How It Was (Oath of Bane Book 6) by T. S. Joyce

Author:T. S. Joyce [Joyce, T. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wicked Willow Press
Published: 2021-08-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

“Trinadel Delilah Hogue.”

“Trinadel,” he repeated. She loved the sound of her name on his lips.

He bent his knee up where he sat against the wall, and rested his arm on it. Trina was lying on her side in the recliner he’d pulled in here for her.

“My mom used to call me her little Del Del. Because it was the end of my first name and the beginning of my middle name. Sometimes she’d call me Del Pickle. You know, like the type of pickles? Because I used to want extra pickles on my sandwiches.”

He cracked a grin. “My dad had nicknames for me and all my brothers.”

“What was yours?”

The smile fell from his face. “He called me Fier. He knew an old language. He never told me whether it meant Fire or Fear, though. When I would ask him, he always told me ‘what does it feel like it means today?’ I was always afraid when I was a kid, so most of the time I was Fear.”

“Afraid of what?”

He waited a few seconds before he answered, “Myself.”

Trina’s heart reached for him. She scooted closer to him on the recliner. “And what does it feel like it means today?”

“Fire. The Fear left years ago.”

Wow. “I want to get to where you are someday. No fear.”

“Mmm. To get rid of fear, you have to become the thing you’re afraid of.” He canted his head and studied her with those dark eyes that never seemed to miss anything. “I don’t wish that on you.”

Movement caught her eye, and she startled at a mouse that trotted across the floor and into the kitchen.

“Little vulture,” Nuke murmured as he tracked the rodent’s movements. “No crumb stands a chance in this house.”

“You can trap him.” She knew it was a him because he was dragging some very large nuggets behind him.

“Nah. He’s not hurting anything. Besides, he’s kind of become my buddy. It’s nice to have something to come home to.”

“Where did you live before?”

“Here and there. I was in Siberia for a long time. The cold was good for me and my family. It quieted the animals and made it feel like we were in control.”

“Why did you come to a warmer climate?”

He shook his head. “The cold reminds me of them.”

“Your family?”

A nod.

“What happened to them?”

“What happened to yours?” he fired back.

He didn’t expect her to answer. She could tell. He’d popped back with the same question to redirect their conversation, but she was getting braver with him. “My mom left when I was twelve. I think she needed to. I think my dad was very good to her for a long time, but then he changed and she was the only one who was trying. And she tried for years, I remember watching her try. She would ask him to be kinder to her, to be more patient, to not be so controlling, but he got worse and worse. Sometimes kids end up with the wrong parent. My dad made sure my sister and I stayed with his Murder, and my mom was pushed out.

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