Heart Over Sword

So, Ronan and Cilv had departed from Kuramji together, but what happened to Axel and Ger? Evanna stood up after her bottom went numb from staying in one position for so long listening to the group’s tale. She lifted her eyes from the ground where she was pacing and met Ger’s gaze.

"There’s not much else to it," he shrugged in response to her stare. "We woke up the next day-"

"Kicked awake, I might add," Axel interrupted with a grunt. "Bloody kids were checking to see if we were alive. Caught a few trying to steal one of my axes.."

Ger glared at Axel for interrupting him, but the giant shrugged and began to settle down onto his back. Ronan, too was readying himself to sleep, putting his hood over his head and using his hands to balance his head behind him. It was only now that Evanna glanced around the camp she became aware of how long the guys’ storytelling had gone on.

Evanna’s eyes darted to Arawn, who was already lying on his back, an ankle hooked over his knee, boot placed on the ground, and hands resting behind his head. Arawn gazed ahead of him, his brow slightly furrowed, lost to his thoughts. It was such a nonchalant pose, but it made her heart race all the more, her thoughts spinning to outlandish ideas like curling up next to him.

"It didn’t take us long to find out where Ronan was. The courtesan, Emily, told us where she thought he might go. From there, we followed their trail.." Ger continued, bringing Evanna back to their story. She roamed back to the fire, closer to Arawn, earning herself a scowl from Ger and Arawn’s lips tugged up slightly though he did not glance her way and continued to stare up at the night sky.

Lying her back against a smooth boulder, Evanna felt the ground’s chill through her clothes, making her shift her feet closer to the fire. Ger sat beside her and wrapped his cloak over her shoulders, bringing his body next to hers. The warmth radiating from him was welcome, but she felt more than a few people glaring at them. Evanna blinked, her eyes going from Axel, who narrowed his gaze at Ger, to Ronan, who huffed and instantly looked at the fire once he felt her looking at him and finally to Arawn.

Arawn held Evanna’s gaze, his own icy, sending a shiver through her. This initiated Ger to rub her shoulder and scoot closer to her. Arawn glared at Ger’s hand, feeling a flame of anger spark in his chest, and in an instant, he called to his power and threw an icy dagger into Ger’s hand. A smile tugged at his lips as he replayed the scene in his mind; no doubt he could not do it to Evanna’s ’friend’.

Though Ger’s actions tonight made Arawn’s icy nature resurface, he had to pull back his gift that was causing the ground around him to frost. He didn’t feel its cold, but the whole reason why Ger had an excuse to put his arm over Evanna’s shoulder and basically cuddle her was that she was cold. He clicked his tongue in irritation. Had there been something between them before Evanna met him?