"Eowyn wake up!" She hissed for what felt like the thousandth's time already, picking up a feathered pillow and throwing it at the sleeping figure on the nearby bed.
A muffled collection of unintelligible words of protest left her friends mouths, who only rolled over ungracefully, golden tangles disappearing underneath the covers. Shaking her head in partial annoyance, Sigrid hurriedly hopped on her left foot while attempting to at the same time to tie her right shoe, curls bouncing in front of her eyes.
"Eowyn I mean it!" She hissed again, nearly losing her balance not turning to look as her hand gripped the dark red covers of her friend's bed and gave it a yank. "We are already late!"
Moe unintelligible words of protest followed, but at least this time her friend did sit up heavily on the bed, groaning in displeasure. But Sigrid was no longer looking, her hands quickly busy once more attempting to throw all of her books and parchments and quills into her already too full backpack. She heard something shatter inside, like glass, her eyes growing wide at the black spread speedily blooming on her backpack's bottom.
"Merlin!" She hissed, her hands already pulling everything out, books, and quills, and parchments, and socks? Why did she even keep socks in her backpack? "Merlin, Merlin, Merlin, Merlin."
"My essay!" She whined, pulling at one of her golden curls in frustration, trying to shake away the black smear of ink that now covered nearly half of her pristinely finished two rolls of parchment. Oh Merlin curse that stupid flask of ink that had to shatter precisely just now!
"Merlin!" It was Eowyn's turn to suddenly exclaim beside her, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and hurrying towards her trunk. "We are late, Sig! Why did you not wake me?!"
Sigrid fought hard not to roll her eyes in annoyance, throwing nearly deathly glare at her friend who was now elbow deep inside her trunk, pulling out a set of uniforms and her long black school robe.
"We are late, we are sooooo late." Ewoyn was nearly chanting, slinging once as her socks slipped on the polished stone floor on her way to her to the showers, crossing the neatly made beds of Saturna and Eddelina, who no doubt were already downstairs in the Great Hall having breakfast with the rest of the school.
"Snape is going to kill me." She muttered to herself just as the door to the bathroom shut close. Yes, that was it. She was dead. She was going to get detention. Or fail. Yes. She would fail this essay, there was no way Snape was going to even attempt to read it as soon as he saw the smear. "Oh, I'm dead. I'll fail this time for sure."
And still she could not help the burst of anger that flowed inside her as she carelessly pushed her now ruined essay inside her bag once more, muttering a single spell to at least dry the flowing ink and prevent it from staining anything else. It was barely the first day back at school after the Christmas Holidays and Snape was already expecting them to hand in an essay, which they had been forced to work on during the break! Who leaves work during Christmas break!?
She let out frustrated sigh, collecting her hair with her fingers and pulling it back in a ponytail. Snow twirled down the grounds outside the frosted windowpanes, the forest looking like a pristine white blanket from above, the sky an even mantel of pale gray.
"Eowyn, move it!" She knocked on the bathroom's heavy wooden door, just as she finished tying her red and gold scarf tightly around her neck. Her friend nearly ran her over with the door, which swing open so suddenly she had to take a jump backward in order not to have it slammed in her face.
"I'm ready, let's go." Eowyn panted, still sliding her arms inside her long black robes while at the same time swinging her backpack over her left shoulder, red and gold scarf hanging haphazardly from it and dragging over the polished stone floor.
The descended the steps nearly three at a time, running through the grand Common Room which, to her further chagrin was also completely empty. And then they clambered through the portrait hole, trying to ignore the disapproving tsk of the tongue that the Fat Lady gave them, muttering a "Why is it always the two of you?"
She didn't know how long it took them but she was nearly out of breath once they finally reached the Great Hall. And thank Merlin it was still full! At least that allowed her to let out the breath she had been holding. Or had not been able to catch yet? She could not tell. Still she was once again disappointed to find that nearly all of the food was gone from the large gold and silver trays lignin the center of the long Gryffindor table.
"You woke up!" Elrohir's cheerful voice greeted them, his smirk mirroring that of this twin brother sitting to his right side. To her further annoyance she found that both of the twins looked perfectly put together, their robes tied neatly, scarves around their necks, even their long silky dark hair seemed decent and brushed. Of course they had woken up in time to look presentable, unlike her who looked as though she had barely had time to shower. But then again she had barely had time to shower. "We were beginning to think you would skip today."
