Oh, great. They were back. The negative thoughts, swooping in like uninvited dinner guests who wouldn't take the hint.
The moment Riona saw Thorin's face, everything she'd stuffed into the emotional junk drawer burst out in full force, slapping her upside the head.
Longing? Check. Guilt? Double check. An overwhelming sense of impending doom? Oh, absolutely.
It wasn't just that she had missed him with every fiber of her being. There hadn't been a single moment when she didn't yearn to be by his side again.
But that yearning came with some lovely parting gifts: guilt and the nagging certainty that everyone in Wintertooth hated her guts.
And honestly, could she blame them?
Hatred was something Riona understood. She had been hated her entire life, and it was easier to accept when it came from a distance, faceless and impersonal.
