Page 13 of Kindred Sky

Thorne straightened his back and squared his shoulders. He sucked in a breath, briefly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the anger was gone from his expression. It was fascinating, but also a bit concerning. Thorne’s professional expression was back, and Matthias suspected that no matter what he said, he wouldn’t be able to break through again.

“I apologize for that,” Thorne said calmly. “It was unprofessional, and you shouldn’t have had to see it.”

“Thorne, you’re human. You’re allowed to get angry and frustrated, especially when it comes to Samuel. I get it. You’ve already asked him to be more careful several times, and he’s ignoring you.”

“None of that matters. I wasn’t professional, and I apologize for that. Did you need anything from the kitchen?”

Matthias bit his lower lip. He wanted to continue pushing, but it would be useless. He could see it. Thorne wasn’t going to open up to him. Maybe it was because they were practically strangers, but Matthias thought that maybe Thorne just didn’t know how to open up to people. Did he have family? Did he have friends? As far as Matthias knew, he was always at the castle, taking care of things. He wanted to ask when the last time Thorne had taken a vacation, but he could guess it had been years, if he’d ever taken one in the first place. He took his job very seriously, which explained why he was apologizing for not being fully professional for one minute.

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Matthias told him. “I was just looking for a snack.”

Thorne’s expression softened just a little bit. “Jillian will not be happy if she finds you here.”

“Which is why I was planning on taking it and leaving.”

“Well, you know where to find food.”

Matthias opened his mouth to offer Thorne a chance to eat something with him, but Thorne was out the door before he could. It was like he had somewhere urgent to be, and maybe he did, but it also felt like he was running away from Matthias and his questions.

Matthias hoped he hadn’t annoyed Thorne too badly. He didn’t want to be a pain in the ass the way Samuel was. He didn’t think Samuel did it on purpose, though. It was just something about the way he and Thorne were at each other’s throats that reminded Matthias of some of the movies he used to watch with his mother growing up. She loved romance, and she especially loved romance movies. Matthias had watched his fair share with her. It was like Thorne and Samuel couldn’t stand each other, but at the same time, they kept getting pulled toward each other. That could end very well or very badly, and Matthias wasn’t sure which way it would go yet.

He grabbed his snacks and hurried out of the kitchen before Jillian could catch him. He needed a hiding spot to eat, and the library was becoming one. He was sure he could find something there. He had his favorite hiding places, so he made his way toward one of them, already unwrapping his cookie.

“Oh, you’re gonna get in trouble if Jillian sees you,” a voice teased.

Matthias glared at Samuel, who was sitting in his favorite armchair by the window. “This is my hiding place.”

“Well, it’s mine now,” Samuel said as he stretched. “We could share.”

“Who are you hiding from? I know I’m hiding from Jillian, but what did you do?” Maybe Samuel would tell Matthias what happened with Thorne since Thorne hadn’t. He settled in the other armchair, which wasn’t as comfortable as his favorite but would be good enough. He already knew that Samuel wouldn’t keep what happened to himself. It wouldn’t be like him.

Samuel scowled. “It’s fucking Thorne. I put something down for one minute to help Jason, and by the time I came back, Thorne was pissed off. He accused me of being careless, basically, and he didn’t even care that I had a good reason for leaving my stuff around this time.” He shook his head. “I don’t know why he hates me. I haven’t done anything to him except being messy, and yeah, I can admit that it’s inconvenient sometimes, but I feel like he hates me too strongly for it to just be that.”

“I don’t think he hates you.”

Samuel snorted. “You’ve met him?”

“I think he’s frustrated.”

“Yeah, well, he’s not the only one. Someone should get that stick out of his ass.”

Matthias sighed and leaned back in his chair, chomping on his cookie. He wanted to help, but he wasn’t sure there was a way for him to, and besides, he suspected this was something the two would have to solve together. It was a problem between them that didn’t involve Matthias. Matthias would be there for Samuel and maybe even Thorne, if they wanted to talk, but something told him that neither of them would.

Maybe that was why they clashed so badly. Both of them were stubborn and unwilling to compromise. Clearly, that wasn’t working.

* * * *

SAMUEL REALIZED THAT he was still grumpy, and he didn’t care. He wouldn’t have talked to Winter about this because he already knew what Winter would say, but Matthias? He was different.

Samuel wasn’t sure how different Matthias was, but he liked to think that they were friends now. That hopefully meant that Matthias would listen to him complain about Thorne without telling him to grow up.

Not that Winter had done that. He just didn’t have a lot of time to dedicate to listening to Samuel the way he did before. Samuel was happy for him, really he was, but it was nice to have someone who would listen to him again.

He eyed Matthias, who seemed perfectly content to sit in the armchair and eat his cookie. Was he here because he was lonely, or did he actually like spending time with Samuel? Samuel wasn’t sure, and that bothered him.

He’d never had a lot of friends. His mother always said that his personality was too much for a lot of people, and he suspected that was right. It was probably why he didn’t get along with his siblings and why none of them had called him since he’d moved away from their birth clan.

Then, he’d met Winter. The two of them had stuck together ever since, and it had been them against the world. Some days, Samuel had thought it would be perfect if the two of them could fall in love with each other. Maybe his mother would have stopped pushing mages at him if that happened, but no. Winter was just a friend, and he’d never been anything else. Now, Winter had a mage, but Samuel didn’t. If he ever went back home, his mother would jump on that and find him someone, even though he didn’t want to be someone’s shield. It wasn’t the kind of relationship he was willing to settle for, especially not with someone he didn’t know.