Page 90 of Cursed Shadows 5

It was subconscious then, the trick beneath the sincerity of our desperation. Daxeel offered me as his evate, the ultimate betrayal—and yet the dagger he used was a dupe. He mocked Mother with that offer.

We thought we could force her hand.

But it was me who offered the least. I offered what I didn’t want, and Mother knew that. So she tested me,kill Daxeel.

I tried. I did try.

I didn’t succeed.

Yet, the darkness is out there, but the whisper of her voiceFour,Five, it’s an answer. One I don’t understand.

This was Mother’s last laugh before she drifted back to sleep. Her revenge for the bother. Our souls drifting through the veils, searching for their other half, his calling to me, mine calling to him—and we will hear those tortured whispers for the rest of our lives.

Daxeel knows it. The acceptance of it is in the despair of his gaze as he pushes up from the armchair.

He moves for me.

His steps are a slow advance that should be predatory, calculated, intimidating. I see none of that in him now.

I see a broken male, and I think it is art.

Slow, he drops to his knees.

I look down my nose at him.

His hand flexes once, nervous, before he reaches out for my feet tucked onto the edge of the armchair. His grip is cold around my ankle before he lures it closer to him.

A frown tugs my brow.

I could reel my foot back now and crack him on the nose—but I watch, entranced, as he brings it closer to him… then lowers,bows, his head.

He kisses my foot. “Sleep easy, Nari.” He lifts his reddened gaze to me. “I will keep watch until Eamon returns.”

I say nothing as he pushes up from the floor.

He spares me a single look of pure longing, of pain, a tapestry of regret.

I stare at him as though he is nothing.

He leaves.

It is only then, when the door clicks shut, and the bolt latches, that my mouth trembles.

MOTHER & HER TWINS

††††††

Mother birthed her first children in the skies beyond the skies.

Twins.

Dark and Light.

Dark was hungry. He swallowed the universe with his first breath. He drenched it in darkness.

Light was crying. She screamed and it ignited the stars.

Mother slumbered for a long time, and when she woke, it was to a dark universe with bright suns.

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