Page 116 of Love, Nemesis
Cal watched without any apparent feelings on the matter. Lethe noticed that he continued to stare long after Lethe had put away the knife and met his eyes.
“What is it?” Lethe asked.
Cal didn’t speak for a long time. For a moment, Lethe assumed he wasn’t going to reply at all. Cal coiled his arms around his knees and rested his chin on them as he looked back at the fire.
“I’m sorry I said those things,” Cal said.
“It’s fine, kid. I don’t care.” Lethe stood up and started to stow his things for the night in his saddle bags.
The silence lingered longer this time.
“You need to get some rest. I know you didn’t sleep any last night,” Lethe said.
“I can’t sleep.”
“Not sitting up like that, you won’t. Don’t feed into it. Try and sleep if you can.” Lethe returned to the fire. “You should be proud of yourself. You helped kill the last Strike, and I’m pretty sure you have enough gold in that bag of yours to set you up for life.”
Cal smirked.
“You could officially be a Rider now,” Lethe added with a yawn.
Cal yawned too, smiling now as he lay down by the fire. “Nah,” he said, closing his eyes. “I think I want to be my own thing.”
Lethe chuckled. “Arrogant kid.”
“I’ll be able to fight well but then maybe have social skills too. Improved Rider.”
“Well, in that case, I should tell you that cutting your hand and shaking it isn’t really what we did to initiate people,” Lethe muttered.
“Wait, what? That was fake?” Cal sounded genuinely offended.
“Yeah. You need a Dear Anne. I couldn’t just say that, though. You were being brave. You put me in a tough spot.”
“Wait, so you’re kicking me out?”
“You were never in.”
“Can I be in? Officially?”
“Sure. Officially. Welcome to the Riders of Saint East.”
“No, thanks. I want to do my own thing.”
“Go to sleep,” Lethe grumbled, rolling his eyes. “Before I beat you.”
“Can’t sleep.”
“Shh.”
Lethe watched the fire, throwing in a few twigs.
“Do you miss Ana?” Cal asked.
“No.”
“You miss her, though, right?” Cal said, blatantly ignoring his response. “I pay attention.”
“Yeah, it’s starting to concern me what you choose to pay attention to,” Lethe replied.