"Skip?" One of Eowyn's golden eyebrows rose high on her pale forehead, dropping herself on the seat right in front of the younger twin, and Sigrid followed her example, to her friend's right. "I don't think anyone would have the guts to skip Snape's class, especially right after the break."
"I bet there are some who would." Elladan muttered, throwing a meaningful glance a Slytherin table at the other end of the hall.
She glanced behind her, watching as Eowyn mirrored her from the corner of her eye, but he was not there. A bunch of students, all of different years, sat merrily at the long table at the opposite end of the hall, huddled in groups either talking or helping themselves to whatever was left on the long silver trays lining the polished wood surface.
She let out a sigh, not knowing whether she was disappointed or relieved not to find him there. Not even Legolas was there. She had not seen him since their last encounter on the train, only the day before, and his words still stung deep inside her, like salt over a wound. No, it was definitely not disappointment what she felt. It was anger. She did not want to see him.
But she was there, sitting near one end of the table surrounded by a group of five girls who were almost as annoyingly gorgeous a she was. But none of the girls had her almost perfect locks of midnight hair, like a curtain of fine silk framing perfect rosy high cheekbones on a pale flawless face. Merlin, she could never look like that no matter how much she tired or how many spells she used. Alexis Sonnet. Sonnet. A rich family. An old family. Practically wizarding royalty as well. And yet she had not even noticed the girl even existed until the school year started, until she started noticing him. Lex, he had called her. A shortened name. And she could not even comprehend why it bothered her so much to even think of that.
"Well, the rest of us commoners would not dare to skip Snape's first class after the break." Eowyn continued lightly, turning around to face the twins once more, and she did the same, forcing her face to remain unbothered, as if nothing in particular had just crossed her mind.
"Can I copy your essay, Sig?" Elrohir's gleaming silver eyes looked at her teasingly, taking a bite of the last piece of toast in his plate.
"No." She threw him a pointed look, narrowing his eyes and nearly laughing at his too direct request. Could he not even pretend that he would not copy her entire work?
"Come on!" He pleaded, receiving a smack on the shoulder from his tiwn.
"I told you I was almost certain we had an essay to write, but you could not listen to me." Elladan scolded his exact replica, his hand reaching for the forgotten toast on his twin's plate and stuffing what was left of it inside his mouth.
"Sigrid's essay will be of no use at all to you anyway." Eowyn added, trying and failing to hold back a smirk. "She accidentally ruined it this morning."
"No way." Elladan looked skeptical now, and she almost wanted to cry as she pulled out her not unreadable collection of pages smeared in ink.
"Someone's about to be in trouble."
"Thank you for so kindly reminding me of that." She glared fiercely at the younger twin. "At least now I know that I will not be the only receiving detention since you did not write yours."
Elrohir opened his mouth to rebuke but he never got to speak for a that precise moment McGonagall came rushing through the long tables in her dark gray robes and menacing stance, urging every single student still left inside the Great Hall to hurry to their first lesson. And so they found themselves joining the sulking crowd in black school robes out of the large pair of wooden doors.
"See you later Sig!" Her friends waved at her as they reached the enormous Entrance Hall, and she waved back, wishing them good luck as they clambered out towards the frozen grounds on their way to flying lesson.
Of course they would argue otherwise, but nonetheless Sigrid considered the three of them insane for willingly taking flying lessons. No. That was definitely not for her. Only thinking about the height made her shudder. And instead, she found herself following a bunch of tall Ravenclaw girls up a twirling stone staircase and towards her first lesson of the day: Muggle Studies. Why was she even taking this?
Someone slammed at her from behind, nearly knocking her over, abruptly waking her form her thoughts and making her drop her backpack which had been precariously hanging only from her right shoulder.
"I'm sorry. Didn't mean to." A blond Ravenclaw girl, probably a first year judging by her looks, quickly apologized to her, brushing a messy strand of her blond bangs from her eyes. "I didn't see you, my bad, I'm really late for class, so sorry."
The girl's cheeks were blushed red, and she looked as though she had been running through the castle for Merlin know how long. Probably lost. Definitely a first year. She opened her mouth to speak, but the girl did not even give her a chance, already running off through the long stone corridor and only Merlin know where she was headed.
Shaking her head, she reached down for her bag on the floor, cursing inwardly as she saw a puddle of black ink starting to blossom once more at the bottom. She needed to stop throwing those fragile glass flasks so carelessly inside.
"Bowman."
