Her mind and heart clashed, waging war in the deepest parts of her.
Fool, you shouldn’t have asked. Now you feel obligated, and for what? You’ll be risking everything!
And yet, she couldn’t fathom hearing of another’s suffering, being asked so pointedly for help, and choosing to do nothing. It would make her like the very monsters she wished to avoid, if she did.
Thaddeus must have seen the wavering on her face. He drew closer and held her hand in his own. “Please, lass. We need answers we can’t get if he’s dead. It has to be you.”
Sometimes, Lunara would swear she could feel the universe holding its breath, waiting to shift one way or another, its fate in her hands—which she knew was completely absurd. She didn’t matter nearly that much.
But this was such a time, when that stillness settled into her. A quiet certainty not even her worst fears could counter.
“Alright. I’ll do it.”
Before she could talk herself out of it, Lunara left Thad on the porch and rushed into the dark interior of her cottage, grabbing various things as she moved. She probably could have reached for them through the ether later, but there was no telling how much power it would take to heal the Demon. She needed to reserve every drop.
Agreeing to her first foray out of the Evesong was enough drama for Lunara. She wouldn’t risk feeding in a strange place with people she didn’t know on top of it.
She jerked to a stop mid-step just inside her bedroom door, arms full and chest constricting as she took it in. More books lay about, open to the pages she’d left off. Half-done projects cluttered here and there. The bed that hugged her like a lover and never failed to keep her warm. A round window with its velvet seat, overlooking the blooming garden she couldn’t tame.
It was a mess, but it was hermess and she was leaving it. Just like that.
It’s only for a day or two. You’ll be back before the dust settles.
“I wouldn’t be so sure,”another voice—one that assuredly wasn’t her own—whispered in the recesses of her mind.
The breathy, singsong sound sent a current down Lunara’s spine, and her back hit the wall. She squeezed her eyes shut, clutching her belongings with white knuckles.
Please, no. Not right now.
The answering giggle did nothelp.
That infernal laugh followed almost every statement the Voice had ever made—a disturbingly cheerful, mischievous tinkling that was in complete juxtaposition to the words it said.
The intrusions, rare and random as they were, never failed to turn Lunara inside out. Still, she sent out a silent prayer everytime, begging the Sisters for the Voice to be real. Friend or foe, it didn’t matter to her.
As long as it wasn’t madness setting in. Anything but that.
Deal with it later. Or never.
Lunara shook herself, shoving her upset into the dark inner dungeon where it belonged, and dumped the items she held on the mattress.
Yes, never was good. Perfect.
In the closet, she pulled an embroidered bag down from the high shelf. Another payment, one she’d never thought to actually use.
She hardly looked at the dresses she tugged from their hangers. They were all the same, anyway, only their colors and patterns varying. She stuffed them into the bag as she walked, and added the collection on the bed after. Though, what she planned to do with a brush and gardening gloves while healing a Demon was outside her comprehension at the moment.
She used one of her moon-woven blankets to hold all the things she didn’t actually need, but that an average Sorcerit would be expected to use. Jars of salve, bundles of cloth—her distractions.
Better for them to think she spent time making potions and creams, infusing them little by little. Better they assume she had only a few tricks up her sleeve, a piddling skill she was known for. That she was just the same as every other Nachthellian.
She could hardly see over the mass in her arms when she found herself back on the porch, ready to go.
“Ach, gimme that.” Thad snatched everything away, her possessions looking so much smaller when he held them. “If you trip and break your neck, we’ll be right back where we started.”
He continued to talk as he turned and left, unaware she was frozen to the spot, her booted foot dangling in the air.
Lunara had come and gone from her home so many times, but this was different.
