Mansi threw her arm around Marina’s neck and lugged her into her side. “You’re going to get through this. You have me and Viviana, just like I had you two back then.”
Viviana snuffed out her cigar in a crystal dish beside her glass and scooted into Marina for a side hug. “Let’s be mortals for the rest of the day.”
Mansi gave a breathy laugh, squeezing Marina tighter. “Hell yes.”
Marina despised the tears biting at her eyes because of the phrase. It was what Marina had said to Mansi when they brought her to Tenebris. A way to not think too far into the future. An escape from reality, from their problems.
She’d put on a movie marathon for Mansi and Viviana. They disguised themselves as mortals, ventured into the village, purchased salty snacks and chocolate in all its forms, and wasted away on her couch, eating and drinking endlessly for a week. It was the only form of technology that Marina enjoyed, and it was perfect for the necessary respite.
Life and family could fail Marina, but she knew Mansi and Viviana never would.
“I’m thinking of opening my own shop, you know,” Mansi announced.
“About time,” Viviana muttered.
Mansi leaned over to eye her. “Don’t be a bitch.”
Marina smiled. “Vivi could decorate it.”
“You’ve been making all these toys, testing them out here time and time again. I suspected you were planningsomethingfor them all,” Viviana responded.
Mansi lightly smacked her arm. “Help me think of a name.”
Viviana curled her lip, waving off her request. “No, it’s your business. I don’t want blame if you hate it years down the road.”
“You’re being a bitch again.”
They continued to bicker back and forth.
Marina’s eyes fell to her long, white strand amidst her onyx waves, held hostage under Mansi’s arm. An imperfection she began hiding with glamor in her younger days, proud that, of all her siblings, she shared the closest resemblance to her father. A vain attempt to reach for his affection.
The glamor must’ve faded during her encounter with Mother. A tribute to finally accepting herself.
Marina was tired, most of all, of shoving down her heart’s truest wants.
She wouldn’t get rid of the white strand this time. There was no denying that Mira’s blood flowed in her veins, but Marina had no intention of following her mother’s path. She refused to be an agent of malice and greed any longer.
You are my legacy,Mother had said. An heir who would carry her hunger and violence into the world.
That snowy strip of her hair would stay, a vow of her own design, to paint over Mira’s words.
Wrath had no home in her anymore.
14
ARTIFICIAL NIGHT
Marina
The scarlet sky hovered low,its lead-soaked clouds seeping with magic.
Marina’s jaw-length blonde hair whipped across her face as she stood on the ledge of one of Hollow City’s many skyscrapers. Most were topped with towers blinking like beacons in the blood-red night. The somber sight combined with the chill of the night air, she didn’t mind waiting for Soren, despite his tardiness.
Marina kept her eyes trained below, hunting for any oddities between the clusters of headlights and the shadows of alleyways. With the city stretched out before her, she couldn’t help but admire the silhouette hugging its landscape.
Hollow City sat in an alcove between mountains, as if her little brother sprouted it up from the valley’s soil. Knowing his mystic tendencies and his concerningly vast knowledge of spells, it wouldn’t shock her if it were true.
While the thought of Finnian triggered an eye roll from her, she couldn’t hate him. Not when he’d built this city for Naia andher family. She knew the story, the trials and tribulations he’d endured with Cassian against Ruelle. Naia had explained the situation shortly after their father’s death.