She nearly dropped the bag again, only managing to catch it at the last minute and swinging it over her shoulder before facing the voice. That voice. She turned around, her eyes finding him almost immediately, at the corner of an adjacent corridor to the left, standing tall, regal. And she was once again reminded of how handsome he was, with his long silver hair falling like a flawless waterfall over his black school robes, lined in Slytherin green, an equally emerald and silver scarf tightly wrapped around his neck.
Ice blue eyes were looking directly at hers, his gaze always so consuming, powerful and at the same time unreadable, an endless frozen ocean, pale as a glacier staring straight at her. And now that she thought of it, she was sure she had never seen eyes of quite that color before.
"Do you need help with that?" Thranduil Lasgalen used his left hand to gesture towards her bag, which she almost dropped a third time time, and she did not fail to notice the bandages lingering there. A pang of worry assaulted her stomach, but she ignored it. She could not be worried. She was angry. Merlin she was so angry with him.
He had not moved, standing there only a couple of steps away from her yet not coming closer, his face as unreadable as his piercing eyes, and for a second she wondered if he could feel the hostility emanating from her. Why was he here? And attempting to make conversation as thought nothing had happened?!
"I've got it, thanks." She replied coldly, watching him nod his head once in return, those guarded icy eyes never leaving hers.
"Can we talk?" His voice had lowered somewhat, the tone changing. Even his eyes, those piercing stunning ice blue eyes became softer somehow, his face less guarded, but still he did not move, as if perfectly reading that she did not want him any closer.
"I'm already late for class. Besides I would not want to waste your time." She answered in a cutting tone, too angry, too hurt to even want to look at him, even though a part of her wanted to take her words back the second his face fell.
She turned around, not even throwing another glance at him, walking away down the long corridor and following the slow march of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw fourth-years that now disappeared into a wide familiar classroom. It was as if something inside her had snapped, and she could not pay attention to her surroundings, not even as Eddelina and Saturna took the seats directly to her left at the back of the classroom, both of the girls already gossiping about something.
"Hey Sigrid." Eddelina waved at her warmly, but she was not sure whether or not she managed to return the gesture, only taking her heavy tome once the Professor instructed, a short and way too skinny witch with a long pointed nose that reminded her of a toucan.
"Sigrid." Saturna leaned in to her left just as the witch continued to recite the book in front of them nearly word by word.
"You're going to tell her?" A Ravenclaw girl with dull grey eyes and short dark brown curls whispered in Saturna's direction almost immediately, not even attempting to hide the disapproving look form her face. "She's going to give it away and then everyone will be caught."
"Oh, shut up, Daphne, she won't." Saturna shrugged off the Ravenclaw girl's words, who only rolled her eyes in annoyance but did not say anything else, continuing to scribble in elegant letters over her long piece of parchment.
"Give away what?" She whispered to Saturna, glancing once at the front only to make sure that the Professor was indeed not paying any attention to them.
"Shh, listen." Saturna's eyes were nearly gleaming as she spoke, and she was sure she did not need the fellow Gryffindor to say another to know that whatever it was it probably meant trouble. "Tonight, after midnight, by the lake. Tell Eowyn and the twins too. I think the whole school will be there."
"Is that not against the rules?" She could not help asking, gaining an exaggerated roll of the eyes from Saturna's part.
"Told you she would not be up to it. She'll tell on everyone." The girl, Iris, commented, not once lifting her eyes from the page in front of her. She did not really now the girl but suddenly anted to grab a fistful of her short curls and pull at them as harshly as she could.
"No, I will not." She nearly hissed in return, throwing the Ravenclaw girl a menacing glare she did not meet before returning to look at Saturna.
"I know you won't." Sturna added lightly, shrugging her shoulders and looking as though she could not wait for midnight to arrive.
"But why at the lake by midnight? What's happening?" She could not contain her question, quickly pretending to be coughing silently into her fist as the Professor's beady eyes glanced suspiciously in her direction above her long pointed nose.
"The sixth years are swimming in the lake." Saturna's words were so fast she had to pay special attention to understand her. "I don't know who started it, but I heard it was a Hufflepuff boy, and no its turned into a challenge."
The rest of the day passed in a blur, homework piling up at an alarming rate as nearly every single Professor seemed eager to make them work double after the break. The voice had quickly spread through lunch and after, and by midafternoon nearly every student was whispering in groups through the hallways and between classes of the particular challenge that was to take place that night. It was wonder that the voice had no yet reached any of the Professors. Or perhaps it already had.
