Grim Echoes

Chapter 74 - Ander

Maeve's face twisted with shock and then sympathy. When her eyes finally rose to meet his, they were watery. He stepped toward her but then stopped, concerned he appalled her. She closed the distance between them and gingerly touched his chest, as if his wounds were still fresh. Her fingers moved over the landscape of his chest and stomach, traced the largest brand over the cuneiform that covered much of his skin. Stiff with conflict, the memories of the sorcerer pushed to the front of his mind. The sensation of his flesh burning combated against the exhilaration from Maeve's fingers on his bare skin.

Her hands stopped. She tried to step back with a thoughtful expression. Ander took her hands and put them back on his chest and forced himself to focus on her. Not the memories. Everything had improved since her arrival. He refused to allow thoughts of the sorcerer to dominate his mind.

"It is all right, they do not hurt anymore,"

"But they did." Moisture made her lashes wet.

"Yes." he took a deep breath "they did, but this." he took her hand and traced the largest, most painful burn. The brand that went through most of the cuneiform on his chest and stomach "was necessary. Will and Mason had to place it."

Maeve snatched her hand away like it was on fire. Her eyes darted to Will's sleeping figure. Her fingers touched her parted lips as she shook her head in disbelief. Tears rolled down her cheeks. He compartmentalized the memory of fear and pain from Will and Mason's efforts. It served no purpose in his interaction with Maeve. Ander captured her trembling hands and held them against his chest.

"He had no choice. He was attempting to save me," Ander clarified.

"Save you?" she croaked and blinked several times.

He kept hold of her hands and led her to his bed, sat down, and gently pulled her with him.

"I don't understand. You were terrified when it happened," Maeve began with a strangled voice. "You were in chains. The pain wasn't just from the actual burn it was, deeper somehow,"

"This is cuneiform." Ander ran her hands over the many groupings of small, arrow-like shapes.

Maeve just stared at him without understanding.

"It is what the Sumerians used to write." he removed one of his hands from hers and raked his hair back.

"Sumerians?" Her free hand fluttered to her necklace and twisted it. "How does this connect why Will would burn you?"

"Sumerians. I did not desire to have all this marked on my body." Ander gestured to the dozens of incantations tattooed on his upper body and pondered an explanation where he was not a villain. He ran his hand through his hair again. "I... lost my way for a time and thought." he paused. "I was a fool and Will saved me." he gazed at their hands. He wanted to tell Maeve the truth, wanted her to know him more than any other human, but the thought his weakness might repulse her made him falter.

"I don't know if I'm more upset that you think you somehow deserved that pain, or that Will was involved in giving it." she squeezed his hand.

He had not anticipated her reaction, but she did not yet know all the history. If he told her, she might never view him the way she did now. Unsure if he could bear it, he remained silent. Not realizing how much it terrified him, he might disgust her until he stood on the edge of honesty with another human.

"Ander," Maeve took her hand and raised his chin, "tell me, please. I need to understand."

"Give me a moment," he whispered, and took a deep breath. Recalling her words from only days before that he did not need to hide anymore, she accepted him. Those bottomless eyes urged him to confide in her that she would still care for him.