That’s when I see it. A man standing off in the foggy distance, watching the carnage from an elevated hill in the forest.
There’s something about him. It sets a sensation deep in my bones, bred of umbra, oppression, and death infused together. From just a glimpse amid the chaos, I see he’s about my height with a black pinstripe three-piece suit and a bowler hat.
His black stare spears through the shadows and mist. And it’s that look alone that doesn’t feel right. I rip my gaze away from him to block another blow to my face—but it’s too late. The stormy night edges creep into my sight, sucking my soul into that timeless pit. A vicious force of nausea burns through my gut, spiraling up my esophagus. It’s where I feel Dellilian’s comforting presence. The hooks of time sink deep into my chest, drawing the breath from my lungs.
It’s then I see DaiSzek leap through the air, jaws unhinged, eerily quiet as he obliterates the men attacking us.
My heart completely stops.
DaiSzek came back for me. The way he’s done for my mother.
But the cosmic pit of stars and darkness swallows me whole, and we travel again.
11. The Sunshine Has Gone
I sit in a bedof soft grass and small wildflowers, picking the weeds while I pout silently.
We are not home. It was winter when we first left. It is spring here. I count my blessings though. We are not in Vexamen, just the Bear Traps. Not a bad turnout. The weather is lovely. We aren’t being attacked.
Niklaus sits up next to me. The cocky smile I’m used to seeing on his face has been gone for a while now. There’s only brooding, scowling, and silent seething.
“I don’t know,” I say with a sigh.
I steal another glance at his face, but I’m surprised when I don’t see an expression full of relief that we’re no longer outnumbered and being attacked. He looks tired and pissed off. The vein in his neck twitches as those tendons tighten and flex. And there’s a phantom heat pouring off his skin, as if from the anger boiling just under his surface.
The silence that hangs between us is overtaxing because my nerves can taste the bitter sample of an explosion peeking over his last reserves of calm.
“Let’s find out where we are now,” he says stiffly.
I stand up with him, adding pressure to the cut on my thigh.
“Out with it then,” I reply, stepping around a boulder to face him. “Say what you want to say.”
Coward.
Niklaus lowers his slightly downturned eyes to meet mine. The irises go pale under the blazing sun, and he just stares at me without blinking as a line forms between his eyebrows.
“I have nothing to say to you.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Oh, no? You’re fucking welcome for saving you and getting us away from that ambush!”
“Savedus?” There’s a cruel tilting of his lips, and his deep laugh has an icy core. “You think you’ve saved us?”
“Of course, I did.” But it feels like I’ve answered a question that is rigged to make me feel small and ashamed.
“You’ve fucked us, Sapphire! Look around. We’re so goddamned far from home. Are you really that deranged in the head?”
What bothers me the most isn’t his words. I know he’s wrong. But it’s the way he’s taking steps toward me, invading my personal space with his overbearing height. It’s meant to intimidate me. Scare me. What kind of a man does that? And to top it off, he says the word deranged with a certain weight to it.Deranged. Deranged. Deranged. A word that he’s used to describe my father all our lives. Sick. Disturbed. Unstable.
Heat meets my cheeks in a violent flare of anger.
“Is your penis really that small? The need to get in my face and attempt to scare me is that compelling, huh?” I shove at his chest once to get him to step back an inch. “You really can’t help it, can you? No wonder you hate your dad so much. You’ll never measure up to Uncle Niles, and you know it! Everyone loves him, and he’s twice the man you are!”
The white-hot flames of my ire are quickly extinguished by my unforgivable words. I went too far. Because there’s a lot of truth to that statement. Everyone loves Uncle Niles. Too many people in our lives have asked him why he isn’t more like his dad.
Niklaus’s jaw tics, and the cruel, dangerous smirk returns with a vengeance.
“Niles isn’t my real father.” Another furious step closer. “And you’re one to talk, aren’t you? Your father fucked your mom with the weak semen that created you. Then he fell asleep for theentiretyof your life. Why do you think that is, Spitfire? Is it because God knew Patient Thirteen would have killed you for being a shameful mistake that should have died in the womb? Or because he’s the pathetic one who lies in a bed and leaves your mother and his children to rot alone in the woods like a family of psychopaths who belong in that asylum.”