"And what are they going to do, Sig?" Eowyn had rolled her eyes at her during lunch, once she had made the mistake of asking whether they would get in trouble for attending. "Give the whole school detention?"
"That will be a fun detention." Elladan had smirked, and she had dropped the subject. Perhaps the twins an Eowyn were right. By the looks of it nearly the whole school was attending, and perhaps it would even be fun. She needed something fun to think of anyway.
And so she found herself descending the dreaded steps in a gloomy march towards the cold and humid dungeons of the castle. A low murmur filled the dim classroom as she entered, the clinking and thudding od cauldrons and books being lazily placed on the wooden tables bouncing off the mold-covered stone walls.
Silently, she made her way to her preferred table, dropping her bag on the floor, not caring how many more flasks of ink she smashed in the process, and pulling back the wooden stool which screeched in protest against the cold stone floor. Out of the corner of her eyes she could still see the twins and Eowyn whispering un a hurry no doubt about the event that was to take place that night, her blond friend even sitting over twin's table in an effort to prolong the conversation as much as she could, still waiting for Snape to arrive. Slowly, painfully slowly, she pulled her ruined essay from her bag, trying to straighten
The stool next to hers as suddenly pulled back, making her jump slightly in surprise. She turned around, expecting to see Ewoyn finally claiming her seat but any words she had thought of died in her throat as she noticed that long waterfall of silver hair and pristine emerald and white scarf.
"What are you doing?" She hissed, glaring at him as he slowly lowered himself on the stool next to hers, carefully pulling out his book, quills, and parchments from his own bag. She threw a quick glance at Eowyn behind her back, exchanging a confused look with her friend who was eyeing the elder Lasgalen brother warily from the twin's table.
Thranduil did not answer her question, merely patiently aligning his quills in a perfect line next to his copy of Advanced Potion Making. And yet there was something different about his stance, less majestic, less arrogant? Icy blue eyes, a vast winter sea turned in her direction, and once again she found that she could not look away.
"Bowman-" He started. His voice, that deep musical voice was somehow low, lacking its usual authority, almost like a question, hesitant. But she shook her head, not letting him even complete whatever it was he was going to say, rage starting to burn through her veins once more.
"That seat is taken." She bit out harshly, feeling another wave of fury at herself for feeling that painful pang of guilt and regret at the way in which those ever guarded, ever impenetrable icy eyes fell somehow.
"Will you list-
"I don't have anything else to hear from you. You said enough yesterday." She cut him off, her stomach knotting as his mouth opened and closed once more, ice blue eyes turning down momentarily to look at his own essay resting on the desk.
"You will fail with that essay, you know that right?" He tried again, pointing at the too obvious smear of ink staining nearly half of her parchment, his face still remaining patient, acting as if she had not just been very clear that she did not want him near her. But what was he doing? Why did he even keep trying to make conversation?
"Well, there is nothing I can do." She snapped, refusing to meet his eyes, refusing to look at her, and for a long second he remained silent again, as if waiting for her to say something else, anything else.
"Bowman…" He sighed, and she could feel his eyes, those powerful eyes that seemed to call at her like magnets looking at her, almost pleading her to meet his gaze, to look in his direction. She curled her fingers into fists, nearly ripping the edge of her already ruined essay in the process.
"I said I do not want to talk with you." She hissed again, turning around to glare at him, unforgiving. But how could she not? Her insides still hurt, her stomach still twisted around sourly at the words that he had so harshly let out the day before. She could not even stand to look at him.
"Will you hear me ou-
"Go away." She nearly spat, once more managing to ignore that same pang of familiar regret that coursed through her as he imperceptibly flinched at her words.
She watched him swallow, mouth closing in a thin line as his face, that handsome perfectly angled face turned once more to the front, once again a perfect mask of serenity, letting nothing through. And then, contrary to anything she had expected, contrary to any behavior she might have expected from his part, his slender fingers carefully picked up all the perfectly aligned quills and flasks of ink into his hands, stuffing them neatly once more into his bag. It was her turn to flinch involuntarily as she heard the distinct, almost deaf sound of something clinking inside his bag, and the vivid image of those hundreds of tiny flasks filled with the pale green potion flashed once more inside her mind, just as she had seen them the day before.
"Here." He muttered underneath his breath, sliding a handful of parchments in her direction and whispering something too quick and quiet with a wave of his wand for her too hear. "You may as well not fail."
