Lux [h.s]

twenty-one

Cora went back into the Fair, but Harry wasn't there.

She frowned and went out again. She glanced around, trying to spot the figure of the dark-haired man she'd come to know over the past months or the telling shape of his grey cat, but she couldn't find either. Harry hadn't come back, and she hadn't seen Skat in days.

Most people had already retired to their own tents and wagons, but a very familiar fay with dark hair and entrancing violet eyes was still sitting outside hers, staring up at the sky. It took Cora an instant to realise she was looking at her bat, a shadow amongst shadows.

"Where is Skat?" Cora asked, and Thalia blinked up at her.

"Harry sent her somewhere a couple of days ago." Somewhere, code for, I know where she is, but I won't tell you.

Cora sighed. "Where is Harry, then?"

"Follow the river to the left, you'll find him," Thalia replied. "You had an argument, didn't you? It's why he hasn't come back."

"I'd prefer not to talk about it," Cora admitted, thanking her and following her directions.

It didn't take her long to find Harry. She would've been surprised with Thalia's talent, if she hadn't been too worried for the conversation that was about to take place.

He was leaning against a tree, playing with something she couldn't recognise in the darkness, his back to her. He surely sensed her presence behind him, but he didn't make a move.

She hesitantly took a step forward.

"Harry?" Her question shivered in the night, and the only signal that he'd heard her was the low hum he let out. "I was hoping we could talk about what happened."

"What's there to talk about?"

"Harry, please." She put her hand on his lower back, and he jolted. "I know what I said was insensitive, and I'm sorry. I was angry at myself and you were there."

"I'm sorry for burning you," he whispered, "I didn't do it on purpose. I hope I didn't hurt you."

"You didn't." It was a partial truth. Her fingertips were still stinging where she'd held the sphere, but the pain was already dimming, and he didn't need to know. "I know it was an accident." She'd seen it in his eyes in the instant it'd happened, in the way he'd ran away without giving her time to say as much as a word.

"I'm sorry."

Cora sighed. "I didn't come here to have you apologise to me, you know."

"Why have you come here, then?"

"I wanted to..." Her voice drifted away before she could finish the sentence. She wanted so many things—to apologise, to talk to him. To ask him why he was pushing her away. Did she truly want to do that, though? Deep down, she already knew the truth—he'd only kissed her to help her turn off that candle. Did she really want to ask him and have him say those exact same words back to her, and look like she had no idea of the way life worked in the process? She wasn't naïve enough to believe Harry kissing her meant he had any obligation towards her. If that was how things were supposed to go, then she should've had some kind of obligation towards him for kissing him the first time around. But he'd been kind enough to ignore it completely and never bring it up, so why couldn't she do the same for him?

What could she even ask him that wouldn't be awkward and pointless? Why he'd kissed her? If it'd meant anything to him, because it had meant something to her? Harry had travelled all around the world; she wasn't dumb enough to believe he'd suddenly fallen head over heels for a random girl that couldn't even harness her own powers. Harry, the one everyone seemed to know about—every noble, every commoner, even her crow. He was a legend himself, and while he'd seen enough in her to offer her a job, she certainly wasn't enough for him in that sense.