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Chapter 32
Talin
Wraythe headed over to the heaviest weights in the room. The ones no one else really used. I stayed with Anver, hoping to get a little more insight into the people my life was tied to. It wasn't that Nari, Ela, or Wraythe wouldn't answer any question I asked. Mostly, I just wanted to hear the other side of the story.
"Why'd you pull away from them anyway?" I asked moving to get a pair of hand weights.
He sat down on the closest bench and started stretching his arms. "It's a very long and complicated story. Starts with a girl named Ciella bullying the four of us, ends with Eladehl tied to a table, burned with wax from slow-burning candles until he got off with his bullies watching, and concluded with Zeal riding Nari to get vengeance on the girl who started it all."
"Ok, I heard about some of that." I sat on the bench across from him, not really interested in my workout. "Doesn't explain why you pulled away."
Anver refused to meet my eyes. "Because when we untied Eladehl, he cried into my shoulder. Then, the next week, he's tying Nari up and pushing things just a little too far. I couldn't watch that shit, so I took a break while he worked through it."
"Makes sense," I agreed.
"And while I was not with them, I met Tish," he went on. "She's not as pretty as Nari, but she's cute. She also needed me, and I liked how that felt. See, the closer Eladehl, Wraythe, and Nari got, the further from them I felt. Somewhere in all of that, things changed. I never really noticed it was happening. I mean, Tish asked me for help in her Manners class, just like Nari used to. Then my friends didn't have a spot near them at lunch, so I sat with her. It was never intentional, but it happened."
"And something about your year in the Temple of All Gods?" I pressed.
He nodded. "Mistake of the nice guy. Eladehl wanted Ambition. Tishlie wanted Compassion. Nari suggested Intuition, but Tish wasn't interested. She wanted Compassion and Inspiration. Nari has family with Compassion, and she wasn't ready to see them."
"Wait, what?" I asked.
He nodded. "Her family was hard up, it sounds like. Her oldest brother would inherit things, but the next two went to Compassion when they were surrendered. Even worse, her parents refused to talk about them after they left. So she knew that was what happened to her as well. Then she had another brother and a sister, I think, who were younger. And if two brothers went into Compassion, how many of the others did? But Tish was adamant, convinced she'd fail out of the options they wanted."
"And that pulled at your heart strings," I realized. "You knew Nari would be safe with the guys, so you decided to do Compassion with Tishlie, right?"
He nodded. "Which was the beginning of the end. I think that until that moment, I could've come back to them. They would've been thrilled, but when I 'picked her over them' - which wasnotthe way I saw it - they all wrote me off." He sighed. "And my choice made Nari cry, which made Wraythe hate me for all eternity. He's completely in love with her, you know."
"Yeah, he is," I agreed.
Anver finally looked over. "You know he's never even kissed anyone else? Never held hands. Nothing. For him, it's Nari. He acts like he's a hard-ass, but when it comes to her? He turns into the most gentle guy I've ever seen."
I nodded, agreeing with him completely. Then I decided to push a bit. "So why don't you ever come around?"
"Uh..."
I just lifted a brow. "You keep saying you want to see them again, but you haven't. Why not?"
His sigh spoke volumes. "Tish. Look, every guardian in the world has this bond with their ward - except me. The mark on my back that pairs us? It's the size of my thumb. Hardly any bond at all. I'm not pulled to her. I'm not enamored of her. I wanted to be a nice guy, and now I'mstuckwith her."
"Sounds like you're not spending much time with her already," I countered.
"Nope, I spend it in my room with a friend we all share. Mostly because I don't want a door slammed in my face, and I'm not sure Nari wouldn't. I'm also pretty sure I deserve it."
I nodded, thinking quickly. "Well, you know, I wouldn't mind some company. Believe it or not, I have a room of my own. Maybe some studying for our practical weapons test?"
He shrugged, looking almost defeated. "Tish would lose her shit."
"And?" I asked. "What, hit you again?"
A woman's voice interrupted. "Talin!"
I glanced quickly out the corner of my eye to see Lurel headed toward us. "I'm serious, Anver. You want to work your way back in, I need to study, and it won't hurt my feelings at all to make this happen. Say, tomorrow after sexual orientation?" Then I looked her way. "Hey, Lurel."
"Hey, um..." She looked at Anver, then back to me. "You got a moment?"
"Lurel, this is Anver," I introduced. "He was almost Nari's guardian."
