Unsinkable

Sinking

"How did you get these?" Jacin asked, his three middle fingers tracing down her right cheek, directly over her scars. His touch was light, almost like a soft trail of tears falling from her face.

Winter closed her eyes, remembering the day. Her mother had just died, and she was a girl of only about ten. Her days seemed to be filled with sadness then, so it seemed almost fitting when she got into the accident that left her with permanent tears trailing down her cheek.

"I'm not entirely sure," she said. She couldn't see Jacin's face, but she could feel the rapid beating of his heart in his chest, and it held enough emotion within itself for Winter to know what he was feeling. "It was just weeks after my mother passed, and Levana was watching me while my father was at work. We were at my house, which was then just a small, disorderly thing. I remember a sharp pain on the back of my head, then waking up at the doctor's as they stitched up my cheek. They told me that this great glass pot had fallen from a shelf and hit me in the back of the head. Then I fell to the ground, cutting up my face. The whole thing is mostly one big blur."

"Did Levana..." Jacin swallowed.

"I don't know," Winter said, part laugh. "In all honesty, it wasn't something that crossed my mind until a time later, when I was older and a better judge of her character. And when I realized that it would be quite difficult to have perfectly straight scars running down one's cheek from a fall."

"But," Winter continued, whispering now. "My father, who never loved that woman, married her before my stitches were even removed. I had to wear a great big bandage at their wedding."

"Blackmail?"

"I don't think we'll ever know," Winter sighed, blinking rapidly and looking up at Jacin.

"What about Aimery. How did that... happen?"

Winter sighed, but did not remove herself from Jacin's arms. "Well, you see, Aimery has been after my hand for a number of years now— since I was about seventeen."

Jacin looked appalled, eyes wide and mouth twisted in disgust. "But he looks to be nearly twice your age."

"He's not too far off. I believe he was in the military when he was still young, and didn't really settle down; he wanted more power, more money. That's why he's so intense— always carries a gun, even when we're just going into town or something silly. But then he got into bonds and made his fortune. He started coming around years ago, but I never thought of accepting his proposal."

"What changed?"

A small smile pulled at the edges of her lips, and she felt her heart grow heavy as she said, "My father died."

"Ah," Jacin sighed, cringing, his eyes pulling at the corners.

They were on the floor in the alcove. It was dim, only lit by a chandelier out and away. There was next to no noise in the small place, despite them being only a curtain away from the possibility of people. Almost everyone was asleep by now, tucked into their beds for a restful night.

But Winter didn't feel like sleeping— she was electrified. She and Jacin had kissed; then they had kissed some more, and some more, and some more, until neither one could remember what their names were, let alone how to breathe. And now her lips were numb with the sensation, and swollen to the touch. Her hair had completely abandoned its braided form and frizzed about her face maddeningly.

Jacin's arms were about her in a way that made her feel safe— it was almost terrifying, knowing that this was a man that she did not have to fear. She had not known one of that making in far too long—at least not in this sort of capacity. He was not Aimery, who wanted to control every detail of her life. He was Jacin, who she had known for days, but her soul would love forever.