Page 77 of Harmless
RORI
The words came out automatically, naturally, and easily as breathing. My momentary panic was quelled immediately by Santos’ incredible smile, his forehead coming to rest gently on my mine, and the grip of his hand on my nape.
“Love you too, paloma.”
With another kiss, he stood and went off in search of his friend while I sat there in wonderment. My ass was firmly planted on the ground, but I felt like I was floating in zero gravity.
It had been so…easy. And that felt so refreshing, so freeing.
We loved each other. Period.
Torr and I loved each other too, but that was wildly different. It was still a process with him and I. Not exactly a struggle, but there were obstacles, both in the past and in the present. For some reason, I expected it to be similar with Santos, but it wasn’t.
The words left his mouth like a bird taking flight. So natural that it was obviously easy for him.
I would never fault Torr for struggling to say the words. But knowing where Santos stood eased the ache in my heart a little. Hearing him say it gave me the reassurance I didn’t know I needed. Yes, I was a tough bitch, but tough bitches needed to hear ‘I love you too’sometimes.
With a dopey-as-fuck smile, I leaned my head back against the side of my bike and closed my eyes to sink into this beautiful, bubbly feeling.
And then something really fucking weird happened.
My body jolted, like that kicking motion people do when they’re about to fall asleep. But when my eyes opened, I wasn’t looking at Paige and the Hunter eating lunch a few feet away. I was…up in the air?
I was weightless and soaring over a valley, heading straight for the compound, like I’d just been launched out of a cannon.
What’s happening? What the fuck is happening to me?!I tried to scream but didn’t seem to have a mouth.
Calm yourself, Aurora,came Asarte’s chiding voice.I’m showing you what you won’t be able to see from your scouting.
Where am I? Am I in…you?I did seem to be flying, and once I calmed my freak-out enough, I could feel the bones and muscles of wings.Mywings.
Not yours, Astarte snorted.I’m in control, Aurora. I’m only lending you my eyes.
Youreallydon’t want me to get excited about this, do you? I’m fucking flying!
You won’t be excited after you see what I’m about to show you.The goddess’ voice in my head turned grim, and a brick of dread formed in my gut.
Is it worse than the gladiator fights?I asked.
Yes, came the succinct answer.
I didn’t dare ask any more questions, despite my mind racing with them.
Astarte flew us lower over the settlement, and I could see what Paige had been talking about. Women carrying stacks of firewood or huge baskets of laundry. Women inspecting neatly aligned rows of planted vegetables. Animal pens with chickens, pigs, goats, and a couple of cows. I couldn’t miss the odd woman here or there with a toddler in her arms or walking with a child’s hand in hers. Nor did I miss the ones with assault rifles who meandered too casually around the compound to be doing any actual patrolling.
We passed over the main cluster of trailers and simple, prefab houses, where it seemed the bulk of the population lived. Toward the back of a settlement was a gentle upward slope, too small to be any serious hill, but there was a structure at the top. It resembled a gazebo, with a pointed roof, support beams, and open space instead of walls. The roof and supports were covered in dark paint, like a haunted house looming over the town, which looked cheery in comparison.
Set in the center of the stairs leading up to the spooky gazebo thing was a gutter of some kind. I kept staring at it, the bizarreness of it jarring to me. What was the point of a split-open PVC pipe running down the center of a flight of stairs? The placement didn’t make sense for carrying away rain, so I couldn’t begin to imagine what it was for.
Astarte perched us on one of the roofs of the nearest houses, a prime vantage point to see inside the gazebo. The floor within it was dark, concrete, and there looked to be a shade tent serving as an altar of some kind. Objects like flowers and small plates of food cluttered the ground in front. And there looked to be a…a baby’s bassinet under the canopy?
I’m so confused and already freaked out by this place,I thought.
Just wait,Astarte said in that same grim tone.
A commotion sounded a few minutes later—the slamming of a door, shuffling footsteps, and then panicked shouts and begging.
In a man’s voice.
