The Huntress Book 1 Memories by Mihaela Gheorghe Page B

said, my
wishes never came true. And they never will.
    Perhaps the snow creaked again. I do not
know. But when Dane came literally out of nowhere, I was convinced
that I didn’t hear any footsteps in the snow. Or maybe I was too
absorbed with my thoughts to hear him. So it's no surprise that I
flinched when I heard him talking.
    “I am still surprised how you can stand the
cold, moisture and frost.” he says.
    “You said something like that once.” I
smile.
    “That doesn't mean I'm less surprised.”
    He has his particular voice that calms down
involuntarily.
    “You know that it's past midnight?”
    His question has nothing to do with the
discussion. But as a matter of fact, this is pretty much the way
all our discussions are. With questions with no link between them.
So all I can do is shrug with a total indifference.
    “So?”
    It follows a moment of silence.
    “Why aren’t you at the Ball with the
others?”
    Again, an unrelated question. But this time I
was the one who asked it. But he did not respond. Instead, he asks
me something else.
    “You know it's Christmas?”
    I answer as the first time. I only shrug and
say:
    “So?”
    He approached me. Like every time he does
this thing, I strained, being about to move to a retreat.
    “Don’t do that.” he says.
    Somehow, his tone sounds like annoyance,
somehow frustration.
    “Do what?”
    “You think I do not see how you retire
whenever I take a step towards you?”
    The discussion becomes too personal and I
start to dislike it.
    “Oh, that.” I say carelessly. “I think it's
an instinctive reaction. Not necessarily when it comes about you. I
think I do that with everyone.”
    He is silent for a moment, and then he
continues.
    “That's true.”
    And then silence again. But he takes another
step towards me. The movement was very smooth, like he floated.
    “You know you're weird, right?”
    Dane slightly frowned. I can see suspicion in
his eyes.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Hey, come on! Your movements are too lined,
and sometimes you're so still, that you look like a statue. As if
you haven’t anything human. “
    My words are followed by a tense silence from
him. His question is just as tense.
    “You think so? I had nothing human in
me?”
    He sounds wounded. Therefore, I rush to
disagree.
    “Gosh, no! You misinterpreted what I said!
Forget about it! But if it does you any good, let me tell you that
at least from my point of view, you are perhaps the most human I’ve
ever known. And your brother as well. And I am convinced that your
whole family is the same.”
    “I think it's the most beautiful thing you've
said since we met!”
    He seems pleased about my words. But, how
Dane is now very near me, I see myself forced to stand. I breathe
in my hands. I wag one foot to another to take the chill off me a
little. Neither of his side, I feel any heat emanation. Perhaps he
is as frozen as I do, although it does not appear so. He speaks
again, with that tone from the start, soothing.
    “You know I said it's Christmas?”
    I breathe once more in my hands, before
answering.
    “Yes, so?”
    “You have no wish for this Christmas?”
    I laugh at the absurdity of the idea.
    “I'm not the type who makes wishes.”
    “Okay, but if, for example, someone wanted to
give you a gift, you get to receive it.... in the Christmas
spirit?”
    Then again, I laugh.
    “Can you be you serious?”
    “I assure you I am very serious.”
    “If you say so...”
    But he insists.
    “Tell me, would you receive it?
    “I do not know. As I have not received any
gift, ever, I don't know how it is and if I should get it or not.
But, for all this talk about is hypothetical, because it snows so
pretty, because ultimately, it's Christmas, and most of all, I
repeat, because we talk about assumptions, I suspect that yes, I
think I would receive it.”
    “So, let's say, that if I would have got you
a Christmas gift, would you receive it?”
    Dane is too serious, and I realize that