Chapter 45: Summons
Cain waits a few moments after Cecilia closes the door, his gaze lingering on the empty space she left behind. I still can't bring myself to meet his eyes, staring instead at the worn blanket pulled halfway up my chest. The silence stretches uncomfortably before he breaks it with a familiar, amused tone.
"You and an Inquisitor, huh?" he says, the corner of his mouth twitching into that insufferable smirk. "Never would've seen that one coming."
I groan softly embarrassed, burying my face into my hands. "I... I don't really know how that happened, to be honest," I mutter, voice muffled and lame. "She's just always in the right place, I guess."
My hands drop back to my lap, and I feel the heat rising to my cheeks. "I've never been with a girl before," I add, almost too quiet to hear. "Especially not one that... cute. I don't really know how to act around her."
Cain laughs full-hearted and genuine, not mocking. He strolls over and drops into the chair Cecilia had occupied earlier, the wood creaking under his weight. "Well, I don't know how much advice I can offer there. I'm hardly an expert on matters of the heart," he says with a shrug. "But it's pretty obvious you care about her."
I think about her warm smile, the way her hazel eyes lit up when I woke, how her voice cut through the madness like sunlight through fog. I smile despite myself. "Yeah... I guess I do."
Then the smile fades, replaced with a frown.
"And that scares me," I whisper. "She's part of an order I should hate."
Cain studies me for a long moment before exhaling slowly. "How many times do I need to tell you, Ayato? The world isn't black or white. You hate the Inquisitors for what they did to your parents, for the way they abuse their power. That's fair. But not all of them are like that. Some of them... truly believe they're doing the will of the divine."
My thoughts drift to Bishop Lark, his arguments foe the gods and their will, then I drift to my talk with Cecilia in her room and how much passion she talked with. I feel a flare of resignation knowing this conversation will be repeated again and again. "I don't want to debate this again right now," I mutter.
Cain raises an eyebrow. "Again? We rarely talk politics or religion? I know how much contempt you have for the system not that I care everyone is entitled to their opinion in my book as long as it doesn't evolve into more then that."