Scrivens by Kathryn Moon

Author:Kathryn Moon [Moon, Kathryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kathryn Moon

I woke up with a heave, bile and bad wine and sorrow in my throat. Joanna was sobbing on the mattress at my side, Isaac scrambling across the sheets away from her. Callum lay with eyes open wide at the ceiling, his fingers fisting so tight in the sheets I thought he was likely to tear through them.

“Did I… did I hurt her?” Isaac whispered, face bloodless white.

“You left her, you left us,” I snarled.

“You…all…left,” Joanna gasped through wracking cries.

Callum twitched at that, rolling to his side and gathering Joanna up tight in his arms until she was clinging to him. With every broken moan from her lips, Callum returned to himself, his face softening from the frozen shock, until he was sitting up, Joanna bundled to his chest.

“Nightmare,” I said, blinking. We were in our bedroom, together, and my mouth was dry as dust and horribly stale, but this was our home. Not mine alone.

Isaac looked like he was about to fall off the end of the bed, expression stricken and fixed to Joanna. I grabbed his wrist, his whole body flinching in response.

“Ise, it was a nightmare. Just a nightmare, come here. Come here.”

Isaac remained stiff and frozen, watching Joanna sniffle into Callum’s shoulder.

“That wasn’t just a nightmare,” Callum said, voice hollow.

“No,” I agreed. It was my worst fear, played out over the course of a day. Living alone in the tower house, our coven in pieces, a child in a family I didn’t really belong to, would only know in a cursory way.

Isaac exhaled and fell forward onto the mattress, tugging on my hand until I knew it was safe to go to him. I could guess what he dreamt of—turning into his father, hurting Joanna. I wrapped him up in my arms, a mirror of Callum and Joanna, and that was not enough to soothe the terrifying sense that my dream was waiting just around the corner. That I might blink and find myself awake in the wrong version of my life all over again.

Callum caught my glance, jerking his head, and we scooted closer. Under his breath, Isaac chanted, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Until all at once Joanna twisted out of Callum’s hold and into mine, her arms circling Isaac’s neck. Callum followed, the pair of us framing Joanna and Isaac. The bond thrummed and I shivered. Together our heartbeats slowed and steadied to a perfect, even pace with one another.

“I know who I would be without you,” Callum whispered, a shadow passing over his face.

“You are a good man,” I said, seeing the doubt flickering back in answer. “That’s not who you would be, it’s who you refuse to be.”

Callum swallowed, head ducking down to rest his forehead against the back of Joanna’s neck. Joanna was whispering in Isaac’s ear, sweetness and trust, until he was soft, kissing the skin of her shoulder, vowing gentleness.

“We’re all going to be alright now,” I promised, hearing the catches in their breath as they settled back into calm, all of us surrounded by one another.

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