Page 182 of Malicent
The nights are getting harder. My insomnia is worsening. So are the visions…and the voices. I push the dark thoughts aside as I watch her skip away. She is a spark of light in a place that grows darker by the day. I cling to it, but…
What if my darkness spreads? What if I pull her into it with me?
A KNOCK AT MILLICENT’S DOOR rouses me. I must have drifted off in the chair watching over her.
She’s still curled up on the bed, unmoving. Her chest rises slow. It’s steady, but shallower than anything normal—not fully alive, not dead—but that is stasis. A strange purgatory where she can rest and recover.
I open the door and find Luca.
“Lord Black,” he says, surprised. “pardon my intrusion. I didn’t know you were here.” He salutes before recomposing himself.
“State your business,” I reply flatly. I’m too drained for pleasantries. Vyraxis burned through my reserves during the fight. The naps in the carriage and in this chair barely scratch the surface of what I need.
“Millicent has been training with me,” he says. “Kalix said she wasn’t available tonight. That’s…not like her, so I just came to check on her.”
I already knew. Kalix had mentioned it was comical, Millicent running Luca ragged, like a cat toying with a mouse.
The concern in his eyes makes me pause. Narrowing mine, I ask, “You care for a witch? One who killed mortals tonight, your own kind?”
He swallows hard, visibly working through his response. “When I was a boy, I teased a dog with a roll. He snapped at me, tore through my hand. And I was afraid of dogs after that. Years later, I found a stray, one who was the kindest thing. I fed him and took him in.”
I give him a sharp look—get to the point.
“The first dog acted on instincts. I chose not to blame the dog for what it was born to do. I don’t hate witches for doing what they were made to do. If she’s made from something dark and otherworldly, then of course she’ll continue to return to the dark. I can’t pick and choose what part of her to accept.”
His gaze shifts past me, toward her bed.
He means it. I believe he does. Most mortals would see Millicent burned, but Luca is kind. I imagine he’s the kind of man who’d apologize to a snake for stepping on it.
“Fine,” I mutter. “You can stand guard. If she wakes up and that dark thing is still in control, just yell.”
I brush past him, exiting the room. Maybe it’s unwise. Maybe it’s petty, but if he wants to see her as something soft and worth saving, let him face the truth when it wakes.
Chapter 46
Millicent
MY HEART SEIZES, AND ON its next contraction, power slams through me like a hammer strike. My nerves ignite, and I jolt up, gasping for air as my eyes snap open. For a moment, the world spins like a kaleidoscope with too many colors and too much light. A few steady blinks brings the palette down to its normal, duller tones, the colors of my room.
I rub my hands over the comforter draped across my lap, grounding myself with the soft cotton, a welcome comfort.
“Me Misses!”
Ollie materializes near my feet with a frantic chirp and scurries into my lap, pressing against my stomach like an overgrown cat.
“Ollie.” My voice rattles in my throat, low and hoarse from disuse, an expected side effect of stasis. I stroke the length of his back, the act steadying the both of us.
“There is water on the bedside for you,” comes Luca’s voice, drawing my attention to the chair near the bed, a new addition. He must’ve dragged it here just to sit vigil and watch me sleep.
I don’t ask why. I just reach for the pitcher and pour a glass. The first sip hits like spring rain, a cool relief that brings me back to life. I hadn’t realized how raw my throat was until the water slicks it down.
“Thanks,” I mutter, still watching him.
“I didn’t bring it,” he says, smiling gently. “I’m glad to see you’re awake.”
I finish the glass and pour another. “Why are you here?”
“You never miss our training. When you didn’t show, I asked Kalix, but he told me you were unavailable. I needed to see for myself.”
