I’m shaking my head & locking the gates

Loren not afraid to use every trick in the book Finding a way to communicate why he didn’t want to live with the family without pissing Edrei off further would be difficult. It didn’t help that Zariah, instead of keeping the peace between them, seeming took Edy’s side. First, however, he had to address this nonsense about Zariah and Neron: he burst out laughing, doubling over as his side gained a stitch. When he straightened up, he wiped the tears from his eyes. His mirth had been a bit hysterical, but pure. ”Sorry. I’m sorry. It’s just...you and Neron. I mean...anyone with Neron, really…” and with that he was off again, chuckling madly, though more in control this time. When he was finally and fully sober, he looked between the two women and the girl, weighing his options. Actually, no the Launceleyn compound hadn’t been great, not for him. Once again, Loren was reminded that while he loved his family, his upbringing had been so far from theirs that it was like he had grown up in a difference household entirely. Where they’d been praised, he’d been mocked; where’d they’d been trained, he’d been beaten; where they’d been placed on a pedestal, he’d been locked in his room without supper and a bed more times than he could count, bruised and bleeding and broken. That certainly chased away any lingering humor he might be feeling. He could try to explain that he’d been an adult for a while, that he needed his space, that even now he felt like he wasn’t entirely a part of the family. Alternatively, he could try to argue that him living with three unmarried women—relatives though they be—would reflect poorly on them, even though the customs of Northaven certainly wouldn’t hold up here. There weren’t Hawthornes! But he didn’t do any of that. Instead, he met Edy’s eyes, hoping she would understand the depth of emotion there. He cared for his family, but he couldn’t do that effectively if he didn’t first care for himself. ”I’m seeing someone.” Or at least, he hoped he was: he and Remi hadn’t really connected since coming to this new world. But he wanted to see where seeing someone went, now that he had the freedom to do so. And he couldn’t do that with Edy and Zariah poking their noses into his business, and with Beatrix and Jace underfoot.