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His mother’s favorite rose, I surmise.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Viv reaches out a hand to brush my hair out of my face with a worried look of her own.
“I am.”
“Good. It’s easy for us to forget how fragile humans are sometimes. That was a sobering reminder.”
It warms me that she and Ken care enough about my wellbeing. It’s starting to feel like we’re friends, and I hate that it took getting injured to see that.
Eoin steps toward me, scratching the back of his neck. His eyes crinkle around the edges as he smiles at me. He doesn’t appear much older than me, perhaps around his mid-twenties, but that doesn’t mean anything here.
“I’m truly grateful you’re all right, Alessia,” he says. He reaches for my hand again, bringing it up to his lips and planting a tender kiss on the back of it. I can’t help the smile that grows on my lips. “I should catch up with Rainer, but I do hope we meet again under more favorable circumstances.”
“Me too,” I whisper.
He leaves the three of us, and I try to process what just happened. Falling, Rainer’s attitude and rude departure, Eoin healing me.
“Rainer really hates me, huh?” I ask Ken, unable to shake it off.
As dramatic as it sounds, his attitude feels like a knife to the gut. It hurts almost as much as falling from the tree.
Ken sighs, rubbing his beard as Viv glances away awkwardly.
“It’s not you,” he says.
“Could’ve fooled me,” I mumble.
“It’s not.” There’s a pause before he continues, “Rainer is constantly in a battle with himself…with his inner demon.”
I frown. “Yeah, well, everyone has demons.”
“Do you ever free yours?” He asks. “Let them out? Let them win?”
I give him a puzzled expression, shaking my head. No way. That’s where patience and self-control come into play.
“Then you’re stronger than Rainer.”
Stronger than...yeah right. I scoff.
“Sometimes he loses control,” Ken says. “Loses the battle against himself. He keeps a safe distance away to protect others.”
“That’s not an excuse for being cruel to others.”
“You’re not expected to understand, little human, but things are different here. Yes, Rainer has his own internal struggles, but he is a well-respected ruler of the Umbra Court. He’s in his position for a reason, and his reputation precedes him.”
“A reputation of being rude?”
“Something like that.” Ken grins. “He might not be all sweet and charming like mister Eoin, and he might not be as handsome and funny as me, but you’re lucky you ended up here with him, rather than in the clutches of another. You might think he hates you, but he’s quite fond of you.”
He has a strange way of showing it. Especially with how he’s pulled back ever since the moonberry incident. Then again, it sounds like Rainer’s struggles have less to do with me and more to do with his own life. The entire conversation is awfully vague, and once again, doesn’t answer any of my pressing questions.
“This is all I’m getting from you, isn’t it?” I ask.
“Yup.”
Viv speaks up this time, “It really isn’t our place to speak about our prince at all. Ken threw you a bone.”
I nod in acceptance, grateful for any tidbit of information I get. I also realize she called him our prince, despite being from Terra Court herself.
