A Deal with Darkness by Menard Alexis L. & Owl Mystic

Author:Menard, Alexis L. & Owl, Mystic
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781648982736
Publisher: City Owl Press: Mystic Owl
Published: 2022-11-10T00:00:00+00:00

14

Night had fallen, consuming our figures in the sky as we trailed the sunset. We flew over the world, but my memories only knew Evan’s chest and heat. The flight was quick, a few hours at most until he announced our impending arrival. I could have stayed in his arms forever, surrounded by an ethereal warmth and the smell of hot cinders sinking into my skin. My eyes shut tight, focusing on each smoky breath as he carried me home, distracting myself from the throbbing pain lancing across my stomach.

Home.

I was going home for the first time in five years, and what an entrance I would make. My mother was adept in needlework, and human skin wasn’t much different than thick fabric. She could sew me up good as new—as long as she didn’t resent me enough to send me away.

“Evan?”

“Hmmm?”

“You might want to tell Azriel and Roman to hang back for a while. It’s been five years since I’ve visited my family, and I don’t know how they’ll react seeing me for the first time, much less with winged men at my side. It might not go well. But either way, I just wanted you to be prepared.”

His fingers splayed across my lower back. “And either way, I will be with you.”

“Thanks, Evan.” My gratitude was sincere.

We landed on the pebbled drive beside the farmhouse surrounded by a golden sea of blooming harvest. Evander watched me limp towards the front door. I wanted to face them on my own, felt they were owed at least that. To see me stripped of pride and my past, to prove I had changed but had only done so to keep them safe. And it was with the barest of hope I believed they could accept what happened and who I was now. But I could only stare at the door, terrified to take that next step and find out.

Evander knocked for me, growing impatient at my stalling. His rapping triggered voices on the other side, questioning the late-night unexpected visitors and who would get the door first. I glanced up at the watcher at my side for strength and found him meeting my gaze. The orange flecks in his eyes glowed bronze in the moonlight, and he smiled in reassurance, his confidence infectious.

“If you can throw a dagger at Tenebris, you can face your family, Isoldra.”

“I’d rather the heretic right about now.” My stomach twisted as the door handle jiggled. My hand snatched Evander’s forearm reactively and pulled it slightly in front of my chest in pure, unabashed cowardice.

The door creaked open slowly, just small enough for a hazel eye to peer out. It squinted, then widened, then the crack flew wide to reveal Geilis, the brother I once had now replaced with a man. His eyes large, absorbing every detail of my face, my body, in disbelief like he was looking at a ghost.

“Isoldra?” he whispered. He took a guarded step back, and I noticed his frame was slightly thinner, bonier than the last time I’d seen him.

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