Page 6 of Maiming
A gust of cold air pulls at my hair and big hands push down the sides of my arms a moment later.
“Is that mocking laughter?” Kain looks from me to his mother and a sigh of shaking amusement still lingers between us.
“Definitely, mocking laughter.” Chaos takes the seat between myself and Myla and starts to fill Kain’s plate with several layers of eggs.
Rime leans near the window. Sunlight highlights his body, shadowing the edge of his sharp features as he looks from Kain’s mother to me. While Kain looks down on me with the most genuine smile. His fingers stroke back and forth slowly against my skin. There’s a pull between us just from his closeness. I’ve missed his closeness over the past few days.
“I’m going to go wash off.” The line of black soot that’s drawn across his face almost touches his lower lip, and I stare up at that line as he speaks.
His fingers slip away from me and when his footsteps drift away I finally look up to find his mother watching me. Her gaze searches my features closely. That simple connection we shared just a moment ago is gone, replaced with uncertain scrutiny.
“I’m going to go for a walk.” I breath out a smile and still she just observes me. “Breakfast was really good.” I stand slowly with all eyes on me.
“I’m happy you joined us.”
Us.Her and her BFF Sinister. I look to the demon who’s already clearing away my dirty plate.
Is that what I’m supposed to do? Should I be clearing away plates?I try to think back to when my mother served dinner. But there were never any guests. Just myself and my father. No one to impress. With Agatha, I just cooked for her and cleaned up after the two of us because it felt like the normal thing to do. Now that I think of it, I’ve never really been in this sort of position at all.
What am I supposed to do in this type of setting? I’m quickly realizing normal life is not for me. Not at all.
“I like to cook.” I blurt the statement out like a life raft looking for survivors in a heap of wreckage. A smile tenses against her lips. “Could I help you with dinner tonight?”
“Of course. I’d love to make something elaborate for everyone if you’d want to help.”
A small nod jars through me as my smile widens. I’m making progress. This is progress.
I said the right thing.
For once.
Fuck, why is the right thing so damn hard for me?
Four
Their Past
Housesof all shapes line the wide dirt road. Plenty of space separates between them and Helen even has a large community herb garden that can be spotted just behind her home. Boys run and play, zipping between the homes and jumping over steps to chase one another. A few of them have inky hair and bright eyes, and I just know they’re related to Chaos. He has so much family here. But there really is an imbalance in the ratio of men to women. No wonder Chaos jumped on the sharing train like it was an everyday occurrence. The women here must have dozens of husbands to fill every one of their needs.
The lucky bitches.
A few yards away beneath the dry drifting limbs of a weeping willow, sits Agatha. A thick gray shawl lies over her small shoulders as her hands wave wildly in a sort of spastic dance. I take a few steps closer to her to find her shaking her favorite skull to the tune of unheard music.
“Aggie, are you all right?”
“Oh, it’s just you.” Her shoulders relax and she halts the wild waving of her arms immediately. White eyes look blindly up at me as if she might really see my features.
“What are you doing?” My arms fold across my chest, and I wish I’d had the brains to bring a wool shawl out myself.
“The people here. They’re too nice. I can’t find a moment of silence to myself without someone trying to offer me tea or those damn walnut figs. No one wants a walnut fig. No one.”
My lips raise with a small smile.
“So why were you dancing like that?”
“No one fucks with the local crazy woman. They leave me in peace to ward off thelingering spirits.”
My brows tense.
