Amy Lane - [Little Goddess 03] by Bound

Author:Bound [Bound]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-05-13T08:46:58+00:00

NICKY

Giving Up and Looking Up

I went thundering up the goddamned granite stairs like some sort of idiot on a white charger when I heard another voice echoing from the crown of the hill.

I was so surprised I turned into a bird instantly.

I flew into the Goddess' grove in a swish of silent feathers, and perched in the branches of one of the biggest oak trees, looking down in shock at the two figures sitting close on Adrian's marble memorial bench.

The one who wasn't the love of my life was nearly transparent, and the memory of moon-white hair fluttered under her careful fingers.

"You're so upset, luv…I don't know how to comfort you…" Adrian was saying. (It must have been Adrian—was there any other ghost with white hair who would be comforting Cory in this place?) He sounded distraught, and I was a little surprised. Weren't ghosts supposed to be either angry or at peace? Stupid question. I shook my head, bird style, fluffing the feathers at my neck.

"It's okay," Cory sniffled, "I mean…he's been furious with all of us at one time or another…he only gets this mad at people he loves, right?" A breath of air was forced from her. "Either that or people he's about to kill.”

"Well, I think you're going to live." Adrian had that same dry humor Green did, I thought in shock. I don't know why this surprised me…I guess…I guess I had expected a saint. Saint Adrian, patron of lost souls, converter of the damned to the saved, Goddess style.

"Hope so," Cory replied, her voice growing sharp and spirited. "Thanks to Bracken, I'm starting to like make-up sex.”

Adrian's ghost laughed outright, then, and the feathers down my back stood to attention. He sounded like bells. His laugh was followed by a sweet and comfortable silence, which Adrian broke by saying, "So, luv…happy anniversary?”

Cory nodded. "Yeah…" She had been huddled on the bench, her eyes focused on the transparent hands resting on her own warm, human ones, I think. Now she looked at Adrian's face and I could see the honest, bittersweet smile on her tear-stained face. "Here's to the day I finally looked up.”

"I'm so glad you did,” he murmured quietly—almost too quiet for even my bird senses to register.

"Are you sure, Adrian?” she asked, her voice low. "I mean…I put you through hell…and then…I mean…you might still be…well, here, if I hadn't been on that hill.”

"You know what love is, right luv? It's when you're more afraid of losing love than losing life…”

She laughed then, and it was a bittersweet sound. "I said those exact words to Bracken about two months ago.”

"And how is fuckhead, then?" Adrian asked, and I was so surprised at the dry epithet that I almost screeched. Cory wasn't surprised at all. She laughed, and again, the sound was bittersweet. I wondered, there in the night filled with the smell of prey and the feel of wind, when was the last time I'd heard her make a truly happy sound in her throat, without words to back it up.

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