Page 77 of Little Wing
“I-I should have killed you!” Luca snapped, straining against the officer’s hold on him. “I should’ve let you die!”
I nodded and swallowed hard before stepping closer to the rail where I pressed my hand against the scuffed barrier. “Perhaps, my brother, but you did not.” My eyes remained fixed on the man who made me and in turn stripped me of any joy I dared to experience.
Never. Again.
“You tried to break me, but it was you who lost your light. I never let it go out, not even after all the times you put your evil hands on me.”
His ruby eyes bore into mine intensely. I hoped to see a glimpse of warmth, of the love we once had for each other. There was none.There was no kindness and certainly not even a hint of regret. All that remained was darkness that had swallowed any good that ever lived in Luca.
My brother was gone.
He continued to growl and thrash like an animal. I turned around, walked back up the aisle, and out the door of the courtroom without looking back. Even as Luca continued to scream my name, a roar that still made the hair on the back of my neck stand, I didn’t stop until the doors behind me closed.
Even as the tether tugged me back to him, I pushed forward, focusing on the connection to the man whose presence soon joined me in the waiting room. I stood, hunched over, with my ears ringing and bile stinging the back of my throat. Centuries of torment at the hands of my brother, whom I once loved so much, would soon be nothing more than a painful memory. Soon there would be no trace of his touch, his wrath—there would only be me and the life that I made for myself. There would only be the scent of love tangled in my blood.
Silas and my friends gave me a moment to gather myself before we walked out of the courthouse together. Though we were silent, the weight of what we witnessed was felt all around us. As we took our first steps down the concrete stairs, I finally allowed myself to cry. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I turned back to face my family.
At the impending severing of Luca’s connection to me, the cherry blossoms were finally in bloom.
Hearing Lady Pauline declare Luca’s sentence felt like a collective fever dream. I looked around at the humans across from us then over to Kait and Reina. We all sat with our mouths hanging open. Even as Lotus got up from her seat to confront her brother head-on, it didn’t hit me as being true until we got out of the courtroom and our phones began pinging with headlines across our major apps.
Luca Everett—murderer and tormentor—was finally sentenced to solitary imprisonment for the remainder of his existence. And his connection to Lotus would be severed.
As we stood outside on the concrete steps, I pulled Lotus into my arms as she wept. Her tears soaked my shirt, and I couldn’t even begin to imagine the weight that would soon be lifted from her. Soon, the only tether she would feel would be one of tenderness and safety. I rubbed her back gingerly as both Kait and Reina stopped beside us, each of them resting a hand on Lotus’s shoulder.
“Hey,” I whispered, reaching to tip her chin up to look at me.
“It’s over. It’s over. It’s finally over,” she whimpered.
“Fuck yes!” Reina cheered, pumping her fist into the air. “Fuck yes, it is!”
At Reina’s exclamation, Lotus pulled away from me and worked to quickly rub her tears away. In her glossy eyes, I saw the light that never truly dimmed. Now it just glowed brighter. Her lips spread into a wide smile, and she began to laugh.
“Yes! Fuck yes!” Lotus mimicked her friend, grabbing my hand and Reina’s. Reina then grabbed onto Kait’s hand so we could complete our circle and continue feeding the good energy around the woman we all came to support.
I knew it would take time for Lotus to truly feel at ease with the severance of her tether to Luca, but I would be there with her every step of the way. I’d be her anchor. While we knew Lotus’s laughter was temporary and waves of varying emotions would come, all of us would be ready to support her through it all.
“Hey, Lo. Let’s get some pictures with the cherry blossoms. We must commemorate this,” Reina suggested as she let go of Kait’s hand and tugged Lotus away from us, leaving me with Kait to follow them.
Kait finally turned to me and exhaled sharply, like she had just finished running a marathon. An emotional one, perhaps. I could see the fatigue in the dark circles under her eyes, ones that she tried to conceal with makeup. “That was fucking insane in there.”
“Mm, yeah.”
As we walked, Kait fidgeted with the sleeve of her shirt, giving it a tight tug every few steps. “I never saw Luca in person prior to today. I knew he looked like her, but in there he was like… a legitimate monster.” Kait shuddered, likely trying to shake off the image that would haunt all of us. Remembering Luca’s thrashing and insults that he hurled at the woman I loved, I wished I had a chance to pummel him again.
“Right, and he’ll finally get what he deserves after all this time. For the Wells women and for Lotus. It’s about damn time he gotserved what’s been waiting for him,” I stated, clenching my fists in acknowledgement of the hate I felt toward that despicable vampire.
“But this is good for her, right? The bloodletting?” Kait asked, sticking her hands in her pockets.
We watched Reina and Lotus race toward the pink and white flowered trees. I didn’t know anything about severing tethers, so I could only hope that what the Vampiric Council declared held truth.
“It will be good,” I said.It had to be.
Rather than diving in deeper, Kait walked a few steps ahead of me and pointed behind her. “I think we should all head back to the Nomad and get drunk,” Kait smirked, realizing just how strange it was to hear those words from her mouth. “I even have that strong vampire stuff you and Lotus can enjoy. How’s that for a way of commemorating this fever dream of a night?”
“Drinks?” Reina chirped from a distance.
Kait laughed and ran toward Reina, letting Lotus have her moment among the cluster of trees. The delicate pink and white flowers fell like rain, some getting stuck in her hair. As I approached her and wrapped my arm around her waist, I thought just how lucky I was to be standing beside her when just a few months ago I didn’t even know that she existed. When I first saw her, I assumed that she was a vampire masquerading as a human. How wrong I was. Now, everything was different. We were bound together in a connection that made this life worth more than just existing to see another day. With Lotus, there was no need to miss the sunlight—not when she shined bright like the moonlight.
