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“More than you, apparently. I would certainly never have abandoned a thirteen year old child,” she said furiously.
Thorn reared back as if she’d struck him, and he tugged her quickly back against his side, not sure how his uncle would react.
“That was a mistake,” he said finally, his voice stiff. “I did not handle my sister’s death well.”
Marsh was too shocked by the admission to respond, but Aurora’s anger didn’t ease.
“Do you think it was any easier for Marsh to lose his mother? To find himself alone with no one to turn to? To have to figure out how to do everything for himself? To-”
“That’s enough,” he interrupted as the bitter memories washed over him. “The past cannot be changed.”
“No,” his uncle agreed, but he was looking at Aurora. “By the time I realized I’d made a mistake, the boy was doing well enough on his own.”
“How did you know that?”
“I kept - keep - track,” Thorn said, gesturing at the woods.
His uncle had used the plants to keep watch over him all these years without ever making his interest known? Too shocked to figure out how he felt about that, he tucked it away to deal with later and returned to the current issue.
“Why did you finally decide to show yourself?” he demanded.
“Because of her.” Thorn no longer sounded quite as angry as he nodded towards Aurora. “It is possible that I misjudged the situation.”
“You think?” she muttered, but he was glaring at his uncle.
“You really thought I would kidnap a female and bring her here; keep her here against her will?”
“I…” His uncle actually unbent enough to sigh. “I know that you’ve been alone for a long time. I know that humans can be… tempting. I didn’t believe you would hurt her, but I thought you might be foolish enough to believe it could last.”
“And why can’t it?” Aurora demanded. “If two people care about each other, what else matters?”
“The world matters, child. Our world. Your world.”
“Both of those worlds rejected Marsh. Maybe it’s time we made our own world.”
His heart skipped a beat. Did she really mean what she was saying? Or was she simply trying to convince Thorn to leave them alone?
Thorn tilted his head to one side as he considered Aurora, then dipped it slightly.
“Perhaps. But it would not be an easy task.”
“Is anything worthwhile ever easy?”
A hint of what might have been a smile curved his uncle’s lips.
“Perhaps not.” Thorn looked past him to the house again, then took a step back. “Time for me to leave.”
He had mixed feelings about that as well and he suspected Aurora noticed.
“You could stay for a glass of tea,” she offered a little begrudgingly.
“Not today. But perhaps in the future…”
His uncle looked at him as he spoke and he shocked both of them by nodding. Thorn returned the gesture, then departed without another word, the bushes closing smoothly behind him as if he’d never been there at all.
“Maybe he isn’t quite as bad as I imagined,” Aurora said thoughtfully. “Although he’s still close.”
Right now, he had more important things to worry about than his uncle. He gathered her into his arms, lifting her chin so he could watch her face.
