Velentham walked back to the cottage exhausted and in a rage. No sooner than he let up on his mental control than Sanria shouted at him, "Get out... get out now!" He would have held out longer were it not for so many people. He would have to come back later, get Sanria alone, make her understand that he loved her, she loved him, and they belonged together. He needed help. He would ask his cousin.
The cottage was quiet as he went in, noticing Gilean sitting there with a book on his lap. "You have to help me," Velentham began. "I did it your way, I didn't force her and she told me no. So I had to do it my way. But it didn't work. I didn't have time to get her alone to make her understand -" He paced the room having worked himself up into a new froth.
"My involvement with you has practically cost me my relationship with Claire, do you know that?"
"Look, I'm sorry, alright? I promise, if you help me I'll help you in any way I can - regardless of how I feel about you."
"If you want to help me Velentham, then go. Make your own way. I thought that was your plan anyway."
Velentham continued asking, but Gilean seemed so sure of himself. "So... she rejected you," Gilean said.
"Well... I... yes but that's not acceptable."
"You have to understand that for her to have a choice means she has a choice. It's not a choice for her to choose what you think she should."
"I can't be without her, Gilean. I can't."
"Velentham, slow down and take a breath. Now what happened? What did she say to you?"
It was in his own world Velentham found himself. Far from plotting and planning how to tell Gilean what he did, Velentham told him everything. It shouldn't have shocked him that his cousin could get so upset, but Gilean read him the riot act. "By the gods, you wanted to show her how you really felt... I think you've shown her more of yourself that you ever could have imagined."
Velentham went for the door. He'd go back. He'd go back now and finish even if it drove him into the ground with exhaustion. He flung the door open to reveal Sanria standing there, mid-knock. Velentham's heart sank at the look on her face upon seeing him.
