It got worse before it got better, even with Tobias's focus tugging the feeling away. Such pain it was like a choke-hold, drowning everything else to oblivion. Asha's skin shivered. Tears pricked her eyes, quickly scrubbed from her cheeks with a sleeve. Suddenly she didn't want to know the explanation that would make sense of such sorrow, squashed so quickly down with a gulp of wine. Then Rowan disappeared all together.
Asha's mind skipped over the conversation, murmured an apology under her breath for how tightly she had probably crushed Tobias's hand. It took a moment to piece herself back together now that the room was quieter. The emotions fled with their owners, but the effects on her body were less transitory. "I can tell them about you," she said to Rowan. "It's up to them if they choose to come and speak to you."
It was the best she could do; she wouldn't break Nox or Aria's confidence, not after all they had done to help her when she had been, quite literally, left with nothing. A wan smile lifted her lips, to show she was not being simply diffident with the information, only loyal.
"Rowan, from where I am sitting there are literal gods and monsters walking the earth." She laughed a little, though she felt wrung out by now. Tobias's hunger seeped through, though at least that was something easy enough to ignore. She'd spent enough time living in her car with barely a cent to her name to have conquered that much control. "You don't know about it, the world does not know about it, because that's what the Atharim do."
More guests? She glanced at Tobias, worried.
Asha's mind skipped over the conversation, murmured an apology under her breath for how tightly she had probably crushed Tobias's hand. It took a moment to piece herself back together now that the room was quieter. The emotions fled with their owners, but the effects on her body were less transitory. "I can tell them about you," she said to Rowan. "It's up to them if they choose to come and speak to you."
It was the best she could do; she wouldn't break Nox or Aria's confidence, not after all they had done to help her when she had been, quite literally, left with nothing. A wan smile lifted her lips, to show she was not being simply diffident with the information, only loyal.
"Rowan, from where I am sitting there are literal gods and monsters walking the earth." She laughed a little, though she felt wrung out by now. Tobias's hunger seeped through, though at least that was something easy enough to ignore. She'd spent enough time living in her car with barely a cent to her name to have conquered that much control. "You don't know about it, the world does not know about it, because that's what the Atharim do."
More guests? She glanced at Tobias, worried.