Huntsman by Hebert Cambria

Author:Hebert, Cambria
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cambria Hebert Books, LLC
Published: 2021-08-10T16:00:00+00:00

27

Earth

* * *

Dull shouts could be heard even from out on the street.

Glass shattering made my blood run cold.

She was in there. A girl no bigger than a sprite, a soul gentler than a lamb.

Her whimper for help still burned my eardrum. It pounded at my temple as if any part of me needed a reminder.

It was me she called. My phone that rang.

She could have called her brother. She should have.

She didn’t.

And then she reached for me. Lifted her arms, seeking solace I didn’t have but she always managed to find regardless.

Neo and I both stood in front of her, but it was me she looked at. Me she chose.

In that moment, I felt the heavy weight of an invisible collar shackle itself around my neck. The key wasn’t mine to wield, but even if it was, I wouldn’t have used it.

She owned me now. Despite my busted lip and thoughts of disappearing. Despite the fact I was not nor would ever be good enough.

I belonged to Virginia, and the rest of the world could go straight to hell.

“We aren’t done talking,” Neo informed me after we’d all been kicked out and the doors to the Tower locked behind us.

“Talking involves words, not fists,” Ivory stated coolly.

We both glanced at her, then back at each other.

“I thought things were getting better between you two. What happened?” Ivory asked.

I glanced at my brother—funny how I still thought of him that way—and quirked an eyebrow.

He made a face. “I saw them kissing.”

Ivory’s brow creased, but then realization dawned. Her eyes blew wide, and her naturally red lips pulled into a smile. Her arms grasped my forearm to tug in excitement. “You and V?” she exclaimed. “Oh goodness, this is wonderful!”

I glanced down to where her manicured hand lay on my arm, then up, and our eyes collided.

Nothing.

I felt nothing.

“It is not.” Neo glowered.

Ivory turned to him to demand, “Why not?”

“You know why.”

Her lips pursed, and she turned back to me. “You would never hurt Virginia, would you?”

“I would rather die.”

Her eyes turned warm as if I’d recited some romantic poem. She was a weird woman.

“See!” she told Neo.

“And so I’m supposed to take his word?” Neo bit out. “He tried to kill you, Ivory. More than once. He—”

“But he didn’t.” Her quiet words cut off Neo’s tirade and drew my eyes once more.

Hers were gentle and forgiving when they touched on mine, and she smiled. “If it weren’t for Earth, I really would be dead and it was all because of my wretched stepmother.”

“Don’t make excuses for me,” I told her.

“I’m not. But I have forgiven you. You’re my family now.”

A lump formed in my throat. My eyes drilled holes in hers as I thought so many things I would never say. Things I wouldn’t even know how to voice. How it had been her who woke up the change inside me, how her annoying, screeching presence in my life had somehow cracked open the door to the humanity I’d managed to suppress.

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