"Not in my opinion."

"That doesn't mean it isn't true."

"It might as well."

"No, it doesn-" my brows knit "-wait, maybe it does. . . ."

He laughed heartily.

"You never talk to me," I presented.

He smiled, amused, but curious. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, when you lo . . . when you like someone, shouldn't you talk to them a lot?"

"It's love. And, no, not necessarily."

I furrowed, attempting to ignore the way his fingers were shifting around mine. "You're sort of mean to me."

He smiled, then swiveled his eyes around in consideration. ". . . Yeah . . . what's your point?"

"What?"

"You lost me, baby."

Baby. I moaned. Oh, that was unfair, now I've completely lost my train of thought. I knew there were more reasons. . . .

There was a long pause in which he waited patiently.

"I drive you crazy." I pointed out, freshly confused.

He raised a devilish brow, then tightened his grip on my back. "Well, obviously."

"Jaden."

"If you insist on being stupid, I'm going to go with the 'more convincing' idea."

I met his eyes hard then. And what I saw stopped me solid.

It didn't matter how little sense it made that he could possibly be in love with me. With the way he was looking at me it was undeniable. He just . . . was.

I suddenly felt deeply angry with him.

"You took too long," I said, brow narrowed lamely.

He laughed. "Well, we sort of got interrupted. . . . Plus, I didn't think you didn't know." He brought my hand up to his lips. I could feel his warm breath, nice against the cold.

"I'm dense remember."

He smiled, then kissed it. "I'll try to be more transparent in the future."

Somehow I didn't see that happening . . . I nodded anyways, biting into my lip.

Then it got quiet and he lifted his brows like he just might kiss me again. Before he could, a wet ball of fur hopped onto his shoulder, causing him to back up and release my body.

Tanis squeaked twice and Jaden eyed him derisively. Then I reached for him with a short laugh. He was soaked and must have been very cold. I enclosed him in my hands, holding him tight against my stomach to warm him.

"Thanks a lot," said Jaden.

I checked back up at the boy. He was giving Tanis a resentful expression. I pursed my lips, then lifted the little guy up, making a small hole and peeking inside.

"He's cold," I defended.

"He sabotaged me," countered Jaden, features narrowed.

I smiled, meeting his eyes till he gave me look that made my blood quicken. Then I searched around, lightening, aware once more of my surroundings. The trees, the wind, the silver sky . . . it all looked different though, very, very different.

"Uh-oh," I said, halting in my excitement. I'd just remembered something.

"What?" asked Jaden. I noticed now that he was wearing an all black outfit. Dark leather pants. Dark cloth shirt. Leather jacket over that.

"Ikovos," I explained, turning towards the path. "I told him I'd be right back, he's gonna be-"

"I already ran into him," said Jaden. "He knows I'm with you."

I settled. "Oh. . . ."

He was smirking.

"Did you kill him?"

His brow furrowed. "Would have. . . . I was a little preoccupied." He looked at me in that way again, and my knees got all shaky. We had moved away from the rock. I was closer to the path.

"I guess I'm not in trouble any more, right?" I asked it with a sugary-sweet smile. He was narrowed at first, then it disappeared completely with a head shake.

He laughed. "That's so wrong."

Tanis wiggled in my grasp. I tried to maintain my innocence by tightening my lips against a smile. Then a shiver took me, cold wind flaring up. He didn't miss a beat, stepping forward and wrapping his arm around my body. We started walking.

I thought of all the things I'd like to say or ask, like how long he'd felt this way, why in the world he did, what was going to happen now, oh, that was the big one. But we were going to run into Ikovos any second and I already didn't know how I was going to handle the situation.

When I saw him up ahead, I pointed a loose finger and looked over to Jaden. The dazzlingly gorgeous boy, that had all the more affect at such a close proximity, simply smirked knowingly, leaned down to kiss the top of my head, then released his arm, putting a slight space between us.

My skin felt hot. He could have left off the head kissing part.

