Chapter 74 Chapter 74
What he had done wasn’t something she condoned, but she couldn’t deny that she was attached to him, and this tension between them was gnawing at her. She hated it. And she hated herself for being riled up so easily, for shouting insults at him when it hadn’t been necessary. Maybe she should do what Hope and Esther had told her to do. Maybe she should talk to him… and maybe he would be willing to listen.
When Valerie reopened her eyes, she was surprised to see the light magic that had been swirling around her gone. No trace of it was left. Its wild flow had calmed down along with the emotions in her heart.
She was surrounded by rays of sunlight, but those were completely natural; a beautiful sight. Valerie smiled, reaching her hand out to touch one of them, feeling warmth and a pleasant tingling on her fingertips.
Curiously, she observed her hand, seeing the light shining brighter around it. She blinked, watching tiny orbs of white light appear and float around her hand. It was a foreign yet incredibly beautiful sight. If this was light magic, then she didn’t mind it being a part of her.
As soon as she had ended the thought, golden shimmering particles formed in her palm until a ball of light came into existence. It was small, not nearly as big as Maxwell’s had been, but it was an achievement she was proud of. However, it did not hold for long. After she exhaled, losing her focus for only a second, the ball dissolved. She stared at her empty palm with wide eyes.
“Did I do that?” she breathed in awe.
“Yes.”
She winced, turning around to see Maxwell leaning against a tree, watching her attentively. His earlier anger seemed to be gone; he appeared to be much calmer now, but his expression was still unreadable.
“Where did you come from?” she asked embarrassedly.
“Your ten minutes were up a while ago, but I did not want to disturb you,” he said and shrugged. “That went better than expected. What were you thinking so intently?”
She looked at him, her eyes widening. “It was… um… not that important…” she trailed off, prompting him to lift an eyebrow. “We need to talk about some things, Maxwell.”
His gaze hardened instantly, streaks of red appearing in his iris. “Oh, do we? I wonder whose fault that is,” he said accusingly, already going on the offensive, which was exactly what she had wanted to avoid.
“It’s as much my fault as it is yours,” she said, trying to keep a cool head despite the chaos in her heart. She got up from the ground and walked up to him, standing in front of him with a serious expression. There was a question in her head that had been bugging her for a while, and she needed to hear his answer. “You see, I was hoping that you would change your views of us humans, and just when I thought you got over your hate, you go and… and murder someone.”
She blinked, but the annoying burning in her eyes wouldn’t go away. Nervously, she stared at her hands that were glowing faintly, the magic reacting to her distress.
“It wasn’t just someone,” Maxwell replied bitterly with a dark look in his eyes. “That man deserved it for what he did to you! Do you really think I could have let him go after hearing about it? After witnessing how he treats you?”
“I get that you were angry, but… but it’s wrong to resort to violence,” she said quietly. “If you wanted to let your anger out, you could have done something else.”
“This wasn’t about my anger. I had to make sure he would never hurt you again, and the only way to do that was to get him out of the way,” Maxwell explained, his voice trembling with irritation and hatred, but this time it wasn’t directed at her. Neither was his smoldering glare, which he kept fixed on the darkness between the trees. “I did this for your sake, to protect you, but all you do is call me selfish and self-centered. You humans are so hard to understand,” he snapped.
Her eyes widened. She had never expected that to be his drive behind his actions. Now that he had explained it, it made sense to her, but she couldn’t deny that his way of thinking was twisted and fucked up. Protecting someone by murdering someone else… It was something that would never cross her mind. Their ways of thinking were so unlike each other, just as their views on morals.
She sighed deeply and came to terms with the fact that she had misunderstood him from the start. Raising her chin, she met his gaze and attempted to smile at him. “I see. I’m sorry for calling you selfish, and I’m sorry for yelling at you, too,” she said softly. “But there is one thing we need to make clear from now on: Please don’t use violence where it isn’t needed. I was terrified when I found out what you did.”
“I would never hurt you, and it wasn’t my intention to cause you distress either. Shouldn’t you know that?”
“You’re right,” she replied, her eyes filled with regret. “I owe you an apology for… for overcomplicating things.”
“Well, it was my fault too. I should have known you would not appreciate what I did, but sometimes I tend to forget that you humans think differently about many things.”
Valerie felt the weight on her shoulders lighten as the red in his eyes faded. He did not appear to be angry anymore, just frustrated, likely for the same reason she was. Talking should have been the first thing to do after she found out about the murder; her running away started a downward spiral, leading to him being angry and disappointed, which then again led to endless arguments.
She was relieved that he didn’t glare at her anymore, but he kept his distance, which didn’t happen before. It saddened her somewhat since she missed being close to him, but she respected his wish to stay away from her. He probably had his reasons.