And with that he swung his backpack over his shoulder and walked away, silver hair brushing the back of his black school robes, making his way tall and imposing through the crowd of Slytherin students huddled towards the front of classroom. She watched his back, noticing him sit down in complete silence at a table to one corner of the dungeon, in the front row, the Slytherin girl with a head full of brown curls next to him blushing bright red and looking as though she considered herself the luckiest girl in the class. No doubt she would flirting the entire lesson.
"What was that about?" Her friend's voice suddenly chimed to her right, the chair that Lasgalen had only seconds ago occupied now being pulled back quickly, Eowyn claiming her seat in a heap. But of course she knew her friend's ever watchful eyes would have been scrutinizing the interaction.
"I was saving your seat. Told him the spot was taken." She shrugged, pretending that it was just a normal occurrence, nothing even worth talking about, trying with all of her strength of ignore the way in which Eowyn's bewildered eyes rolled at her words.
Instead, her own eyes travelled down, inspecting for the first time the collection neatly arrange parchments that he had discreetly slid in her direction, when nobody noticed. She could see the letters changing, his perfect slanted calligraphy suddenly mutating into a horrid ungraceful curly scribble that she guessed resembled hers, even though it did not look exactly the same.
It was an essay. She read the tittle, even the first couple of paragraphs, if only to make sure. But there was nothing make sure of. It most definitely was an essay. The essay they were supposed to hand in in this very same class. And it was perfect, flawless. She could have never written this, not this well. She swallowed once, unsure of how she felt and hating that horrid pang of guilt and regret that suddenly pooled inside her stomach uncomfortably. It was his essay; he had handed it to her for her to submit.
"So, you're still planning on coming tonight, right?" Eowyn muttered excitedly from her right, pulling out her long heavy tome from her bag and dropping it loudly on the table, making a cloud of dust fly in the air.
She opened her mouth to reply, but did not get a chance, the heavy wooden door of the dungeon suddenly banging open, Snape walking in with his black robes swirling around him like giant bat wings. In a split second, the hum dimly lit classroom had become deadly quiet, the Gryffindors' faces dropping miserably while the Slytherin's looked just ready to begin, evil smirks appearing in a couple of faces.
"Essays on your tables." Snape's cold voice languidly dragged over the stuffy air, coal black eyes sweeping from desk to desk as he folded his arms at the front of the classroom.
There was a small collective shuffle of papers and bags being opened and closed, along with a couple of low whines and complaining mutters from students who had so obviously forgotten they even had an assignment during the Christmas Holidays. There was no chance Snape would be forgiving.
One by one, the Head of Slytherin House collected the essays, moving slowly from desk to desk, taking his time to glance coldly at every single student in the process and she watched as a few of them even trembled a little.
"The Peredhel twins." Snape's face curved up in a disgusted pleased smile, his tall shadow-like figure standing just before the table the brother's shared, eyes piercing maliciously from one to the other. "No essays that I see…..Do you have an excuse or could you simply not remember to be responsible?"
Professor Snape's question was met with silence, identical pairs of silver eyes looking firmly down at the wooden table, both of the twins seeming to be biting their tongues in order to not reply and get in even further trouble.
"Shame." Snape sneered with so much satisfaction that it nearly made her skin crawl. "Detention both of you, this Friday after class, and you will not get another change to submit this essay, which means you have failed it."
She saw the twins face look up suddenly at those words, even though Snape had already turned around, moving pas them to collect Eddelina and Saturna's essays, both identical faces seeming to be burning with rage, but did somehow succeed in staying quiet. She moved quickly, making sure not to make sound, placing Lasgalen's neat essay inside her bag. She could not hand it in as her own.
"Bowman?" She felt Snape's cold breath on the back of her neck, like a predator smelling fear. She swallowed, looking up into unforgiving black eyes. "You expect me to accept that?"
A pale greyish hand motioned to the stained essay she still had over her table, almost unreadable.
"It was an accident." She attempted, hating how her voice sounded so little.
"Shame." Snape's words were as cold as his eyes, dragging languidly as he spoke. He felt no shame at all. "But I do not accept excuses. Detention for you as well. Friday."
She lowered her head, biting the insides on her cheeks. It was not fair. But then again life was never really fair. Instead, she watched as Snape almost reluctantly accepted Eowyn's essay, and continued to move across the room.
"Lasgalen?"
