Page 11 of A Winter Admire

No doubt he’d misinterpreted Sinoe’s actions, just like he’d misinterpreted Torin’s all those years ago. Sinoe was probably just being kind to the sad human he’d found in the forest.

Edwin hadn’t changed since he’d professed his affections to Torin. He was the same man who had been rejected. Who’d been forgotten by his family. There was no chance Sinoe would ever return his feelings.

ChapterNine

With gloved fingers, Edwin picked the firm berries, placing them in the leather pouch at his waist. He didn’t know why he’d returned to this spot. After all, Sinoe could never return his feelings. But as he’d sat in his cabin that morning, writing up his notes on the cira, he’d felt an urge to go out again.

But now he felt foolish. He should have stayed at home rather than chase after something impossible. Or he could have just gone somewhere else in the forest. But idiot that he was, he couldn’t let go of this fascination with Sinoe.

He’d come later than he had the previous day. And unsurprisingly Sinoe wasn’t there. Slowly, he moved alongside the river, hunched over as he collected the berries.

“Good day, Edwin.”

Edwin startled at the soft, lilting voice behind him, almost losing his balance. A firm hand on his waist steadied him and stopped him from falling headfirst into the snow. Edwin turned and looked into the silvery eyes of Sinoe.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to surprise you.” He released his grip on Edwin’s waist. “I tried to walk loudly so you’d hear.”

“Hello, Sinoe,” Edwin said breathlessly. “You’re here.”What a stupid thing to say!

But Sinoe smiled at him, and Edwin didn’t regret his silly comment.

“I am,” Sinoe said. “What plant are you studying today?”

“What?”

“I said, what plant are you studying today?” Amusement shone in his eyes.

“Oh!” Edwin said. He straightened his glasses. “Ummm. I’m not really studying any plant today. I’m collecting cira berries.”

“Are you ill?” Sinoe asked, concern in his voice as he looked Edwin up and down.

“No, nothing like that. I’m sending them to my mentor in Bordertown. She wants to study them herself, since I told her that we often use them in the village to treat headaches and fever. She might even attempt to grow them.”

“They don’t have cira in Bordertown?” Sinoe asked with a tilt of his head. His white hair looked so soft and smooth. Edwin wondered what it’d be like to touch.

Edwin looked away; he shouldn’t be admiring Sinoe and getting ideas in his head. “Not from what I’ve learned. Perhaps they grow in other mountainous regions in Norend, but they don’t appear in any of my books. And Loran has never heard of them.”

He pulled out his notebook from his rucksack and held out his sketches of the cira to Sinoe. His notes were scribbled beneath the drawings. On the opposite page stood drawings of similar plants that Edwin had copied from his textbooks.

“See, these plants grow in the west, but they are different,” Edwin said. This was a topic Edwin felt comfortable with. Plants, he understood. Plants, he could talk about. “The stems are wider and darker in colour, and the berries are smaller. There are no known medicinal uses for these berries, but perhaps the plants are related. It is possible, considering they also seem to prefer the colder climates.”

Sinoe’s elegant finger traced his sketch of the cira plant. Edwin could see the darker tone and rough texture on the inside of his finger.

“You’ve captured them beautifully, Edwin.”

Edwin’s cheeks heated. Sinoe’s finger traced the scrawled pencil marks in the book, only a couple of inches from his own hand. Edwin wondered what it would feel like to have that calloused finger run along his skin, up the inside of his bare arm, or on the inside of his thigh. He shivered.

“Are you cold?” Sinoe asked.

“What?”

“How long have you been out here?”

“I’m… I’m not sure.”

Sinoe’s brows furrowed. “You shouldn’t stay out here too long.” Sinoe’s voice was low and soft, wrapping around him. “You should be curled up, warm inside your cabin.”

Edwin pictured himself in his cabin, in his bed, beneath the blankets, but in his mind, it was Sinoe surrounding him and keeping him warm. Heat pooled low in his gut.