The Sharpest Thorn

He pulled the pop from between his lips with a smack before looking at it, observing the colour lightening as the candy wore away. With a heaved sigh, he stood, not enjoying their conversation with her attention cast downwards at him and he began to brush the dirt from his slacks. He paid little attention to what she said about Finn and instead, tried to suppress the strange emotion welling in his chest.

She could feel him ready to move away, to skitter off like he had done the last time, and also, like the last time, she felt a surge of verbal vomit about to well up and explode.  She choked it down, the best she could, but his words forced it from her without any means of stopping it.

If the information brought him any glee, he wasn’t one to show it. The only flicked of recognition for her words were a light moment of a brow twitch across his forehead and a light sag in his shoulders. To be fair, the news did have him slightly more relaxed for a moment and he narrowed his eyes up at her, crossing his legs at the ankles.

"No, more that I realized he could do better for himself than he could with me in tow."  There was a decidedly downtrodden tone, accompanied by a measure of self-loathing, but only just enough to season her words.  She didn't want to be an emotional mess in front of Caelum, though she was sure he would get great joy from it.  "I ended things before they became anything close to serious."

As soon as she gave any indication of a change in attention, he pretended to be completely focused upon his novel, his head whipping away to stare down at words that no longer made any sense. He was still studying the words extra hard when he felt something change. Footsteps were growing closer and closer to him, each step sending a strange jolt through his chest. He frowned. What was she doing?

It wasn't the first time that his words would hurt her, and she was almost certain that it wouldn't be the last.  She took them in stride, only the faintest flicker of a frown crossing her lips at his tone.  Her finger toyed with the slightly frayed edge of her book, feeling the unraveling fibers between her digits like it was some sort of security blanket for her.

If the blond had been truly engrossed in his book, he wouldn’t have been lifting his attention from it every so often. And as such, he wouldn’t have noticed the strange way the willow dipped and swayed in the wind. He wouldn’t have noticed the parting of a few of the curtained branches. He wouldn’t have noticed a figure seated beneath the tree, in very much a similar position to himself.

There was one good thing that had come in the last few weeks - Rosie had learned to harness more of her innate metamorphmagi abilities, and it seemed that, perhaps, they were controlled now.  There was color to her features despite her seeming lack of emotion, so it was at least a start, though who could say how long it would last, especially with what was to come.

Aftermath | Cael & Rosalyn

The grounds had become a place of solace for Rose in the previous weeks.  It was one of the few places she could go to truly be alone.  No one followed her out there, no one seemed to bother her when her nose was firmly placed between the pages of her books.  It would have been perfect if it hadn't been for the fact that her mind was a battlefield, it had been for weeks.  Ever since that day in the classroom...