Evaline:
My first night in the Thorne mansion was… peaceful. Almost unnervingly so.
After dinner, I returned to my room. Yet, when Oscar and Draven both insisted on staying with me, hovering around my room like stubborn shadows, I surprised them, and myself, by saying no.
"No, I want to be alone tonight," I had told them quietly. My voice hadn't wavered, though my heart had thumped hard in my chest.
The look on their faces was almost comical. Oscar's sharp jaw had clenched as if I had just denied him air itself, while Draven's eyes darkened with something that was neither unhappiness nor disappointment, but a mix of both. Still, they respected my decision, even if they walked away grumpy and muttering under their breaths like sulking children.
And after making their nights lonely and quite miserable, I slept peacefully.
Really slept.
