“All right, well.” I moved to leave, and Ariyon sidestepped me, blocking the way, pure agony crossing his features.
“Look, Fallon, I said some mean stuff last night—”
“It’s fine,” I grumbled.
He reached out and grasped both of my shoulders lightly, forcing me to look up at him. “It’snotfine. I hate myself for what I said to you last night. I’m an ass and it wasn’t okay.”
The brick wall I built last night on the walk home began to crumble in that moment. Just a little. “Youarean ass but everything you said was true. Getting close to me would be dangerous and you all should stay away from me.” I turned my face so that he couldn’t see the tears build in my eyes.
A strangled whimper came from him, and it shocked me to hear. “Fallon, no. My parents’ death has…affected me more than it did Ayden. And then Marissa showed up last night after I thought she was gone, and you were easy to blame. But that isn’t right, and…I’m sorry.”
I hadn’t expected the heartfelt apology, the shake to his voice, the barely restrained agony he was showing.
I peered up and held his steel-eyed gaze, and they nearly glowed like pools of molten silver. “It’s okay, Ariyon. I forgive you.”
He let go of my shoulders then, looking a bit shaken at my response. Like he hadn’t expected my forgiveness. “Uh…thanks.”
“You’ve never apologized before, have you?” I laughed.
He gave me a playful glare, mirth dancing behind his features. “It’s been a while, I forgot how this goes.”
I burst into laughter and then it happened—my heart skipped a beat as Ariyon cracked a genuine smile, like sunlight breaking through stormy clouds.
He smiled!I did it. I made grumpy old Ariyon Madden smile.
After a few moments, his face grew serious again. “Ayden wanted me to give you something.”
I stiffened, my heart hammering in my chest.
He did?
After everything that had happened last night, Ayden had gotten me something? I looked at Ariyon’s hands, waiting for him to pull a gift out of his pocket, but instead he stepped closer to me and pulled me in for a hug.
I gasped at the full-body contact, swallowing a whimper as he wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly. My hair, my neck, my face, my chest and stomach, so much of me was touching so much of him and it felt incredible. I could feel his heart thumping, matching my own frantic beat.
I hadn’t been hugged in years. My father would fully wrap himself up, face and all, in a blanket on my birthday and hug me, but it felt comical and embarrassing, so we’d stopped. And it wasn’t a hug like this. Wrapping my arms around Ariyon timidly, I held him back, blinking rapidly as tears stung the corners of my eyes and my throat constricted. Ariyon didn’t let go, he held on to me like I was a precious treasure that would blow away if a strong wind picked up.
Ayden had sent me a hug through the one person he knew could touch me, and I wasn’t sure if I was falling for him or his twin brother who held me in that moment. It was the most thoughtful gift I’d ever received.
Ariyon seemed to know that this was a big deal for me because he held on, even as my silent tears ran down my cheeks and onto his bicep. Even as my breath shuddered against him. Even as the final bell rang. He just held me and, in that moment, it almost made up for a lifetime of not being able to be hugged.
I finally cleared my throat and dropped my arms, wiping at my face frantically and feeling so stupid that I’d clung to him for so long. I expected to see a look of pity or embarrassment when I glanced at Ariyon, but what I found was…longing.
Stepping up next to me and placing his hand on the door handle, Ariyon leaned into my ear, pressing his lips against them. “If I could take the curse from you, I would, Fallon,” he whispered, sending chills down my neck as he opened the door and left me in the storage closet, alone with my feelings.
‘Do I need to poop on his head?’Yanric asked.
‘No.’
I’d never been more confused in my life about what I felt and for whom.
THIRTEEN
By the time lunch rolled around, I’d gotten quite a few stares and whispers of being a “Nightling conjurer.” The rumor mill from the party last night was in full effect. I had successfully ignored Eden throughout Pyro class but couldn’t hold out any longer.
I had to address why I was pushing her away and hopefully talk some sense into her that being my only friend probably wasn’t going to end well for her.
I sat on the lawn and pulled out the sweet pork sandwich my father had made me on his famous homemade sourdough bread. A few minutes later Eden plopped down next to me, pulling her own lunch onto her lap.
