Tales From Otherworld: Collection One by Yasmine Galenorn

Author:Yasmine Galenorn [Galenorn, Yasmine]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Nightqueen Enterprises LLC
Published: 2014-08-29T00:00:00+00:00

A CRACKLE OF FLAMES

This scene—from Delilah’s point of view—takes place shortly before Autumn Whispers…

Shade had kindled the bonfire in the fire pit and now we sat around the flames, watching them crackle and pop as they spit their way up the wood. The night was cool and leaves were deserting the trees, caught up in the whirl of the wind. It was clear for once, and stars littered the sky overhead, sparkling in the chill of the mid-October evening.

I fiddled with the ring on my finger, the smoky quartz hadn’t come off since I’d first accepted it and now it was like a part of me—it was a part of my nature and bound me to Shade in ways I still didn’t understand.

He handed me a stick and the bag of marshmallows, and I impaled four of them, then held the candy over the flames, catching the sugar alight. I watched the marshmallows char and bubble up, and then pulled my bounty back, blowing out the flames. I always bit into them too fast, always ended up burning my mouth, and this time I told myself I’d wait. But the scent was too tempting and, once again, I had a mouthful of molten sugar and fanned my tongue.

Shade laughed. “You never learn, do you, Delilah?” But his eyes were warm and I knew he was teasing me. He seldom called me sweetie, or love, or honey—almost always my name, though he did call me Kitten like the others. Or when he was in the mood for sex, he’d call me Pussycat.

I shrugged. “What can I say? I like to live dangerously.” I took another bite, but the candy had cooled enough and this time, I happily finished it off.

We were down by Birchwater Pond, where we’d installed picnic tables and the fire pit and a covered shelter. Tonight, Shade and I had felt the need for some privacy, other than in our rooms, so we’d decided to spend the evening here, under the shadow of the night.

This was our time. Autumn, the season of our master, The Autumn Lord. Hi’ran was strong with us tonight, looming like a great shadow of fire and smoke. I could feel him in the trees, in the flames, in the very air with its chill tang that bit into the skin ever so slightly.

“He’s here.” I glanced at Shade.

“I know. He’s watching us. He’s watching the world. There’s something afoot and the Harvestmen are alert.”

“Samhain is coming—perhaps that has something to do with it?” The season of death was upon us, the season of the Witch, the season of the cauldron. Camille’s season, with her death magic. Menolly’s season—the time of the vampire. And now…now that I was a Death Maiden, my season, too. We lived in a world of darkness and flame, but it was comforting as well as melancholy.

Shade closed his eyes, leaning back to listen to the wind. After a few minutes he shook his head. “This is not in the natural order of things.

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