He held out his hand. On his face was that kind smile he pulled out when I was worried about something. The sort of smile that happened in the eyes as well as the lips. “I’m so sorry we left you. If there had been any choice, we would have chosen differently.”
My tears were falling so fast and furiously now that I was starting to choke on them, unable to breathe. “This is not real, this is not real,”I started to chant to myself, but I couldn’t turn away. I just stood there, breathing in the sight of someone I loved more than life. Someone I had been missing with every part of my body and soul for months.
“Do you want to see your mom?” he asked me. “I can take you to her. We’ve made our home here in the afterworld. You can stay with us…”
Yes!I screamed loudly in my head.Yes, God, please. I want them back.
My feet were moving, stepping toward him, closer and closer. Snow mingling with tears was a weird sensation. Especially without the cold that would normally chill the water on my face. My dad waved me on, a brilliant smile lighting up his face.
“Just a few more steps, sweetheart.”
I hesitated, something bothering me. “What’s wrong?” Dad asked.
“I … don’t know. Just … where did you say Mom was?”
She was always with Dad. They were nauseatingly in love, one of those couples where you had to leave the room when they were in it together. Especially when you were their kid. It was gross, for sure, but it also made me believe strongly in love. In finding the one.
They had been each others’ ones. So why was Dad standing here alone?
“Where … is Mom?” I repeated slowly.
That benign smile slowly faded away; his eyes took on a slanted groove of disapproval. I gasped as light swirled across his skin, and then the rich caramel skin tone, dark hair, and blue eyes faded away too. Standing there now was Laous, dressed head to toe in black. “Almost had you,” he said jovially. “The land of desires is a difficult one for Daelighters to resist, and impossible for humans. Apparently since you are something between the two, you can fight the pull of desire.”
I turned tail and ran as fast as I could in the opposite direction. “Lexen! Daniel!” I screamed.
For a brief moment I’d forgotten about them. Seeing my dad again … it was a torture I would wish on no one. It had been amazing and absolutely devastating. My heart was crushing in my chest as I tried to run and breathe through all the snot and tears I had going on. The branch piercing my shoulder felt like a pinprick of pain compared to the sledgehammer to the chest I just got.
“Help,” I cried out, coughing as my tears overwhelmed me. In the same moment I tripped, plunging forward to the hard ground. White might have coated the surface, but it was not soft like fresh snow. Kind of felt like I’d just face-planted onto an asphalt road, and I didn’t even care.
Rough hands flipped me onto my back and I stared up into a face so dark with anger that it almost wasn’t recognizable as Laous.
“Tell me what I need to know!” he screamed in my face. “Tell me where the key is or I will kill your family, your friends – every single person you have ever cared about in your life.”
I felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck, but there was no time to worry about what it was. Laous wasn’t kidding, that much was clear, but it was impossible to reveal something I didn’t know. “You have the wrong person,” I snarled at him. “I don’t have any idea what the key is.”
I was starting to get the feeling that my blood was never able to lead him to the key. It sounded like he needed me to give it to him all along. Otherwise why would he waste so much time trying to get me to tell him?
Laous let out a roar, and then in a flash slammed his fist down close to the side of my face. I flinched at the thud.
Tilting my head back, I gritted my teeth. “Maybe you shouldn’t have killed the only people who would have been able to help you.”
“You know, grubber. There is no way you don’t know, and you have pushed my patience too far.”
He might not have been able to kill me because he needed this information I apparently possessed, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t hurt me. His arm drew back again, his other hand wrapping around my throat. He hit me and agony exploded behind my cheek. My face went numb on that side immediately. He drew back and hit me again, same cheek, same blinding pain.
I tasted blood in my mouth as he swung for a third strike. Before it could land, something crashed into the side of him, sending him flying across the white land. I wriggled to the side, trying to put some distance between me and Laous.
Huge black wings caught my attention and I let out a low cry. Lexen. He was okay, and he had somehow found me. Daniel appeared at my side. “Emma, fuck, I am so sorry. My brother … died in the cascades … this is my fault.”
I tried to answer him, but it was difficult to make my jaw work. So I simply shook my head multiple times.Not your fault,I told him with my eyes. This was all on Laous, that … fucker.
Daniel fitted both of his hands under my arms, lifting me to my feet. The moment I was standing, blood rushed to my pounding head; everything went dark around the edges and I swayed on my feet.
“Rough day?” Daniel tried to joke, whilst carrying me in the opposite direction of where Lexen and Laous were now trading blows. The Darken overlord was much larger than the Imperial, his blows seeming to inflict a crap-ton of damage whenever he landed one. But Lexen was also very drained of energy, so I had no idea how long he could keep this up.
“No,” I garbled out. “Stay … Lex.”
Daniel ignored me, picking me up and dragging me further away. I started to fight him, before nausea had me gagging and almost vomiting right down his shirt. Which would have served him right.
