Chapter 83
Mora
“Someone will show you all to your quarters,” Mora offered with a smile, not missing the way the Halflings trembled, hugging themselves as they backed away. Avoiding her eyes, scared of that amber glow. Horrified by the dark smoke still pooling at her feet.
Their trust hadn’t mattered in the end—once she’d carried them away in her vaporous embrace, all they saw was a monstrous creature.
They fear you more than they fear those who would end them.
The thought was a bitter one, her lips curling into a frown as her inner voice rattled in her mind.
Mora turned away, unable to withstand it a moment longer, but the weight of their horror pressed against her back.
Slipping over her skin until it was flirting with the dark power Dother had forced upon her.
Because she was indeed a terrifying creature, no matter how much she sometimes wished it weren’t so.
“Thank you,” the man she’d chased through the alley uttered as he passed, a small smile on his face. His kindness easing some of the pressure in her chest.
Mora took a breath, brimstone tickling her nostrils, the acrid scent chasing away the fresh air. Worse still, it crowded out the soft remnants of mint in her hair; the comforting aroma was nearly gone, her Fae abandoning her to her nightmares.
Smoke billowed from the river’s edge, gray chunks of rock lining the shore, the stones coated with ice and ash.
“We did as you asked,” Jade said, moving to Mora’s side.
Mora huffed a laugh, her gaze following the patrol of one of Castellan’s guards, clad in royal blue.
He kicked a piece of the old guardrail off the islet.
Water splashed in the air as it plunked through the surface, droplets speckling the partially submerged bough of a fallen tree that hadn’t been there before, its broken canopy dusted with stone.
“I have no doubt it was you who convinced everyone, not me. I’m the monster Castellan sets loose to drag them here in swaths of darkness.
You’re the sweet one they’ll listen to.”
Jade gently bumped Mora's shoulder. “They’ll change their tune someday.” When Mora said nothing, Jade carefully stepped over debris and stood on her toes, so Mora had no choice but to look at her.
Her gaze softened, and Mora noted that, for the first time in weeks, shadows didn’t stain the skin beneath her eyes.
“You’re about to change everything for all of us; they’ll see the good in you. ”
Tapping her fingers on the soft leather of her pouch, Mora offered a shallow nod. Maybe they would. Or maybe she would always be Castellan’s beast. A weapon the hero wielded on his righteous path.
Weapons were neither good nor evil; people venerated those who wielded them well. Though, that didn’t make them less wary of the sharpness of the blade.
Maybe that could be enough, a life as a weapon in good hands.
“So long as all ends well, I can make peace with it,” Mora finally said, smoke leaking from her fingers.
She took one last long inhale, searching for the damp, earthy scent of the river, the crash of the current against the rocky coastline caressing her ears.
It calmed her nerves. She closed her eyes, a delighted hum on her lips, before saying her goodbyes.
“I suppose it’s time I return and face the weight of the Crown. ”
“Good luck.” There was so much hope in Jade’s quiet voice, it drowned out the startled gasps of those who watched on while Mora exploded into onyx mist and sped toward Moldenna.