[ — there it is. what alina assumes he had been fishing for, casting out his line and his bait and waiting to hook her into bleeding out information. a quick arsenal of replies fire off the synapses of her brain. he has a name, quickly followed by, he's not my tracker. despite what you believe, people don't belong to each other. but there's a greater truth staring her in the face, bright and glaring and demanding her attention.
one that's so childishly petulant that she nearly doesn't consider the possibility at all, at first; it's a ridiculous suspicion to entertain. surely he believes envy is a human emotion so far beneath him as to stomp it into the dirt, an itch at his pride that's not to be trifled with. alina's gaze swivels toward him with a skeptic incredulity that slowly gives way to ...
the faintest aura of smugness curling her mouth. never mind that she and rhys are teetering on a cliff's edge, too complicated and shattered to call what they have a relationship. never mind that her year aboard ximilia has created a chasm of distance between herself and mal she isn't sure how to bridge yet. what's important is that he's slipped and given her his own secret, without her needing to dirty her hands by prying. ]
Aleksander, [ she says, slow, like she's sounding out a sentence to a toddler. ] Jealousy is such a base emotion.
[ it's what she can imagine him claiming, at any rate, as if he's convincing anyone but himself. ]
no subject
one that's so childishly petulant that she nearly doesn't consider the possibility at all, at first; it's a ridiculous suspicion to entertain. surely he believes envy is a human emotion so far beneath him as to stomp it into the dirt, an itch at his pride that's not to be trifled with. alina's gaze swivels toward him with a skeptic incredulity that slowly gives way to ...
the faintest aura of smugness curling her mouth. never mind that she and rhys are teetering on a cliff's edge, too complicated and shattered to call what they have a relationship. never mind that her year aboard ximilia has created a chasm of distance between herself and mal she isn't sure how to bridge yet. what's important is that he's slipped and given her his own secret, without her needing to dirty her hands by prying. ]
Aleksander, [ she says, slow, like she's sounding out a sentence to a toddler. ] Jealousy is such a base emotion.
[ it's what she can imagine him claiming, at any rate, as if he's convincing anyone but himself. ]