LOREN
It’s hard to remain melancholy in Rexanna’s presence, and Loren finds himself smiling again. Even for brief moments, he is happy here, and it reminded him simultaneously of how rare that was for him and that he didn’t always have to be sad, despite everything he’d done to those he cared about. It was something to think about for sure. ”I’m glad to hear it all worked out for the best.” At least, that’s what it sounded like to him.Her words—her understanding, even—brought him back from the dark place he’d wandered in his mind. Uncoiling and standing up straighter, he nodded gratefully to her. ”Thank you.” He wasn’t just thanking her for her words just now. No, he was thanking her for everything she’d done this evening: she’d come to find a cold and lost soul, someone she had every right to treat as an enemy, and instead had given him nothing but patience and laughter and kindness and, yes, even some brief moments of joy. It is more than he could’ve asked for and far more than he deserved.
He followed the blue-eyed woman outside, glad that he had a bit more time before he had to subject himself to the torment of her bite just yet. And then he watched with wonder as fire and light and magic unfolded across the sky in a brilliant and dazzling display. ”Amazing,” he breathed out, his face suffused with an almost childlike glee. Surely nothing he could summon could possibly compare to that.
Suddenly shy, he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, looking down at the ground. ”Is there a particular legendary animal you’d like to see?” It was dark, so the majesty of many of them would be lost, but he figured he should at least give her the option. Otherwise, he was likely to default to one of the ones he frequently summoned. Still, all of them were beautiful in their own unique, sometimes monstrous ways.
A beggar's book
outworths
a noble's blood