I didn't have time to compose myself before Ikovos looked towards us. He eyed me, then Jaden. We both walked up slowly, me going to lean back against the rock Ikovos was sitting on. Jaden sat across from us.

I cleared my throat, continuing to stroke Tanis, then turned up.

Ikovos grinned immediately at my face.

"Jeez, what'd you do to her, Jaden?" he asked, looking to the dark-haired boy.

I blushed. Jaden sent rock flying at his head. He ducked it easily, lips drawn and looking to me.

"And he's not even angry anymore."

That's why he just threw a rock at you? But when I checked over, a smile was leaking through the obviously forced glare. It made me warm thoroughly.

"I should be."

"Hey, I didn't know you were back," defended Ikovos, meeting his eyes then gesturing over. "She's the one that lied."

"Traitor!" I yelled, disbelievingly.

His face scrunched, head shaking. "Not really, he won't get mad at you."

I flushed again, eyes dropping. Then I looked over at Jaden. He was shaking his head down and chuckling softly.

I guess Ikovos was right. I looked at the light-haired boy and he pointed haughtily. My eyes narrowed once, then I walked over to grab my jacket.

"Whatever, doesn't matter," said Jaden in a rush. "What exactly is it that you guys are doing here?"

I slipped Tanis into the inner pocket, then shrugged it on. My skin was all tingly and numb from the recent ordeal.

"You didn't know before you came?" asked Ikovos.

I turned back in time to see Jaden crossing his arms.

"I heard about it," he said. "It just doesn't make any sense to me." Then his gaze moved over to me, lingeringly.

I cleared my throat and headed back.

"How did you know where to come anyways?" asked Ikovos.

"Master Thoran." Jaden shrugged.

Both of us shot up instantly.

"He knew?" I questioned.

Jaden just smirked at me.

"He told you?" added Ikovos incredulously.

"Getting information works better when you don't have obvious intentions of using it to disobey the person," said Jaden, tilting his head.

Ikovos lifting his brows in realization. "Then he let you come?" It was more of a statement.

"He knew I would go after you guys anyways."

I hummed with a thrill at the words. I knew they were talking, and I knew this was all important stuff. But all I could focus on for any surmount of time was that the picturesque boy sitting on the rock five feet away had just told me he loved me.

Had he? . . . I wasn't dreaming it up was I? . . .

Ikovos shrugged. "He should have known we would have either way too."

"I think he did . . . ," said Jaden, face fixed off in thought. Then it turned grim and he looked at me.

We were all quiet until Ikovos leaned forward. "He did talk about the Gaeln with me there . . . he could be torn between what's best for the order and what's safe for . . ."

He stopped.

Then Jaden hopped up, confidently. "That's why I'm here. Nothing stands a chance against three artisans."

I narrowed down. Ikovos exhaled knowingly.

"What?" asked Jaden.

Ikovos took a breath. "She hasn't been able to do anything since the attacks."

I frowned, but when I looked up Jaden's mouth was tipped ruefully.

"Well, I can fix that up," he said, then he walked towards me.

I warmed at just the thought of it. If this actually worked though, I was going to have to admit to the fact that I was completely dependent on him for everything.

A loud strike of thunder interrupted him. We all looked up.

"We may want to try and reach the summit before this gets any worse," noted Ikovos.

"How much further is it?" asked Jaden.

Good thing Ikovos climbed that tree. The wind blew up fiercely.

"Twenty minutes," answered Ikovos.

Jaden nodded. Then the other boy hopped off the rock, going to grab the packs. I held Jaden's eyes for a moment, then went to grab my own bag. He stopped me, stepping forward and grabbing my hand.

Okay. I hadn't dreamt it.

"Don't be brave," he said, tone serious.

My stomach twisted. "That's interesting advice."

He gave me a "you-know-what-I-mean" look . . . And I did. Then he lifted my hands up to kiss them and went to help Ikovos get the bags.

My breath shook as the thunder rumbled again. I straightened up.