Their safe haven. Their savior.
“Is this how you see me?” I rasp. I would’ve loved for the question to emerge strong, even. But that’s beyond me now. Fuck, I can barely drag in air.
I glimpse it in her eyes—the instant she contemplates denying the truth about the connection between the character in the illustration and me. But then she drops her gaze to the screen.
“Yes,” she says softly. “His name is North. He’s a loner, a warrior, but he feels set apart from people because he’s also a changeling, and most fear and hate him for the circumstances of his birth that he had no control over. But he’s a protector, honorable. He’s good.”
Emotion surges within me, a maelstrom of shock, disbelief, hope, joy, and ... and so much fucking love I don’t understand how she can’t feel it,seeit. Right now, I’m probably doing a piss-poor job of hiding it.
Dipping my head, I point at the illustration.
“Tell me,” I demand ... beg. “And leave nothing out.”
Her arms drop to her sides, and she freezes, a fine tension entering her body. My breath catches in my lungs, and I match her in stillness. Waiting. But inside my head? I’m pleading, yelling.
Take a chance on me.
“Okay.”
Moving forward, she takes the tablet from me and lowers to the couch beside me. In moments, she pulls up a website with different thumbnails. They appear to be comic books with varying illustration styles.
“This is Gen Comics. It’s a downloadable app where people can go online and read comic series. It’s like Kindle Unlimited for graphic novels. They pay a monthly subscription fee and have unlimited access to every book on the app.” She taps on the screen and brings up another tab. “This is Ravaged Lands, and it’s one of the highest-rated and most popular series on the app.”
She turns the tablet toward me, and I recognize the hooded character in the illustration, though here, there are two additional squares on the screen, and in one the cloak is gone and she’s covered in blood and gore.
“This says the author is Rayland Penn,” I say.
“That’s my pen name.” She dips her chin. “This is my latest issue. I release them monthly. So far I have two omnibuses of Ravaged Lands—”
“Omnibus?” I interrupt.
“An entire graphic novel. An issue is like a chapter in a book, and think of an omnibus like a collection of issues. A book. Right now, I’m in talks of possibly having book one put on the shelves in indie bookstores right here in Denver,” she says, the pride in her voice unmistakable.
“Miriam.” I wait for her to glance up from the tablet and meet my gaze. “You’re the shit.”
A smile quirks the corners of her mouth; then it slowly spreads into a wide grin across her face. And she’s beautiful as fuck.
“I still use my marketing degree to promote and advertise Rayland Penn and Ravaged Lands. I’m much more invested financially and personally with this than I am with BURNED, even though I enjoy the work there. But the business has more to do with Zora and Levi than my love of it. Our motivations behind joining the company are different. Zora wanted to prevent anyone from ending up like our parents. And I”—she strokes the screen—“I wanted to do something with my brother and sister and support their dreams. And Levi ... well, Levi is complicated.”
“But if you could do this”—I nod toward the tablet—“full time, you would.”
“In a heartbeat.”
“Then do it.”
She snorts, setting the device on the table and picking up her forgotten cup of coffee. “Easier said than done.”
“Are you afraid you can’t earn a living as a graphic novelist? That you can’t support yourself?”
“It’s not that,” she says, frowning. But not exactly at me. “I make good money now, and working full time instead of at night, weekends, and the hours I can snatch during the day, I could probably produce more issues faster. Which means uploading content more often and, in turn, bringing in more royalties.”
“Then what is it?” I edge closer.
It’s as if a silken web draws me nearer, and I’m helpless to resist. This vulnerable, almost hesitant side of Miriam ... it’s so unfamiliar, so unexpected, that I’m fascinated and caught between needing to study her, never remove my gaze from her, and touch her. Put my hands all over her.
“Yes, Zora and Levi have assigned themselves different babysitting days for me, and yes, sometimes their mistrust in my abilities and decisions chafe, but BURNED is stability.They’restability. I’ve never had it, and I don’t want to lose it. I don’t want to lose them.”
“Peace at any cost is no peace at all.”
