Page 182 of Tears for a Broken Sky
The door creaked open.
And there he was.
Thorne.
But not the Thorne I remembered.
He didn’t speak. Just walked in like he belonged there. Like nothing had happened. His jaw was tight, his shoulders stiff beneath his cloak. And he wasfidgeting—his hands clenched and unclenched at his sides, over and over, like he couldn’t remember what they were for.
Then he started pacing.
Back and forth. Back and forth.
Like an animal trapped in a cage.
“What the hell are you doing?” I snapped.
He didn’t answer.
Just kept pacing. His boots scuffed the floor. His breath came in uneven bursts, too quiet for rage, too loud for calm.
“Thorne.” I took a step forward. “What are you doing here?”
He froze.
And then, slowly, turned to look at me.
His eyes were wrong. Clouded. Flickering—not with emotion, but with static, swirling from black to green.
Like someone hadrewired himand left pieces loose.
“I—I wasn’t supposed to come in,” he muttered. “I was just... listening.”
I felt my heart lurch in my chest.
“Listening to what?”
“To you.” His voice dropped lower. “You screamed.”
He looked down at his hands like they belonged to someone else.
“I thought you were hurt.”
I swallowed hard. “And now that you know I’m not?”
He blinked. “I don’t know.”
For one brief moment, I thought I saw a flash of green in his eyes.
Real green. Not that black void from before. Not dull obedience.
Him.
I took a step toward him.
He jerked, his hand on his sword hilt - like I was a threat to him.
My breath caught.
