Chapter 6 #2
Her fingers tighten on the glass until her fingertips go white. “By setting things right, do you mean killing him again?” She shakes her head. “This world has just begun to heal from the plague. And you’re absolutely mad if you think I’ll help you cause another.”
“My madness is one of my most defining features,” I purr. “But take heart…what festers between him and I has nothing to do with this world anymore.”
Wendy nearly chokes, a surprised exhale escaping her lips. “You mean...” A knot of confusion appears between her brows. “Are you saying neither of you is anchored to Somnya anymore?”
“For someone who prides themselves on scholarly pursuits, you’re awfully slow to catch on, Wen.
" She shoots me a glare as I continue, “And though the Aeternalis may live, the kingdom of Somnya is dead. My people shed every reminder of him, including that name.” My voice is a low warning. “Do not speak it in my presence again.”
Wendy sinks slowly down into the cushions of a white sofa, as if the heft of new information has become too much to bear while standing. “Who? Whose power could have possibly been enough for the island?”
“Another of the family who has been put into this universe to be the bane of my existence. One of you Darlings.”
Wendy leans back against the plush cushions, mulling this over. Unlike Willa, Wendy has never been one to speak without fully considering the breadth of her words. I’d thought it admirable when we first met, but now, so close to returning to my kingdom, the pause sets my teeth on edge.
“When I first arrived in this world, I searched for any surviving members of my family, but the last Darling I could find disappeared in one of the camps…Willa Darling Fredrik.”
It’s been almost a year since I’ve heard Willa’s name spoken aloud, and it is like a blade between the ribs.
Thankfully, Wendy doesn’t appear to notice, continuing on, “There’s no record of her death and no record of her leaving. It was like she disappeared into thin air.”
Pride wends through me at Willa’s meticulous attention to detail, her ruthless dedication to survival.
Even now, when that same self-preservation banished me to the shitty bowels of the mainland, it gives me a sense of peace, for it is what assures me she will never allow the Aeternalis to retake what she deems hers.
“Did she…” Wendy finally meets my eyes, something like hope glimmering there. “Did she survive?”
Rather than replying, I shoot an irritated breath through my teeth. I don’t want to speak to Wendy of anything to do with Willa. It feels as if I’d be giving up something precious—something Wendy has no right to.
“I don’t have the time to give a lineage lesson on your pain in the ass family. I need to get back to Letum—now—and you’re going to help me do it. You’re going to use that pesky little Darling magic to open a ward and send me home.”
The hope on Wendy’s face is extinguished as quickly as it ignited. She sets her jaw, and crosses her arms over her chest. As if the small gesture will ever be enough to protect her from me—from death.
“I won’t do it, Nik.”
The nickname scrapes unpleasantly against my skin. She means it as a way to endear herself to me—a reminder of our intimate history—but all it does is amplify the ruins between us. A hollow that always existed, but because I was so desperate to be loved, I mistook it as something full.
Now that I’ve known true fullness, there is no unknowing. No pretending the shallow depths between Wendy and I were ever anything more than a shiny surface.
“I won’t open the wards for you,” she says again, more sternly this time, like she’s not just convincing me, but herself.
I tilt my head. “And why is that?” I ask innocently, as she shifts beneath my narrowed gaze.
She lifts her chin, familiar obstinance in the set of her mouth. Obstinance spurred by her inclination of justice—of always needing to be in the moral right. She never learned there is no right. There is only making the best of terrible choices.
“I won’t open the wards and let you start another war. If Somnya—” She shrinks under the heat of my glare, and clears her throat. “—if Letum—is at peace with a Darling at the anchor, you should leave it be.”
I bristle as her eyes wander over me in pitying assessment—over my body that’s filled out to its full strength; to skin that’s darkened beneath the rays of the mainland sun; to eyes colored a clear cerulean.
The handsome attributes I was born with, the ones I spent centuries grieving, are now only a source of sorrow—a constant reminder that there exist pieces of myself Willa hasn’t touched; pieces she doesn’t know.
I always thought their return would make me feel more human, but instead, it has left me feeling more alone than ever.
Wendy misreads my sudden angst, and her face goes soft. “You should make a life here, Nik. You should forget the land of dreams.” She hesitates, before slowly reaching out to caress my jaw with the tips of her fingers. “Somnya has only ever brought you pain. You should let it go.”
I flinch violently, snatching her wrist and throwing it back into her lap. I feel the echo of her fingers on my skin and I want to carve it out. I have touched no one since Willa, and for a wild moment, I consider slitting Wendy’s throat for assuming she had any right to be the first.
“How is it that you spent years with the Aeternalis and still know nothing of pain?” I snarl, drawing a dagger from inside my coat.
Spinning it in my palm, I lean forward menacingly.
“You have never had the mind for dreams the rest of your family does. It has only ever been the concrete that makes sense to you, Wen, so let me make this abundantly clear…You will open the wards, or all the years you’ve spent keeping yourself alive will be in vain as I will end you.
Slowly. Painfully. Until my death sings and you can remember nothing but how to beg for its relief. ”
Wendy’s eyes shine with fear as they flicker down to where I’ve begun to run the flat of my blade along her thigh, ever so lightly. She swallows audibly.
“I’m a gentleman, so I’ll give you the choice.
Open the wards or die.” I lift the dagger to her exposed throat with a dark laugh.
“A pity you didn’t inherit your cousin’s magic nor her immortality.
You’re smart enough to realize there’s nothing else that can save you from me. Death always steals what it wants.”
Wendy’s eyes water, and her lower lip begins to tremble as I press the tip of my weapon to her skin. I think I’ve got her—that she’ll throw herself at my feet—when she yelps, “She isn’t!”
I raise a brow, mild curiosity momentarily staying my hand. “She isn’t what?”
Wendy gulps down air frantically, tears spilling over her cheeks.
The sight of them would have once latched beneath my ribs, urged me to do anything to stop them.
Now, I feel nothing but vague disgust at her weakness.
How hadn’t I seen it all those years ago?
How hadn’t I known that my heart is death but hers is hope, destined to be swallowed by the smallest bit of darkness?
Wendy sucks in her lower lip, gazing up at me in terror.
“She isn’t what, Wendy?” I bark so loudly, her body nearly jerks off the sofa.
“Willa isn’t entirely immortal. She can be killed, just as you killed the Everlasting.”