Chapter Thirteen The Cabin #3
Adan couldn't help the laugh that escaped her full lips.
She covered her mouth, as her shoulders silently shook.
She almost asked how he was different from that description now?
But she sealed her lips tightly and listened.
"The only way to describe my Obbie, was and is, obstinate. So I started calling him Obbie, and the name stuck ever since."
She beamed, and he grimaced back, but there was a glow of unmistakable love in his eyes for her.
Adan looked away, if only to hide the envy blooming in her own mis-matched eyes.
Despite Nox's exasperated sigh, there was something undeniably tender in the way Asha spoke of him.
It wasn't just the teasing; it was the affection woven into every syllable.
"Thank you for that delightful anecdote." Nox scowled.
"Yes." Adan grinned--a mask to hide the pang in her chest. "Thank you, very much." Nox narrowed his eyes at her and she smiled brighter. "What?" She asked him, "I think you know enough of my secrets that I should know a few about you."
"Oh I have plenty of stories." Asha pushed a plate of eggs, toast and ham in front of Adan. Asha's eyes narrowed with worry as she surveyed Adan's attire. "I brought you some of my clothes, Obbie mentioned that you would need them while you two stayed here."
Two of them, not three. "You're not staying?" Adan asked, trying to hide the plea it truly was. She didn't know what was worse. Asha staying and being an impenetrable wall between them, or the two of them being left alone in the now tiny cottage.
"Someone has to keep an eye on what's going on in the capital while you two are here."
Adan bit into her toast, the butter and freshness was delicious.
It made Adan realize that she had not eaten in a while-- too long.
She groaned audibly at the taste of flavours blooming in her mouth.
Asha smile deepened at Adan's approval of her cooking.
"The cottage is self-sufficient. There is a well out back, some crops, a chicken coop and some livestock."
"It's delicious." Adan said between bites. "Thank you."
"It's no trouble." Asha smiled warmly at her.
It wasn't until Adan was stuffed and siting in front of the fire place with a good book that Asha said her farewells.
Nox walked her out, and Adan shamefully peered out of the window to spot them in an embrace.
Asha's wings unfurled, but they were nothing like her partners.
They were bat-like, with piercing tips, the sun shone through the webbing, like a second skin.
Asha was clearly a member of House Shadow.
She lunged into the sky and was gone, though Nox watched stood there to watch her leave and then took his sweet time returning to the warmth of the cottage.
When he stepped back inside, Adan realized how much of the space he took up. How small this home was, in comparison to the towering, wide-shouldered brute in front of her. It was going to be incredibly difficult to avoid him here.
"How are your injuries?"
"Fine." She raised her head, closing the book in her lap.
"Good." He grabbed her hand and yanked her off the couch, the blanket covering her legs falling to the floor.
"Hey!" Adan yelled, as Nox yanked her out the back door towards the open air.
He hoisted her forward, almost ripping her arm back out of the socket.
Stumbling back on her heels, Nox stomped forward, eating up the distance.
She easily got her feet back under her, baring her teeth.
"I should have known your good will would eventually run out."
"You almost died!" He spat out the words, he was clenching and unclenched his hand at his side.
He walked her backwards until her legs hit the fence that sectioned off his land.
Nox looked down his straight nose at the Adan, let her see the fury in his eyes.
"You foolish child." He spat, taking a step back, and began pacing.
Adan's jaw tightened as she watched him pace, the words foolish child slicing through the air like a blade. Her chest tightened, but she refused to let him see the vulnerability he was trying to provoke. She didn't flinch, not this time.
"You think you can just drag me around like this?" she spat back, pushing off the fence to stand tall, her eyes narrowing with fury
His green eyes flashed, and his chest heaved slightly as he glared down at her, his expression a mask of frustration and anger.
"I don't want to control you, Adan." His voice dropped low, full of an intensity that set her on edge.
"But when you're throwing your life away every other minute, damn right I'm going to step in."
"You don't get to tell me what to do," she growled, taking a step toward him. "I'm not some child you can scold into compliance, Obbie."
His jaw clenched, and for a split second, the tension between them threatened to snap. The air felt thick, suffocating. He was close enough now that she could feel the heat radiating off him, the power in every fibre of his being.
"Then stop acting like one," he hissed. His voice wasn't loud, but it was sharp, cutting through her defences like a whip.
He stepped forward, closing the space between them, his presence overwhelming.
"Stop throwing your life away like it means nothing. You're not the only one fighting this war, and you're damn sure not the only one who's lost everything."
Adan's heart pounded in her chest, her fists clenched at her sides. "That guy just got the jump on me—"
"SO!" He snapped, and Adan reared back. She leaned on the fence, her hand white knuckled on the wood. Her mouth pressed into a hard line. "You are not fucking invincible. You walk around with a surpassed-fucking-arrogance, like you are."
Adan had heard enough. "I survived enough to feel that way! I have paid my dues!"
Shaking her head as she tried to fight off the lump forming in her throat.
"You don't understand what it's like to lose everything and have nothing left but rage. I'm not going to pretend like it's easy to just... just let go of that."
Her voice cracked, betraying the weakness she so desperately tried to hide.
"Your rage will get you killed... a drunken fool almost managed to kill you."
He took a step forward, and Adan had to drop her head back to keep eyes locked with Nox.
"And I caught you on a fucking eaves' trough.
You're no more than ordinary." He spat down at her. His arms holding the fence, caging her.
Adan let the words pelt her, and fall away.
She had heard worse, but they felt different coming from him--the truth of them.
She almost felt disappointed. She pushed the feeling away.
"Is this the part where I beg you to teach me?"
She could play this game, and again she let her rage fuel her.
She placed a hand on his chest and pushed.
He moved, and Adan knew it was because he let her.
She kept her different-coloured eyes locked on him.
"That I should get on my knees, and thank you for such an opportunity?"
Her eyes dropped to his perfect, soft mouth and quickly back up to his emerald eyes.
His smirk was mischievous, "No." Adan couldn't help the tiny widening of her eyes. "Faun's going to teach you."
Adan crossed her arms over her chest, "Who is Faun?" She looked around the property, they were the only two for miles.
When she looked back, Nox's smirk had deepened, nodding behind her, into the fields.
Adan threw her head over her other shoulder, her curly blonde hair bobbing. She turned slowing back to give Nox a deadpanned stare, and raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow in question.
"Catch Faun." He raised an open palm towards the sheep.
"What does catching a sheep have to do with anything?"
"What are you scared of it's just a sheep?" He taunted. She turned to look at the animal.
"I'm not scared." She rolled her eyes, and put her hands on her hips. Was this a joke? Did he really want her to catch a sheep as part of some kind of training?
"Then, don't just stand there." He waved towards Faun, the sheep.
When she didn't move an inch, he sighed, and moved to the fence.
He slouched to allow his forearms to rest on it.
His hardened gaze turned pensive as he surveyed his lands.