19. The Hurt
The sun was warm and relaxing on her shoulders. Trees nearby shook their leaves at her in agreement. She smiled, oddly happy.
She suddenly turned the corner and spotted Brecc, seemingly standing in the middle of nowhere and staring off into the distance.
"Brecc?" she called to him uncertainly.
Brecc jerked in surprise and then turned around to glance at her. "Yes?" He ran a distracted hand through his hair and then turned back to glance into the distance again.
She strode around him until she stood before him. "Brecc? Is something wrong?" she asked tentatively. She fiddled absently with a thorn on her staff.
"Wrong? No, why would anything be wrong?" But Brecc still didn't look down at her.
"Brecc?" She glanced up at him, perplexed. What was wrong with him? As she watched, he suddenly became tense, and she heard his breath catch in his throat. "Brecc?" she said again. She glanced over her shoulder, wondering what it was that had captivated Brecc.
And then she saw them.
She didn't even realize that she had stalked over to them until she was merely feet from the couple. Brecc finally noticed her, and tried to keep her back. "What is going on here?" she demanded incredulously.
Miri and Evin jumped away from one another.
"Thorn!" Miri gasped, cheeks flushing a bright red.
But Thorn wasn't glancing at Miri. And saying that she was glancing at Evin wouldn't exactly be true either. She wasn't just glancing at Evin; she was glaring at him.
Evin opened his mouth as if to speak, but not words came out.
She stared at him, still half in disbelief. Great emotion coursed through her body. She wanted to scream. She wanted to hurt somebody. She wanted to cry.
Evin seemed to realize this and his eyes widened. "Thorn…" he said as he started to reach for her.
Thorn jerked away from him, nearly knocking down Brecc, who had come to stand behind her.
Brecc was staring over Thorn's shoulder at Miri. There was such a look of hurt and pain on his face that Thorn immediately felt sympathetic. She wasn't the only hurting here.
Poor Brecc, she thought. He's in love with her…
She suddenly reached up and placed her hand on Brecc's cheek. He looked down at her in surprise. In that moment, their gazes met, and a look of complete understanding passed between the two. They understood each other's pain. She gave him a wobbly smile before turning away.
She glared at both Evin and Miri this time. Then she shrugged. "Let's go, Brecc." she put a hand on Brecc's arm and started leading him away.
"Wait." Evin's arm came down on her shoulder and he stepped in front of her.
She tossed him an annoyed look. "What." she said flatly.
He raked a hand through his blonde hair. "That wasn't what it seemed like."
"Sure it wasn't." she said skeptically.
"It wasn't." he said firmly. "I was standing around, waiting for you when--"
Thorn just laughed. "Right. You were just standing around when she ran up and kissed you?"
He flinched. "As a matter of fact--"
"Evin, just stop." she interrupted again. "I don't want to hear any excuses. If you wanted to be with Miri, you should have told me out flat." She felt like a fool for being misled.
"I don't want to be with Miri." he replied tersely. "I want to be with you."
"You sure have a strange way of showing that." she said.
"I already told you, that wasn't what it seemed. I didn't initiate that--"
"And I already told you! I don't want to hear any excuses!"
"Thorn, please don't do this." he said in a low voice. "Don't make this mistake."
Her temper flashed. "Who says this is a mistake?" she challenged.
"You should at least hear me out." He was also starting to get angry.
"But I don't want to hear it."
"Thorn--"
"It doesn't matter, Evin. It doesn't matter." she said as she shook her head.
"Of course it matters." he said in frustration.
"It doesn't. Because, I realize now, that I can't care less about who you want to be with." She glanced up at him so that she could stare at him in the eye. "You can kiss whoever you want. I don't care. You don't mean as much to me as I thought." She gave a careless shrug.
For a moment, he looked so lost and confused that she wanted to reach out and comfort him. But she restrained herself. He had hurt her, and she had learned her lesson.
"You can kiss whoever you want, Evin. Don't worry about me." she said unfeelingly.
Miri suddenly stepped up. Thorn had practically forgotten that she was there. "Thorn, I--"
"I said I didn't want to hear excuses." she snapped.
Miri took a step back, as if afraid that Thorn would suddenly react to her violently. She had a distressed look on her face. Thorn immediately felt bad for her.
Miri glanced around at everyone's somber faces. She stopped at Evin's. Then she mumbled something beneath her breath and then literally ran away.
Brecc took a step forward as if to run after her, but then came to an abrupt stop. "What did she say?" he asked Evin quietly.
Evin glanced at Brecc distractedly. "She said, 'I'm sorry.'"
~~~~~~~~
Evin watched as Thorn led Brecc away from him. He clenched his fists in anger and frustration.
He wanted to blame Miri, but couldn't find it in himself to. He had known her too long for him to be so suddenly angry with her. Besides, he had always had an inkling that Miri had liked him for more than a friend. He hadn't been sure, but he had had an inkling. He should have cleared that up with her. Damn.
You can kiss whoever you want. I don't care. You don't mean as much to me as I thought
When she had said that, it had felt as if someone had wrapped their hand around his heart and squeezed. If she had been angry because of jealously, he would have been less hurt and worried. Because he could work with jealously. He could work with that, eventually get her to forgive him. Because even with her jealously, he would have known that she still cared. As long as she still cared, he could, sooner or later, get her to forgive him. But how could he work with the fact that she no longer cared about him? Sure, he could get her forgiveness, but if she didn't care about him any longer, why did it matter?
And that in itself was strange too. Because it did matter. She mattered. She was unlike any other woman he had ever known. At first he had thought it was a silly infatuation. He had thought that it was the thrill of the chase that made him want her. He had assumed that, once he had finally gotten her, he would have gotten bored.
How wrong he was.
She had been his for the last several days. And strangely enough, he wanted it to stay that way.
He stared down at the ground and suddenly spotted the red apple that he had been about to eat before Miri had called to him. He didn't remember dropping it, but he must have dropped it when Miri had kissed him.
As he stared at the red apple, he was suddenly struck with a sudden thought and he cursed himself for his stupidity.
He straightened and pulled something out of his sleeve. A crystal. That at the moment, was shining a dark, dark black color. When he saw the color, he breathed a sigh of relief.
It was his truth crystal. He had gotten it awhile ago at a pricey amount. But at the moment, he was glad he had it. Because when someone lied in its presence, its color changed from clear to a shadowy black. The black that it was glowing right now.
A.N. - well, there's chapter 19. And on a sidenote, I did not make up Evin's crystal. The crystal came from Tamora Pierce's imagination, not mine. Toward the beginning of Kel's 3rd book Squire, there is a segment where someone is being questioned. Evin is there, and after the questioning is done, he pulls out the crystal. He explains how useful it is to have around, even though he had to pay a great amount for it. the others teased him about how he only bought it so that he would know whether the ladies he courted were married or not.
~Krizsta
P.S. - to the reviewer who asked about Thorn's name: the name thing will be mentioned in a later chapter. It is a good question tho, one I would have asked if I was a reviewer for my story. However, I don't want to really mention it now and then end up being repetitive about it later.
