Page 66 of Clouded by Envy

Black eyes inside a bald white head pushed out of its shell. The creature who she thanked so many times before for helping them, she now wished had never answered her the first time.

Its head didn’t come in her direction—it moved toward Wes. “What is it you desire, human?” Although there wasn’t a mouth, they both still heard the pounding words inside their skulls.

“My brother… Can you save him?” Wes asked with plea in every single one of those words.

The Stone leaned closer toward Luca, tilting its head, as if sniffing at the small boy’s scent. “I can.”

Sighing deeply, Wes’s shoulders relaxed a little. However, Bray’s did not because she remembered what had happened with Rana. The Stone had said he could save her, too, but she had already been something less than human. Maybe this was different. They had to try.

The Stone’s hand dragged toward them, and Bray nudged Wes forward so he could lay Luca’s body into the palm of its hand.

Like before with Rana, it closed its fingers around Luca’s fragile body. It pulled its hand back to whatever darkness, or light—or combination—could perform the task.

They waited and waited until the Stone’s hand slowly pushed back out. Each of the fingers blossomed to reveal Luca still lying motionless in the center of the Stone’s palm.

Bray’s chest sank with disappointment, and a fierce tension built a wall around her. She couldn’t look at Wes anymore, who still had hope written all over his face.

“His body was too late to save,” the Stone rasped loudly. Even though his voice rumbled inside her head, Bray felt the sadness surrounding it.

Crashing to his knees, Wes smacked his hands against his forehead and gripped his hair.

The Stone inched closer. “This was always meant to happen. He will return. When your world is ending”—its head shifted to Bray—“he will be the only one possessing the power to grant passage for mankind into your old world.” Was it talking aboutLaith?

“What are you talking about?” Bray demanded. “What do you mean he will return?” She needed direct answers, not the riddled explanations that were never complete.

“You will know.”

How will I know?she thought.

“When will he come back?” Wes asked. “Where is he now?” Luca still wasn’t moving.

“I could not save his body, but I could save his soul. The soul is now split between the two of you. He will be reborn.”

Wes seemed unable to grasp or understand what the Stone was saying. He picked up Luca’s body and stared at him, begging Luca to wake up.

“What do you mean reborn? When?How?” Wes asked, looking down at Luca and then up in the direction of the Stone. But the Stone was already curling back into its natural form, no longer willing to give any more answers.

They watched as the Stone sank back into the ground. All that was left was the large alabaster-colored slab with a rose-shaped top.

“I don’t understand.” Wes cradled Luca as he moved beside her.

Bray let out a sorrowful sigh. “His soul is split inside me and you.”

“I heard that.” He may have heard it, but he was still confused. She, however, understood it perfectly.

“He will be reborn, but in order to be reborn, it will have to be between you and me. As in, Luca will be starting over as a baby.” She closed her eyes and let the words sink in. Then she flicked them back open to see Wes’s horrified face.

“What the hell? So, that thing put half of Luca’s soul in my dick, and I have to have sex with you to recreate Luca? How’s that even the same thing? He still wouldn’t behim—he wouldn’t even look the same, and you’re not even human!” he shouted.

Her stomach dropped at those harsh words, but Wes had every right to say them. This was her fault for bringing Brenik here. This was her fault for wanting to use the gift that the Stone had given her. This was her fault for getting close to these two humans, and this was her fault for not trying to help Brenik more. She had never hated herself before, but at that moment she did.

“I know, it’s all my fault,” she murmured. She wouldn’t say sorry, because sorry couldn’t even begin to fix what had happened.

Without one more look at the little beast, or Wes—who made her feel something more than unworthy—Bray changed forms and hurried through the air to get back to her tree, where she would stay to suffer.

The tree was still a disaster inside from Brenik’s earlier desperation, and Bray chose to leave it that way. Day after day, she slept on the floor and would only come out to eat.

Eventually, she decided she was going to find somewhere else to live. It felt as if months had gone by, but it had only been nine days.

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