there's light at the edge of the darkness
Boo hoo, Phoebe was panicked. Well too bad: despite her sob stories about raids and all the men who’d left her, she couldn’t hold a candle to the trauma Loren carried around with him all the fucking time. And yet, somehow, he’d learned to live with it, without turning into a sobbing mess. The healer would have to as well. Even though Astra nudged him forward, as if to urge him to provide comfort to the fallen healer, he just crossed his arms and stared impassively down at Phoebe. She had Pim, and then, Astra who cuddled up against the healer, knowing she needed to be defended from the harsh words falling from the Launceleyn’s lips.
And gaunt as he was, pale and tired and weak as he was, he was a Launceleyn in truth in that moment. They were merciless, and didn’t stop attacking just because an opponent was down. If anything, that made it the perfect time for a killing blow. Loren certainly wasn’t going to hesitate to lash out with his words.
Thankfully, Phoebe stood, and he saw that her eyes had hardened. Good. She needed to be tougher anyway. Because he was just getting started.
”Frankly, I don’t care about why. And what are you going to do to stop me, whine about it to Remi or have Pim defend you?” The summoner gave her another cold smile. ”You’re too weak to stand up to me yourself. In fact, I wasn’t done. Feel free to stop me at any point.” She almost certainly wouldn’t. ”All I see right now is a holier-than-thou, meddling busy-body who is so convinced she’s in the right that she can’t conceive of a world in which she might be wrong about anything and believes she knows what’s best for everyone around her but never actually stops to ask them what they want. Oh, and you’re so desperate for any scrap of affection that you’ll throw yourself at the first man who says a kind word to you. How am I doing?”
His smile morphed into a sneer. ”I never said I was nice, or caring, or kind. In fact, if I remember correctly, I told you, I told everyone, repeatedly, that I was a bad person. That I was only capable of hurting others. It’s not my fault none of you believed me. Maybe if you had stopped trying so hard to see the good in me and taken a good, long, cold, hard look at yourself, my words wouldn’t hurt you so much.” Indeed, Phoebe hardly seemed the picture of self-confidence at the moment.
And gaunt as he was, pale and tired and weak as he was, he was a Launceleyn in truth in that moment. They were merciless, and didn’t stop attacking just because an opponent was down. If anything, that made it the perfect time for a killing blow. Loren certainly wasn’t going to hesitate to lash out with his words.
Thankfully, Phoebe stood, and he saw that her eyes had hardened. Good. She needed to be tougher anyway. Because he was just getting started.
”Frankly, I don’t care about why. And what are you going to do to stop me, whine about it to Remi or have Pim defend you?” The summoner gave her another cold smile. ”You’re too weak to stand up to me yourself. In fact, I wasn’t done. Feel free to stop me at any point.” She almost certainly wouldn’t. ”All I see right now is a holier-than-thou, meddling busy-body who is so convinced she’s in the right that she can’t conceive of a world in which she might be wrong about anything and believes she knows what’s best for everyone around her but never actually stops to ask them what they want. Oh, and you’re so desperate for any scrap of affection that you’ll throw yourself at the first man who says a kind word to you. How am I doing?”
His smile morphed into a sneer. ”I never said I was nice, or caring, or kind. In fact, if I remember correctly, I told you, I told everyone, repeatedly, that I was a bad person. That I was only capable of hurting others. It’s not my fault none of you believed me. Maybe if you had stopped trying so hard to see the good in me and taken a good, long, cold, hard look at yourself, my words wouldn’t hurt you so much.” Indeed, Phoebe hardly seemed the picture of self-confidence at the moment.
loren
