“Of course, I care. But she did this to herself, Pandora. I’m angry withher.”
“Why did she have to do that? Do you think… she really knew something about me? The soothsayer said so, too.” I bite at the inside of my lip, fingers twisting. “Thetouch of ruin,” I quote.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” I ask hoarsely.
“Look for new reasons to hate yourself.”
“I’m not…” I argue.
“You’re so intent on believing the worst that your magic has literally become a method of self-destruction.”
“I have no control over it,” I snap, temper rising.
“I know you’re not doing it consciously, but…look, Delyah always had odd beliefs and convictions. My Mother’s line did have a penchant for foresight but people get way too caught up in what they believe in that stuff. What they believe is going to happen. They’re rarely ever right. It’s always open to a million different interpretations. It’s something Delyah and my mother went round and round about, actually.”
I pick at my nails, and his shadow falls over me as he steps closer.
“I promise you Delyah had no idea what the fuck she was talking about.” He snorts. “Or it would’ve been me she was trying to murder.”
My breath catches as he takes my face in his hands and tilts it up to face him, his gaze unwavering.
“You aregood, Pandora.”
I start to shake my head, and he squeezes me still. “You are. You are so goodand kind and fucking precious,and I would like to skin the people alive that made you believe otherwise.” He gives my head one small jerk. “Don’t you ever feel guilty for defending yourself against those that would tear your life away from you.”
The intensity is too much, too fierce, those words burning like acid in my chest. I shut my eyes, working a swallow over the lump in my throat and he lets me loose with a breath.
I look up the tree limbs, trying to regain my composure as I blink back the moisture in my eyes. It feels like emerging into another world under the thick canopy of flowering blooms. There’s a glimmer of movement in my periphery, and I follow it to the tiny winged shape buzzing through the limbs. It turns, and I catch one single glimpse of round black eyes before my vision hazes. “Shit!”
He chuckles. “You did it again, didn’t you?”
I rub at my eyes, but my vision doesn’t sharpen. “Why do they do that?”
“They’re shy.”
I groan. “How do you avoid it?”
“Years of practice.” I feel him loom closer before he laces our fingers together again. “I promise we’ll come back here sometime. We got kind of a late start tonight, but there’s one more thing I’d like to do before we go back.”
A deep, malaise settles over me at the thought of going back to his chambers now after I was starting to shed some of the weight that’s been holding me. “What is it?”
“Come on.” We only walk for a few minutes when the blurry colors around me darken, and he switches to leading me with his hands on my shoulders.
“Okay, take one more step, and then stop right there.” His hands shift around my shoulders as he rotates to my front. “Seriously, don’t move because you’re right on the ledge of a step.” He lifts his hands, and with that new information, I wobble dangerously. He hastens to place his hands back on my shoulders, laughing.
“Are you trying to set me up?”
“No…” he says with another laugh.
“Why do I not believe you?”
“I’m not.”
“Then why did you put me here!”’
“You are very short.” His voice is lower, softer as he shifts closer. “Which requires a little bit of creative thinking.”
