Rowan didn't have a long time to be confused about Ethan's response because then he was being backhanded and the world skewed. His head rang with what he knew weren't fairy bells and the heat of the blood running out of his nose felt worse than the pain that began throbbing in his jaw. He barely understood what had just happened, so alien was the idea of someone he was trying to befriend backhanding him, that he looked back at Ethan with a dazed, blank expression.
He lifted his free hand to his cheek, the blood from his nose steaming in the cold where it landed on his chest and dropped to the floor in red snowflakes. "I... I... sorry." he stammered, trying to back away from Ethan, sure that he must have done something to deserve this, again. Maybe Ethan had a bad experience with being touched suddenly? "I'm so sorry, I didn't know that would scare you." he apologised, shoulders coming up in defence as he suddenly didn't feel good at all anymore.