34. Vessa
34
Vessa
“ K eep to the shadows and low-lit taverns.”
“Here, my fate awaits,” I whispered into the quake of truth that rumbled beneath my feet. I saw it all.
I was not here to return the stone; I was here to end it.
The Eternal stone held a power over our land, and it was now torn with pain. I’d seen what its existence could do to those who were weakened by greed.
I was the last of the Umbra, dying and always on the run. A war between two worlds who couldn’t figure their shit out, and I so happened to be caught in it. There was no peace. I had seen battle and famine for far too long. All I knew was how to fight and survive another day just to wake up and do it all over again.
I saw the sun through the Eternal in a blinding, white light. No matter how fast we rode, I was destined to end up here.
No longer under the wing of Pa, I stood alone in the vast expanse of this space as I was surrounded by serenity.
Peace.
This was where I had chosen to be.
Within the power of the Umbra, darkness coiled up my arm, brushing along my skin. I had always known this distant part of me, the other side of the moon. It was the other half of what I’d lost, affirming what I had to do. The power of Ama was a familiarity that gently wrapped around my hand and the Eternal stone as light broke out from between my fingers. I was a reckoning force, cast in light with the power of Ano . I was the Umbra, willing the end of the Eternal stone. It split in two as more fissures veined across its golden amber glow, dispersing into a thousand shimmering pieces of blinding light that lulled me into a vacant space. Darkness followed bright rays, appearing as stars upon an open night sky. My soul was whisked away as my mind flashed through a lifetime of memories—the ebb and flow of my existence. Running barefoot in the woods with my sister, nothing but soot on our feet and hungry bellies craving pastries. Her voice was a calm throughout the woods. I followed it until I caught sight of her bright violet eyes with azure drops around them, child-like until I blinked again and caught a glimpse of what she would have been if she had survived. Tears stung my eyes. She was beautiful, surrounded by lush, wild terrain. I saw Raven smiling for the first time when I’d offered him a gift in a place where he had felt so alone. The smile that Pa had worn even on days when Ma was being wicked. It was the sound of her voice that stilled my next breath. A call to the divine as a silhouette took shape, causing me to run as fast as my legs would carry me, only to discover I didn’t have to run. The gravitational pull brought us together. Rich brown eyes greeted me as familiar hands touched my soul. I couldn’t stop the tears from falling when I saw the woman who smiled back.
“Hello, my moon. Home so soon?”
Home…
Words so foreign on my lips, they nearly broke me. I’d never felt I belonged in a world that was vastly changing. But there was one thing I knew for sure as I studied the shape of her face and curve of her high cheekbones with bronze skin and dark hair matching my own.
I belonged to her.
Every word I’d ever dreamt of saying to Ma evaded me. Only tears fell in heavy waves, cascading down my face; I could barely see.
She held me in her arms. A phantom touch, recalling what her warmth had once felt like on cold winter nights. The way her soft skin felt inside her arms.
“Always so swift.” Ma chuckled. “But you have flown too far from where you need to be. It is not your time.”
I tried to speak, but words here were sent with emotions. I nodded as she stroked my long, dark hair and took my face in her hands, wiping away my tears with her thumbs.
“It is not your time,” she whispered again, taking me in her arms, but I felt her slipping out of reach. Looking past her, my chest nearly cracked once more as I sucked in a shaky breath. Pa’s silhouette, an Umbra in a waning light as he tipped his hat one last time and turned with Ma following after.
Desert Rose…
“Desert Rose…”
My eyes fluttered open to find Ryder caught in the sun’s rays, light filtering through his hair as he looked down.
He helped me sit up and handed me a flask of water. Still stunned, I splashed it over my face as I reeled over what had happened. Looking around, we were sitting by the fountain. The birds were chirping somewhere hidden within the trees. The weather was a touch of a warm spring.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I woke up and found you lying beside me.”
He took my chin in his hand, overcome by emotions as he shook his head.
“Desert Rose, you scared the shit out of me.” He gave me a bruising kiss, one that seemed to be the beginning of a salve that would heal my new inner wounds.
He pulled away and looked at me again, probably wondering how we could have survived as he enveloped me in an embrace. We stayed this way for quite some time.
“I’m surprised you’re still here,” I finally said.
“You can run me into the ground, and I’ll still be dumb enough to be here at the end of it.”
I laughed, resting my head against his hardened chest. I didn’t know what would happen after this, but I remembered the ring that hung around his neck. Somewhere between then and now, I had fallen for this foolish cowboy. As I took it in my hand and studied the small circle that resembled a half-lit moon, I realized something fierce.
“You are mine, cowboy. There isn’t anyone in any realm that could take you away from me.”
A warm chuckle hummed in his chest.
“Damn them all to hells if they tried,” I said.
He leaned forward and cupped my cheek, dragging the pad of his thumb against my mouth as he flashed a pearly smile. “Damn them all to hells.”
Looking past Ryder, I saw his stallion with the chest full of tonic—the last card Pa had played—strapped to its side. I smiled faintly.
Arching a brow, Ryder seemed to notice.
“Whatever challenges come our way, we will manage it,” he said.
A warmth bloomed, knowing Pa was finally with the woman he loved. I’d have to think about that whenever I felt myself slipping into the dark.
Besides, a new vendetta was on the rise.
I’d let the bird live for now, let him get a taste of what freedom felt like while I enjoyed some of my own.
But when he woke to the sound of a hammer cocking back, he’d meet his fate. It would take one bullet to kill, two because I was a spiteful bitch. I knew my path.
May the ancestors send whatever darkness or light we need to guide us.
The End