Gentle Green

Chapter Twelve

"Did Mama not tell you?"

"She offered," he said, leaning forward, "but I told her that I preferred hearing the truth from you."

His decision to respect her and let her explain everything in her own words touched Sua.

So for the next several minutes, Sua told him about how her father had bargained for her mother's freedom and ownership of Tamisna Inn through a duel. How her mother had given her soul to Binasa in exchange for her beau's victory. How that had resulted in a sickness that got worse over time, as well as her own decision to try to reclaim her mother's soul.

As she relayed her tale, Gin's face grew paler and paler.

"How could you do that?" he asked after she was through. By now, his hands were clutching the side of her bed. "All this time, you were getting beat up by that... that monster? All for his sick entertainment?"

"It was for my mother," she defended. "I didn't think Binasa would even offer the bargain at first, but that's what happened. And I accepted, much to Mama's dismay."

Gin hunched over and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"At least you didn't offer to take your mother's place," he said. "That would have been worse."

Sua ducked her head as the stipulation in her bargain with Binasa—which she hadn't even told her mother—came to mind.

"Actually," she took a deep breath, then released it, "I did throw my own soul into the deal."

"YOU WHAT?!"

"But only after he'd used up my mother's soul!" she added, even though that didn't make her foolish decision from back then any better. "If I couldn't beat him before my mother's soul vanished, he could take mine too."

"Which would give him the chance to entice your younger sister too, once she's old enough!" Gin raked his hands over his hair. His gaze, clouded with frustration, landed on her. "Do you have any idea what you've done?! You put yourself and the rest of your family in danger!"

"Oh, and were we not in danger before then?" she replied, even though talking to him for this long was starting to hurt. "He approached my sister at the fair before he even knew what you were. He was killing my mother from afar! He still is!"

"And he was going to kill you too! All because you jumped right into his trap!"

"Because I love my mother enough to try to save her life!" Sua clenched her fist and pounded it against her soft mattress. Only to regret the action when that caused her shoulder to burn.

Gin saw her wince.

"Enough already." He caught her wrist and gently pinned it down against the sheets. "You're not doing anyone any favors by hurting yourself, Sua."

"If you've ever loved someone before, you'd know why I did it!" she said, ignoring his warning. She could feel her tears coming on as she continued to speak. "But you haven't, have you? You're so used to having people fawn all over you that you've never even tried earning someone's love."

This seemed to take Gin aback. The man retreated, and his jaw tightened as he took a deep breath. He inhaled once, then twice, and let the air out through his nose.

"Hard as it might be for you to believe, Sua, I have loved someone before," he said. "Although I didn't know it back then. And it's something I've regretted ever since."

His confession threw Sua off. And in the following silence, she realized how judgmental she had been. She had lost her temper and hurt someone who was only trying to look out for her.