The Raven's Source

Chapter 47 - Broken

Sheja paused, not realizing she had even been obsessing on it. She tried to take her hands from his to hide them behind her back. "It doesn't come off as easy as you think," she said as quietly as she could.

"I worked at the hospital in Sundres for a bit and I know that's pure bullshit, Sheja," he stated. Twyn reached around her and grabbed her hands again, bringing them back to her front side and looking them over. He brought them up to his lips and kissed her hands both on the backs and on her palms. He looked up at her as he pulled her close, putting her hands over his shoulders for her to wrap around them as he hugged her tightly. "Never let blood take you over like this. The only blood that has ever been on your hands was either in defense or in pleasure, neither which deserve you beating yourself up over."

Sheja looked at his shoulders and realized Twyn had already healed them himself. Just a little bit of half-dried blood remained to be cleaned up and she avoided touching it. "No one deserves to know what it's like to have blood on their hands," she said softly, closing her eyes and tilting her head down slightly, "...physically or metaphorically."

"But sometimes, when there's some sick bastard like your father who loves the feeling, you'll need to deal with it in order to make things right. Otherwise, people like him win."

"Have you always been so smart?" she said softly.

"Yeah. I couldn't be pretty and show off my smarts. That wouldn't have been fair to others. I'm also really good at math," he chuckled. He leaned in and kissed her collarbone softly and he felt her sigh at the touch. He hugged her a little tighter to him as he leaned back a bit, trying to coax her onto his lap. "I don't have much left and it's not like I can do any more damage than I've already done...so I feel like I need to bring your glow back before we call it quits for today," he said with a sweet playfulness in his voice.

"We really should get back down to the girls," Sheja said softly. As she tried to back away from him, he held her tighter.

"Get up here on my lap or I'm going to throw you back down on this bed," he threatened lowly, his voice soft but suddenly full of the playful malice she knew him for.

"Excuse you?" she replied, leaning back as far as she could.

"Wrong answer."

Sheja held her arms around herself as they walked back down to Twyn's home. She dressed herself in a comfy sweater and a pair of black leggings, secretly fuming that their jackets got left behind when she got forcefully carried out of Twyn's place atop his shoulder. Outside of that, her mind wandered as they walked side by side and she jumped when Twyn spoke to her.

"You okay?" he asked softly. Seeing her jump caused him to frown and he stopped, gently taking her arm and forcing her to stop a moment as well. "Sheja?"

She looked up at him briefly before nodding. "Just cold."

"Cold wouldn't have made you jump like you did," he admitted. He laid his hand gently on her cheek, cupping his fingers around to her ear. Even though her cheeks were flushed from the winter weather, her skin had a tinge of cold to it. "You're panicking," he said softly, almost sadly.

"I am not," she said, turning her face away from his hand. She was, but she didn't want to make Twyn feel even more guilty for her own unpreparedness.

"Don't you ever lie to me, Sheja," he said a little more harshly, his tone causing her to look up at him again. He stared at her with seriousness as he placed his hands on her arms and gripped her tightly to hold her attention. "I don't deserve lies from you."