This place was so alive, it eased my worries about the displacement. It was a long way from clean, or even beautiful, but it would in time become what it was meant to be.
I rested my head against the wooden railing as I turned the pages of the book cradled on my lap. No notes were scribbled, as I was utterly uninspired. Usually books were an excellent distraction, but not today.
“Have you gone up yet?” Silas descended from the stairs, knowing the answer but using the question as a reason to speak to me. He sat next to me on the step, his shoulder nudging mine.
I shook my head and flipped another page.
He plucked the book from my hand, using his thumb to save the page I was on as he flipped the cover.
“The Devoted Friend,” he read. “Did you get tired of medical journals?”
“Yes.” I snatched it back. “I haven’t had the time to build a collection. This one was a gift. I only have time for short stories.”
“If you are receptive to poetry, I could bring some for you.”
“No more gifts.”
“That I cannot promise, unfortunately.” He clicked his tongue against his teeth and shook his head regretfully. “It is impossible to look at you andnotshower you in the finest of material things.”
I blew air through my nose in a scoff, standing to ascend the stairs.
“You don’t believe me?” He followed.
“I believe you.” I kept my eyes on my book, but I couldn’t help but smile. “The wording reminded me of when you filled my tub with blood in my inebriated state.”
“Blood is liquid gold! I couldn’t think of something moreperfect than the only two things that could satiate a terrible thing like me,” he joked.
“Amusing.”
“I live to please. I am sure I would have been a jester in another time.”
“So we both agree that you are a fool?”
“It is good to know that your tongue didn’t get dull while I was away.”
“I sharpened it just for you.”
“I expected nothing less,” he laughed, watching ahead as girls fluttered in and out of the rooms, organizing their things and making our new dwelling as much of a home as it could be. “They look happy.”
“Not everyone.”
“Your mood is always glum.”
“I am the reason they’re in danger.”
“You cannot control where the corrupted wander; there is nothing you could have done.”
“I could have taken the deal earlier.”
“You were considering your options, like a good leader.”
“I was being selfish,” I muttered, underlining a string of words on the paper as I climbed the third flight of stairs.
“You were acting on self-preservation.”
“Why are you defending me?” I snapped at him, peeling my eyes from the ink on the page.
“Because I know you,” he said plainly. “An immediate acceptance was not what I expected from you. I know better than to expect you to roll over so easily.”
