“You are being weak,” Larkin’s voice travels across the space. “Scared.”
I snap my gaze up. “What?”
“You aren’t trying. You’re comfortable remaining in the shadows. You choose to linger there,” he taunts. “Because you want to be there.”
“You are joking.”
“Then prove me wrong,” he snaps.
“You think I chose this? You think I wanted this path for my life?” I furrow my brow.
Larkin begins to pace. “I believe you have forgotten that there is light in this world.”
“That isn’t true.”
“It seems that you are so accustomed to the darkness that being consumed by it feels effortless—easy—and you are being lazy.”
“You’re insane,” I hiss.
Larkin huffs, “And you are being a pain in my ass.”
“Then leave,” I snap.
“Nope.”
“Then, shut the fuck up.”
“Again,” he says, narrowing his gaze. “No.”
We begin to slowly step in a circle, never allowing our backs to turn to one another. I know he’s taunting me, trying to provoke a reaction, but I’m determined to resist. I won’t let his words triumph.
“I believe you forget who inhabits this body, who resides deep within me.” I narrow my gaze and feel the anger crawling up. “I could easily kill you.”
“Oh, are you threatening me now?” Larkin smirks. “Awesome.”
“A threat and a reminder.”
“I didn’t forget. I choose not to let it cloud my judgment when it comes to you. I can separate you from the darkness,” Larkin scoffs. “Unlike yourself.”
I harden my steps. “I am not Kalix.”
“Then stop allowing the darkness to control you, Briar. It will consume you. Let the light guide you,” Larkin begs. “Let it counter what lives within you.”
I freeze in my tracks, his words sparking something in my memory.
Yara.
She said something during her last moments in Malachi’s office:“When I’m gone, look for where the light illuminated. Look to where the light guided you.”
That was a message, a clue to something. I didn’t realize it at the time, due to the chaos of the moment.
It was her bedroom. I have to go to her bedroom.
“Larkin, we have to stop.” I turn my back to him and bound forward to cross over the circle. “I need to go somewhere.”
Another breeze moves around me, and I slow my steps, feeling the crackling of lightning dancing around me as Larkin draws into his own powers.
“What would your brother think?”
