The Goddess of Night, made flesh under a dark, glittering cape.
Standing in front of the wooden structure as the flames rise, it’s like she’s coaxing them to life. They reach for her, exploding in bursts of embers that float through air only to disappear into the darkness. Even without knowing what kind of witch she’ll be—ifshe survives her epiphaneia—everything in my body tells me she’s going to be dangerous. Which is why I need to break her before the threat of her power becomes a promise.
Raising my palm, I guide the heated air with my magic to dance with the embers, carrying them towards her. Weeks of humiliation she’s endured at the hands of the Legacies and teachers hasn’t kept her down, but it’s harder to come back from making a spectacle of yourself. Nothing like screaming “fire” in a crowded square to ruin everyone’s night with chaos and mayhem.
I expect her to start panicking, to make a commotion, but not only does she seem unfazed, she extends her hand to capture them. So I send more embers to surround her, waiting for the moment she starts screaming.
Except, someone else beats her to it when the train of her cape catches fire.
No. No no no?—
She just watches as the white hot flame consumes the fabric.
Why isn’t she running? Why isn’t?—
Before I can suffocate the fire crawling dangerously close to her skin, someone shouts her name and then a torrent of water knocks her to the ground. Tori rushes to her side as the crowd parts around them, Cynthia and her friends trailing behind her to laugh and jeer at Nyx’s disheveled state. When Tori tries to help her up, Nyx brushes her off. She unclasps the cape from around her neck and it falls to the ground, a drenched, ruinedpile. Everyone watches silently as she finally stands, eyes blank, devoid of—anything.
Tori begins to fret, but Nyx just turns her back on the crowd, disappearing into the night as the darkness swallows her whole. Tori turns on Cynthia and begins to argue with the Legacy, but I’m not paying attention. My limbs shake with adrenaline from watching her almost get hurt. That wasn’t supposed to happen. None of this was supposed to happen. She was supposed to scream, cry, become a laughing stock. Stay in her dorm to hide from ridicule.
Why couldn’t she just?—
Frustration turns to aggravation like a vice around my chest, and I launch into the air once more. By the time I find her, she’s walking away from Thane who stands there, watching her with his suit coat in hand. I land when she slips out of sight beneath the tree cover, releasing the light from my control and becoming visible once more.
Thane tears his eyes from the direction she went, and looks at me with silent reproach.
Under his scrutiny, my wings twitch. “It was an accident.”
After a moment, he asks quietly, “Was it?” When I don’t answer, he sighs. “See you back home.”
I’ve been on edge since Samhain.
Thane’s been quieter than usual.
But I swear to God, if Killian doesn’t stop fidgeting, I will throw him out the window.
“What’s got your panties in a fucking twist?” I ask Killian the following Monday night as we chill on the couch in front ofthe fire while some shitty movie that neither of us are paying attention to plays on the TV.
He takes a long sip of his beer before rolling his eyes to me “She’s hanging out with the necromancer now,” Killian mutters petulantly. “They were at breakfast together. It wasn’t enough the overgrown salamander is sniffing around her, now the Grim Reaper is throwing his hat in the ring? At least the dragon could put up a good fight, but my biceps are bigger than his thighs. I could snap him like a chicken!” he pouts.
Thane scoffs from his chair across from us. “Feeling a little emasculated there, Killer?”
“I just don’t get it!” he groans.
“You know what I don’t get? Why we’re still fucking talking about her.” They both look over at me.
“Oh yeah, it’s a total mystery why we’re talking about the girl that three out of four men in this room have seen naked, two of which have made her cum, and only ONE—” he glares at Thane, “—has tasted. Still fucking hate you for that, by the way.”
“If she hasn’t opened her legs for you by now, Killer, perhaps it’s not your looks she finds objectionable.”
Killian gasps at Roth’s casual insult. “Are you implying—listen here,” Roth lips twitch when Killian leans forward, wagging his finger at Roth’s smug expression. “I am a ray of fucking sunshine compared to you assholes. I practically shit golden retriever energy. I even have a tail, for fuck’s sake!” Thane shakes with laughter at Killian’s outburst.
“Perhaps we should address this latest development,” Roth muses.
“Why haven’t you already?” I ask him coldly.
He raises his eyebrow at my icy tone. “What would you have me do, Luther?”
“You’re Roth Kovacs. You can do anything. So why haven’t you?”
