Daydreams And Nightshade (DaN #1)

Chapter 15: Book piles and raisin cookies

It was time to leave. The others had already headed down to the carriage they'd had to buy back for a ridiculous amount of money and prepared to be on their way before the sun had set completely, but Luna still lingered, awkwardly twirling a lock of her hair as she stood outside Frey's room.

Her father had advised against it, but she didn't feel right about leaving without saying something, so she eventually knocked.

She wasn't too surprised as no reply came, but she persistently knocked again, and when she received nothing but silence still, she decided to open the door, willing to blame her intrusion on ignorance and 'thinking no one was there'.

"Uh... Frey?" She squinted through the dark as she poked her head through the open door, soon spotting said person further away.

Frey was sitting up in his bed with his arms wrapped around him, staring out a window and showing no sign of having heard her. Half his head had been wrapped in bandages, and bottles of various sizes on his nightstand suggested Damien had spared no expense on whatever painkillers and wound treatment he could find with the state the town was in.

"I just thought I'd... See how you were doing, or well... You know." Luna noticed she'd accidentally twisted her hair too tight around her finger, leaving it near bloodless. "At— At least Father says your head will be alright, so that's good, right?"

Frey's visible eye turned at that, and the look he gave Luna was far from the usual, charming kind, but he still leaned against the wall in silence.

Luna swallowed to make her mouth less dry.

"I'm sure it will heal," she tried, but grimaced as soon as she'd uttered the words. As comforting as she wanted to sound, they both knew a gash of that size would not go away, and Frey's pride in his own appearance had taken a heavy blow. "I, uh... I mean, maybe it won't, but— But scars can look pretty nice too, I'd say. You shouldn't—"

"Even someone like you should know when you're not wanted," Frey interrupted her, with a withering voice Luna had never experienced before. "Go away."

"Someone like—?" Luna frowned, but wasn't so sure she wanted to know what Frey meant by it.

Unfortunately, Frey took the liberty of answering the interrupted question anyway.

"Someone who can't understand when to shut up." The grip he held around his arm tightened, and he continued through gritted teeth. "Who couldn't comfort someone to save their lives."

Luna's gaze sank to the floor, and she knitted her eyebrows while trying to think of something to say, which suddenly seemed impossible.

"...Right," she whispered, still lingering in the doorway. "Well, I hope—"

"Just get out!" Frey snapped, squeezing his arm so hard it looked like it hurt, and Luna hurriedly obeyed.

She returned to the carriage with a crestfallen look on her face, and Lucius sighed.

"I told you."

"I just thought... Since he hasn't spoken to anyone since... You know..." Luna irately rubbed her eye. "... Maybe someone needed to talk to him and see how he's doing."

"His family will talk to him when he's ready." Damien held out a hand to help her into the carriage. "We need to leave him alone for now, and let him mourn."

It was the longest carriage ride they'd ever experienced. Or so it felt. Looking down at her knees, Luna was reminded of her dress being lost in the chaos, and she sighed at what seemed like a trivial thing at the time, but she really would miss that dress and its additional pockets.