liam falling on his back but before Jacob could get to him, Liam takes his other leg and hooks it around Jacob's arm. "Haven't been taught this, have you?" Liam laughs before turning Jacob on him back and then sits up on his knees as he looks at Jacob for an answer. "Nope." he says and Liam laughs and helps him up. "Nice job today." he rewards and Jacob thanks him.

When Jacob leaves the room Liam walks up to me. "You're up early." he says and pulls me up on my feet. "I know." I admit. "Do you want to do anything today?" he asks and I shrug. "I don't care." I say and he looks around for a moment. "We can go to the beach, if you want to. " he shrugs.

"Sure." I say and he pulls me out of the door.

                                                                                       ***

Arrow follows next to us along the wet sand. Liam tosses a stick every once in a while for Arrow to go catch and he obediently brings it back.He stops eventually and sits down so I do the same. "So how long will it take for me to be able to go back to the dorm?" I ask. "Not long. Why? Am I driving you insane?" he asks and I shake my head. "Of course not." I say. He plays with my hands and seems to stare at them intently. I didn't really like him staring at my hand since I have scars all over them now. 

"Hey Liam?" I ask. He hums to my question. "What is it like? To live here for 300 years?" I ask and he looks up at me. "Well... its very depressing, honestly. Everyone seems to move forward in life, aging, dying, evolving, and I just seem to stay here. Its misrable. Jacob hates that I'm the Prince but he's lucky he's only been on this earth for 15 years. It seems like last year that I was walking in the 18th century and everything was different. Life was harder back then than it is now. You have it lucky. You'll grow old with your friends and I'll watch all of you die. It's my curse." he says with pain in his eyes.

I felt sorry for him. I didn't realize he's been through that much pain. "So have you been put in charge of "protecting" others?" I ask and he shakes his head no. "No. The Kings of the Arcs see something in you. You may not understand it but you will." he says. "Did you want to protect me at first?" I ask and he glances to the side and laughs under his breath. "No." he says dryly and I look at him in silence. I don't know how to respond to his bluntness. "But I'm a mortal." I say and he faintly smiles in another direction. "You'll see the situation differently in the future." he says reassuringly. "Do you know my future?" I ask and he nods. "I can only see part of it, and I'm forbidden to tell, but it could change." he says.

"I don't know whether or not I regret letting you know about my immortality." he adds under his breath. I move closer to him and grab his wrists with hesitation. Seeing him depressed bothered me greatly. "I don't regret it, Liam. Neither should you." I say and he leans forward and rests his head on my forehead as he looks down at his hands playing with mine. After a moment of his silence, its like a heavy brick was lodged in my lungs, holding me down with his depression. I've never felt this much impact by someone elses emotions. I nearly wanted to cry the impact hit me so hard. I thought about how I wanted to say something to cheer him up but it took me a minute to think of something.