“Actually, yes.”
“And is that all he did?”
I look down at the water, wondering what I should say.
“I didn’t expect it to happen…and it wasn’t much.”
“He pushed for it?”
“Yeah…but I don’t even know if he really wanted it. He left right after, hardly saying anything.”
“Then I was right.”
“What do you mean?”
“He wants you, and he hates himself for it.”
“Because I’m weak.”
“Because he perceives you as being weak. If he can see that you’re strong, his feelings might change.”
“But I’m not strong.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m the weakest among us, and not only that, but now he knows I’m stupid.”
Nori chuckles, which doesn’t happen often.
“I can’t help but worry that I’ve just made things worse between us.”
“Ask him to take you out to collect insects. He’ll think you’re brave, and because he’s attracted to you, his mind will want to see you as strong, even if you are not in the way he wants you to be.”
I nod. “You’re right, Nori. You’re always right.”
“Good, now tell everyone else that because I’m tired of having to explain myself all the time.”
11
RAMSEY
There is no greater torment than the desire for something just out of reach. Or something you once had but have since lost.
What happened at the cave was a mistake, and it took every ounce of restraint I had not to bury myself in weak Asha.
That I could get so hard a moment after coming in the water during her release is an impressive feat that even Princess Kasmina was capable of having me do.
But I resisted, forcing myself from the water just before Nori came. If she had walked in on us, I know not what I would have done.
As I walk through the village, I try to clear my head.
Impossible.
Everywhere I go, I see her—I smell her.
I still taste her on my tongue, and it drives me to madness as she is the last of the Penticari I should be beholden to, as she is so weak.
Yet, a part of me does not care.
