Page 71 of Left Hand of the Divine
Something pulled me from my sleep. I blinked my eyes open, the early signs of dawn filtering through the window and providing just enough light to make out my surroundings. Atticus and Thane were still wrapped around me, and I had to shimmy and wriggle from between them to get out of bed. Atticus stirred a little, his hand reaching for me in his sleep, but I grabbed his hand and placed it on Thane’s hip. He rolled towards Thane, and I smiled as I watched them snuggle together.
A hum vibrated in my chest, and a tugging sensation pulled at my solar plexus. I quickly threw my clothes on and headed outside, following the gentle tug as if it were telling me which way to go. In the back of my mind, I knew it probably wasn’t overly sensible to follow some unknown feeling considering everything that was going on, but it didn’t feel threatening or violent. It felt curious, and there was a yearning beneath that. Like someone was looking for a place to belong.
I stepped through the front door, carefully assessing for any kind of threat, just in case I was misunderstanding the sensation fluttering in my chest. I couldn’t see anything. There was just the wide-open clearing in front of me, sat beneath a sky painted with soft hues in pink and orange. It was a glorious sunrise, and the rays of the sun warmed my face as I turned my face up to the sky.
“I’d forgotten how beautiful a sunrise could be.”
I jerked my head to my left and saw the faint line of Erebus lingering in the shadows of the house.
“This one is particularly beautiful,” I replied, turning my gaze back to the sky.
The air next to me stirred as Erebus came to stand beside me, his shoulder brushing mine. “It’s like witnessing the world waken as the darkness recedes, each colour a whispered revelation until the glow of the sun caresses everything the light touches.”
I looked up at him, his words resonating somewhere deep in my soul. “You have a wonderful way of speaking, Erebus.”
A small smile played at the corner of his mouth. “I think it is terribly old-fashioned now.”
I shrugged. “I like it.”
We stood in silent companionship, our shoulders touching, watching the sunrise, asking nothing of each other but to not be alone.
When the last hues of the sunrise faded, Erebus turned towards me. “What brought you out here?”
“I don’t know. Something called me here.”
He frowned down at me,his lips pursed.
“I know, I know. I probably shouldn’t trust it,” I sighed and folded my arms across my chest.
Erebus gently clasped his long fingers around my upper arms, his thumbs brushing against my skin. “It’s not that. I worry that there is something lurking around the corner that we cannot see. Something that might undo us all.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure. There’s just something in the air. Something that feels…ominous.”
Now the guy sounded like Thane. We went in the Vault because he was worried Erebus and Nyx were making a comeback, and I was somehow tied up in it all. Perhaps we were just waiting for the moment Nyx would return and everything would make sense then. It could possibly be absolutely terrifying, but at least we wouldn’t all be chasing our tails anymore.
The breeze changed direction, and the hairs prickled on the back of my neck. Someone was watching us.
I scanned the tree line, my senses on high alert.
“What is it?” Erebus asked, his body tensing and readying for action.
“Not sure.” I walked deeper into the clearing, my steps slow as I approached the trees, that tugging sensation pulling me towards them.
Two pale white orbs appeared in the shadows beyond the tree line. Then another pair, and another. Slowly, three great hulking wolves stepped into the light.
Lycaon.
What were they doing here? How did they find us?
The three wolves padded over to me, their tongues lolling out of their mouths and looking very different from the creatures that attacked us in the Vault. One of them came closer, the other two hanging back and watching their alpha.
His white fur shimmered in the early morning sun, like he’d been coated in diamond dust. He stopped right in front of me and lowered his head so his eyes were level with mine. He washugeup this close. Possibly even bigger than the twins’ Hounds.
“Hi,” I said as I reached a hand out to him. “May I?”
He leant closer and pressed his snout into my hand. I sank my fingers into his soft fur. He was warm, and the tugging sensation in my chest settled as the Lycaon sat there and let me scratch behind his ears.
