Free Sinjin by H. P. Mallory Page B

the mention of my parents, a bizarre yearning to know more started to fill me. Neither Jolie nor I ever knew our parents. Jolie was adopted as a baby and raised by a foster family, and I was raised by Luce and my people. Feelings of ache and longing began to billow up inside of me as I thought of the family I’d never known.
    Stop, Bryn, I told myself.
    “If you wish to know about your parents, I am eager to inform you,” the old woman continued.
    But I immediately shook my head. Whatever contrived story this old woman tells you, it’s not the truth, I reminded myself.
    No, the truth could only come from Luce, despite how bitter and hard to accept it might be. Luce had already informed me that my mother was of fae descent, and therefore, a member of the Underworld. In my eyes, my mother had been one of them, one of my enemies. My father, however, was an Elemental.
    “I’m ready to return to my room,” I said with calm reserve as I faced my sister again, feeling like I couldn’t stomach another bald-faced lie from the old woman. All this untrustworthy magic was starting to make me doubt myself.
    Jolie nodded at me sadly.

FIVE
     
    “Meeting is adjourned,” Jolie announced. I started for the door, wanting simply to retreat into the solitude of my makeshift sleeping quarters so I could close myself off from the world around me, but Jolie’s voice stopped me. “Bryn and Sinjin, would you mind remaining behind? There’s something I wanted to discuss with both of you.”
    With a long, deep sigh, I realized my plans to escape had been thwarted, but I waited behind all the same. I sensed Sinjin’s presence as he walked up behind me, the coolness of his body enveloping mine even though he didn’t so much as touch me. Somehow, Sinjin’s coolness didn’t bother me though. His body temperature was definitely lower than mine but it wasn’t as though he was ice cold to the touch.
    Rand steadfastly remained at my sister’s side, watching her with loving adoration. Her attention, however, centered on the rest of her council, all now hastily emptying from the room. Odran was the last to exit and closed the door behind him, leaving us to our privacy. Once we had the room to ourselves, Jolie faced Sinjin and me again. “Sinjin,” she started with a warm smile.
    I stepped away from the vampire, uncomfortable with his nearness. I turned back around to face him and caught him looking at my sister. There was something in Sinjin’s eyes that immediately responded to Jolie’s smile. It was no more than a tiny flinch in his otherwise unwavering gaze, but it was very telling all the same. Honing in on him, I attempted to discern his feelings, but, of course, only butted headlong into the steel wall of his defenses. He protected himself well—so well that getting into his psyche was like trying to breach a medieval fortress. Even though I failed to access his innermost thoughts and feelings, I could still detect the remnants of his emotions even though he did his best to keep them bottled up inside, hidden safely beyond a defensive bulwark.
    I knew Sinjin was fond of my sister; that much was obvious. His feelings of admiration for her surrounded him like a fog. But when partnered with that flinch I ’d noticed earlier in his eyes, I could tell that fondness wasn’t where his feelings for Jolie ended. No, they went much deeper than that. I continued to study Sinjin: watching the way he eyed Jolie, and how his gaze remained steady and unwavering whenever he stared at her. Meanwhile, I also continued to pick up subtle clues as to his innermost thoughts regarding her. Although I still couldn’t receive very much, owing to Sinjin’s refined skills at keeping his feelings captive behind the barricade of his overt defenses, a warm feeling suddenly overcame me.
    And it was at that moment that I had an epiphany. Jolie was essentially the sun in the abysmal darkness that comprised Sinjin’s life.
    Yep, there was no doubt about it—