The Other Side - A Jamilton Fanfiction

Chapter Thirty

"I guess?"

Thomas laughed. "I love the human thing of naming stars. It's so sweet."

"You know the human names for stars? Why?"

"You know I waited four hundred years for you? I had to do something. Anyway, if you really wanna find out, I guess I could try and see what it says." He closed his eyes and stood up straight. Minutes passed of nothing before he finally let out a long breath and relaxed once more.

"Well?" I prompted.

He shook his head and took a few steps back to sit on the couch. "Like I said, fortune cookie."

"What did it say?"

"'Something in your life is sure to change soon'. How useless, right? Don't tell me what's going to change, just that it is." He pulled his legs closer to his body and patted the space next to him.

I complied with his invitation and joined him. I leaned back. The tranquility of the night washed over me.

"Does it take a lot of energy?"

"Yeah, and it's never worth it." Thomas bit down on his lip and grabbed the throw pillow that was to his side. I found it cute how he played with it.

After a moment, I decided to talk to him about something that had been on my mind quite frequently in the past few months. "How much do you know about sirens?"

"Well, I mean, there's not much to know about them. They're a form of Tenebrie that show you what you want most in the world. It's not always a person, as you know."

Confused for a second before remembering my lie, I nodded.

"And if it is a person, it's not always a romantic interest thing. Like if you saw a friend who was dead, it could be them coming back to life."

I held my breath as I considered. Part of me hoped that it was as he said, not a romantic interest thing. But then I glanced at Thomas's soft smiled expression that he had whenever he was explaining something that mattered to him and the thought was quickly chased away.

"But they're nothing more than illusionists trying to bait and trap you so they can drag you away and eat you. I'm really proud of you for not falling for it. I don't know if I'd be able to resist it."

"Mind if I ask you what you would have seen?"

Thomas's expression turned dark, and he quickly looked elsewhere. "I don't know. My father or something? It isn't important."

"I'm sorry," I said softly, drawing away from him slightly. I felt like I had overstepped a boundary that wasn't clearly etched in the sand.

The look vanished and Thomas grinned. "Hey! No, don't worry about it!"

I dropped my gaze to the couch. "What happened to him? Your father?"

"King George killed him. He says he was trying to kill my mother, but that doesn't really make it any better, does it?"

"How?"

"He poisoned my father's water. We were at a dinner together, you know? Because of the whole... betrothed thing?" He did not say it too fondly. "And well, that's really it. I joined the rebellion and yeah. It's really a selfish reason though. I guess that's one of the things I always secretly admired about you? Some people always criticized you, saying that the only reason you ever fought was because you saw it as a chance to gain an advantage, but I silently disagreed with them."

I bit down on my lip.

"I always thought that you joined because you believed in it. And you... died for it in a way. You always kinda proved people wrong. That someone who came from nothing could be someone great."