priestessofthethreeâ:
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Minaâs gaze shifted again to Cal and she grinned, âI have a feeling that one could study you their whole life and never figure out everything.â She knew enough about him to enjoy him and his company. But sheâd never pried too far and wouldnât dig. His boundaries were his own and she respected them. But what she did know, she adored. He loved with everything he had, and he loved often. He was free with his affections and his attention and it changed as quickly as⌠well⌠a stream.
Her smile softened when he brought up his past, she knew he hadnât been as fortunate as she had been. She loved her mother dearly and she still had her father. And while she was trying to get to know him more, she didnât know him that well yet but she was grateful that he had accepted her. Sheâd never been an orphan, nor had she ever lived on the streets. Sheâd found her home early in the temples. âI know it isnât⌠helpful to hear but orphans shouldnât be judged based on what their parents did. Thatâs awful.â She shook her head and smirked again, âWhy would anyone want to behave? It sounds so dull.â
âProbably because I donât know much of anything either,â he tells her with a matching grin. âI think Iâve told you as much as anyone else who knows me. Poor little street rat, a leech to the Red Keep, who went on to be a leech to the Mageasterium until I finally left. A short story, hardly nothing to study.â
He shrugs, leans back as he takes a drink. âI donât very well know what my parents did or who they are. I like to imagine they were warriors, died valiantly in battle. But they were probably just scoundrels who got stoned or hanged for their actions.â Or maybe, maybe they just left the boy. His mother some poor, unknown street worker, and his father some rich diplomat who paid her in hush money. That unknown made him burn. He held no bitterness to the lot in life who knew how their parents were, but he always wanted more. It just gave him the strength to keep going, to prove the ghosts of his mind wrong.
âYou are everything but dull, dove. The sharpest of mind, wit, and tongue. Iâd have to lie to myself in order to believe that youâd be one to behave. There is nothing in the world that could hold you down.â