Her eyes flew up, only to find the bat-like figure towering just over the pale Slytherin Seeker, black eyes for once not delighted but surprised. She knew what Snape was seeing, she did not need to stretch her neck or sit at the edge of her seat like so many were doing around her.
"No essay?" It was almost as though Snape was expecting his star student to suddenly pull it out of his bag, having forgotten he had it in the first place. But Lasgalen would not be pulling anything out of his bag. His essay, which she was sure would have gotten him a perfect score, was haphazardly tucked inside her own school bag.
Should she do something? Should she pull it out a pretend to have found it one the floor, that he had dropped it as he entered the dungeon? Would Snape believe her?
"No, sir." Thranduil answered before she could make up her mind, blank eye shifting up to meet the Professor's disappointed ones.
"I am certain you have a good excuse?" Snape attempted, and she could hear the displeased muttering starting to travel from student to student. The Professor had not allowed anyone else an excuse.
"Silence!"
And the dungeon was deadly quiet once more, the students all sitting perfectly straight, heads looking down, others turning their lips into scowls. And yet for once the unfairness did not bother her. For the first time she now understood that Snape was not being unfair to the others, but trying to be fair with Lasgalen. If there was anyone who would normally have a good excuse for not turning up an assignment it would be him.
"No, sir." The Slytherin Seeker, and this time she knew the Professor had no other option.
"Detention for you as well, Mr. Lasgalen." Snape muttered, eyes looking strangely disappointed. "You will work in pairs for today lesson. Open your book on page 407."
There was rustling of pages and an overall collection of badly suppressed whines, as the students all gathered and attempted to understand and procure the particularly complicated potion of the day. She proved to be a poor partner that day, but she could not have cared less. She was aware that she missed a couple of steps due to her distracted mind, and that once their cauldron was really close to bursting into flames because she had forgotten to stir it as indicated. Yet Eowyn only gave her puzzled and annoyed looks, but did not actually tell her off. Eowyn was too excited about the gathering that night for anything to sour her mood.
The lesson could not have ended soon enough, and mercifully she found herself placing the little flask with their sickly pink potion- it was supposed to be clear silver- on Snape's table, with the other student's samples, and returned to her desk to collect all of her scattered items. Eowyn had already everything packed, her back hanging gracefully over her shoulder, already whispering something to the twins.
"You coming?" Her friend beckoned her, but she shook her head, placing a stay lock of her blond hair over her ear.
"I'll meet you after. I want to check something." She lied, but thankfully her friend did not protest, exiting through the heavy door with the crown of scurrying students.
She waited for a minute, watching Eowyn and the twins disappear up the stairs before exiting the classroom as well. Except she did not continue up the stairs, but waited there, by the door. He came out a couple of minutes later, always being last.
"Hand it to Snape." She jumped in front of him, visibly startling him, her hand pressing the perfect essay to his chest forcefully. He took the wrinkling pages in his slender right hand's fingers, but made no move to return to the classroom. Instead those piercing ice blue eyes fixed her in place.
"You did not hand it in." He stated.
"I did not ask for your help." She hissed at him, but once again he seemed entirely unaffected by her anger.
"That was stupid, you know?" If only he looked slightly annoyed at her choice, his hands stuffing the essay back on his bag. "You could have gotten a good mark, and instead you chose to fail."
"Well, you chose to fail as well." She countered, hating how his eyes made her feel so exposed.
"It does not matter whether or not I fail, Bowman." He almost laughed, a humorless half chuckle dryly leaving his mouth.
"No." Fire burned through her veins once more, and she was sure that if looks could kill he would drop dead right there. "Don't start that again. Don't pretend nothing matters. I know it does matter to you. So hand that in."
She turned on her heels, her nostril's flaring, and yet she found finger's suddenly curling softly over her right wrist, stopping her from leaving.
"Bowman…" He pleaded, but she brusquely shook her hand free. He let go immediately, holding up his hands in surrender. "Can we talk now?"
"I thought I made it clear that I do not wish to talk to you ever again." She spat, wincing inwardly at the venom she could hear in her own voice. If she had hurt him, she could not tell, his face revealed nothing.
Instead she turned around once more, starting her march up the wide stone steps in a hurry, eager to leave him behind.
"I'm sorry!" She could hear him calling out after her, but she ignored him, and he did not follow her.
It's been years I think, but I finally managed to update this story! I hope you enjoy this new chapter!
Love,
Elena