Page 196 of Serpent In White
Dropping to my knees, I shake Darian. “Wake up! Darian, baby, wake up, please! Something terrible has happened…”
Darian’s eyes snap open fast. His irises are black, like charcoal. Obsidian.
He sits up gradually and closes them again, rubbing with his fingers.
And when he reopens his eyes, they’re crystalline blue once more.
I peer at Drake for a moment, and he at me.
“Darian… my King…” I whisper, reaching out to brush his neck. “Are you alright?”
He shakes his head slowly, peering up at me. “She’s gone… Isn’t she?”
My stomach ripples in despair as I stand up, not wanting to believe it.
Irefuse.
“Let’s go. Now,” I bark. “We have to get to the ravine.”
Neither of them say a word, their minds equally quiet as we all redress fast, then stomp back down the trail. We descend the mountain in the direction of the gully.
Where my parents were found.
My pulse is jumping inside my body, fear and devastation bubbling beneath the surface. I don’t want to think that this could happen…
I don’t want this to bereal.
When we finally reach the ravine, we walk down into it, only a bit of mud lingering within the gully. We trudge through it, growing closer and closer…
And as we approach, theexact same spot, I’m twelve years old again.
Gazing down at the body of my friend, anguish reaches inside me and rips away all the comforts from just an hour ago.
Everything I thought we were building to. Thegood, not the evil.
I turn and throw up on the ground next to my shoes.
“Baby,” Darian rushes, grabbing me in his arms. He hugs onto me hard, holding my head in his hand while I cry. “Shh, my sweet Prince. I have you.”
For many long, sorrowful minutes, we stand, just holding each other and crying.
Next to the body of our fourth.
Our wails tie together, Darian’s and mine, aching in loss.
She could have been so much to us…
She was.
When I finally lift my face from the crook of Darian’s neck, I see Drake, lying in the mud by Rhiannon’s body.
He brings a razorblade to his chest, just above his heart, and slices.
The red seeps from his pale skin, rushing over into the dirt. He stares up at the sky.
Imbalanced.
darian
