“That’s rich coming from someone who burned pancakes of all things.” Her lip was still bleeding. Did she know that?
“Maybe if you weren’t so focused on brewing whatever is in the vial in your pocket then you would have made a decent meal.” Immediately, Tershetta’s entire demeanor changed. I watched as she stiffened, her back straightening as she lifted her chin and ceased chewing. She was a statue, firm and unmoving. A soldier, strong and unrelenting. A vision.
No, she was a mess and a pain in my ass. That was what she was.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Almost convincing, if it weren’t for the way that she allowed her eyes to flick to the hearth where her smaller pot still hung.
I shouldn’t have admitted I knew what she was doing. Anyone with half a brain would know that it would have been better to act as if I was oblivious so I could see her plans play out for myself rather than beg her for answers. But that was the problem with Tershetta. She broke my mind when I was nearher. I used to liken it to poison, but now I wondered if it was more like the first sunny day after a season of storms. Something bright and consuming. Something that stopped you from being able to do anything other than bask.
“Oh, my mistake. I thought I saw you put something in there.”
It was far too late to take back what I said. Unlike me, Tershetta grew more keen when we were near one another. She stared at me openly, her eyes squinting and her nose scrunching.
Now that I was looking at her, I realized that all of her features almost seemed too big for her face. Large eyes, nose, and mouth. Her body was also odd, as if still underfed but simultaneously strong. Her skin wasn’t as deep as before, almost as if she’d kept herself indoors more than she should have, but I could still see that perpetual glow of hers. Somehow, it all fit, despite the imbalance. But it was glaring, wasn’t it? Something obvious that I should’ve noticed already? I had always known her top lip was fuller than her bottom one, could still recall the almost honey tone of her eyes. But…this was different.
Maybe I’m just seeing her as she is for the first time.
“I better go check on my garden again, I think I messed up one of the wards.” No, she hadn’t. Tershetta was excellent at warding. How, I didn’t know. I wasn’t sure how Tershetta knew how to do half of the things she did.
“I think your wards are fine.” Tershetta ignored me, pushing her palms against the table as she stood, causing my spoon to rattle against my bowl. Without another word, she turned and darted for the door, throwing it open to reveal a downpour of thick snowflakes. Not bothering to grab a cloak or even put on shoes, she practically leapt into the cold.
Well, damn.
The only option was to follow her, though I really didn’t want to be inconvenienced and cold. Really, why did she insist onbeing out there? Throwing my head back, I let out a gut-deep groan. “Impossible woman.”
Then I was shoving my feet into my boots, grabbing her dingy, worn pair she’d pulled out of her bag and snagging two of my cloaks off the hooks on my way. I chased her out, seeing that she had, in fact, not gone to her garden. Instead, I caught sight of her running in the distance, heading the opposite way of the cliffs towards the ruins.
“You can’t be running barefoot like that! Do you want to get sick?” I screamed as loud as I could, the thick snowflakes and dark clouds muffling my voice. I ran for a few seconds before finding myself too annoyed to continue. “Fuck this.”
Shadow walking, I landed just ahead of her, staring her down with what I hoped was an exhausted expression. She was sodramatic.
“Twice you’ve run away from my cottage like a petulant child. Are you done with the theatrics or should I get comfortable for another show?” My drawl was slow, though I had to shout it to make sure she heard it. And, oh, did she hear it.
“You spoiled, disgusting, core bastard!” I blinked, and then she closed the distance, shadow walking to the space just in front of me and then shoving her icy hands into my chest. I stumbled, my legs sinking into the fresh snow. My fingers wrapped tighter around her boots, my chest tingling where she touched it. She was so maddening and strange and stars damned infuriating. “If you’d stop following me and pretending like you gave a shit then my dramatics wouldn’t matter!”
“What are you talking about right now?” Pretending towhat?She wasn’t making any sense.
She shoved me again, and this time I dropped her boots in favor of wrapping my fingers around her wrists, securing her hands against my chest. Quickly, almost desperately, I tossed one of the hooded cloaks onto her unruly head of curls, using hersurprise to tug the other over my own head. Stars above, it wascold.
“Let me go!”
“No!”
“Yes!” She shook her arms, trying to fight against me with very little success.
“Put those fucking boots on, Little Void.”
“No! Let go of me and stop acting like you’ve changed! You’re still the same purist psychopath just waiting for a chance to kill me!”
“Odd, seeing as I’m literally trying to stop you from getting frostbite right now!” Great, now she had me pissed too. She finally wrangled her hands free, using my lack of balance to shove me to the ground. Her body crashed on top of mine, forcing my back to smash into the snow. Instinctively, I grabbed her hips, my mouth, nose, and eyes filling with tiny flakes of snow.
“You’re everything you’ve always been!” She began beating her fists against my chest, the movements half-hearted as tears suddenly started streaming down her face. Her legs straddled me, my cloak barely on her.
“Why are you so angry all of a sudden?” I asked, bewildered. Was this really just about me mentioning that I saw she brewed something? What did that matter? And why was she acting like I hadn’t changed?
I was different now. I could feel the shift, the internal war. Every day, I was fighting to not be my father. Why couldn’t she fucking see that? And why was it so much harder to act better in her presence?
Tershetta’s fists stilled, hands relaxing as they flattened against my chest. Suddenly, I realized exactly where her body pressed to mine. The way her ass was firmly planted just above my hips, how her palms dug into the space below mycollarbones, the faint weight of her bare feet on top of my thighs. For the first time in months, the feel of a woman on top of me didn’t make my skin crawl. In fact, it felt as if everywhere Tershetta touched, Benadell Zade’s memory faded. Like my Little Void was wiping me clean. Like the emptiness and darkness I once called her was actually the one place I was finally safe.
