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Mori braced herself for a world of pain.
At any moment, Tia was going to hurl her over her head and into the splintered beams and burning cinders that were once a barn.
She could feel it, like a trembling warning in the air, but she’d be damned if she didn’t at least land a few blows herself.
The tension thickened to a boiling point, and through the corner of her eye, she noticed Lottie nervously coiling one of her dark curls around her finger. She had always been the mediator, the one to keep the peace, but today she remained silent. Her eyes flicked between the two of them, back and forth in a nervous flurry, as though she didn’t know what to do.
A shadow fell over them as a cloud wandered in front of the moon, its fluffed edges glowing in the soft silver light. The churning smoke around them drowned out the distant light of the stars beyond it. A sudden gust stirred more ash into the air, and the familiar bite of smoke filled Mori’s lungs. she took a deep breath, savoring its heady char, and that at least somewhat quelled the unease gnawing at her bones.
"Maybe Mori is right," Lottie whispered, her voice barely registering above the wind.
In unison, everyone shifted their full attention to her. The lines of magic on Tia’s skin faded as the tension broke. Mori perked up at Lottie’s vote of confidence, as grateful as she was astonished, but the girl didn’t even glance her way. Her trembling gaze settled instead on Tia, and her thin eyebrows furrowed with a fierce determination she rarely saw on her face.
It seemed like their commander was outnumbered.
Tia snorted derisively. "Not you, too."
"If I could save either of you, I would do it in a heartbeat," Lottie said, her voice softening with each word. She joined them cautiously, as though approaching a wild bear that could lash out at any moment, but her shoulders relaxed once she set a comforting hand on Tia's arm. "I know you're afraid, Tia, but they can't—"
"I'm not afraid," their older sister said quickly.
Too quickly.
Her gaze shook briefly—so fast that Mori almost missed it—and she huffed to hide the small tremor in her lip. She stared up at the sky as the moon peeked from behind the wandering cloud, and tendrils of thick smoke licked at the air. The moonlight cast a soft glow across her face as she, yet again, turned inward instead of telling them what was wrong.
She wasn't just afraid.
She was terrified.
"Thea, daughter of the goddess Keres," Mori said firmly, knowing full well that using the angel’s full name would piss her off. "What aren't you telling us?"
Tia shot her a furious glare, and for a time, didn't answer. Instead, she growled with frustration, and the white lines burned again across her skin as her magic surged with her rush of anger. She set her hands on her head and paced nearby, mumbling to herself about spirits and banshees as the farm's ruins smoldered around us.
Fresh out of patience and ready for some damn answers, Mori reached for Tia's shoulders with every intent to shake her as hard as she could before she got sucker-punched in the gut. Honestly, there wasn’t really a plan so much as a need to break through this mask her elder sister wore all the time, and which seemed to be getting worse by the day. Maybe something useful could finally be wrung out of the woman, or perhaps that infuriating stubbornness could finally be shattered.
Unlikely, but Mori was angry enough to try.
Before she could grab her sister—and before Tia noticed the attempt—Lottie set her gentle hand on Mori’s wrist. The subtle grip tightened, just enough to slow her momentum, and the world went still.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Though Mori could've easily wrenched herself free, the touch soothed a bit of the ire in her blood, and she stopped long enough to look Lottie in the eye. Those intense green eyes shook, and Lottie raised one eyebrow in silent admonishment.
"Give her a minute," Lottie whispered.
"Lottie, we don't have time for this," she hissed under her breath. "Every second we waste here is another second we could've spent trying to find Ava."
"I know," Lottie whispered back. "But Tia needs this."
At that, Tia growled. She dug her fingers into her soot-stained hair and glared down at her boots. The sound of her furious voice sent tremors through the ground beneath their feet.
Ready for a fight, Mori sank into her stance. She’d never been one to back down, even from family.
Mercifully, though, Tia’s rage faded almost as quickly as it had begun, and no one threw a blow.
“Lottie, find the trail,” Tia ordered without so much as a glance backward.
“On it.” Lottie winked at Mori and lightly tapped her shoulder in victory before jogging off toward the treeline. Sol jumped off her shoulder and ran along the ground beside her, his ears perked as they looked for clues together.
“I’ll search the far end of the clearing.” Mori scratched the back of her head and pivoted away from Tia, eager to put some distance between them after their confrontation.
Before she could, however, her older sister grabbed her arm.
Tia’s nails dug into her skin, and a jolt of pain shot clear down to her fingers. Her bicep flexed as she met her sister’s intense gaze, and they stared each other dead in the eye. The air crackled, and white lines slowly buzzed to life across Mori’s skin as she delved once more into her magic.
The grip on her arm, however, tightened even more with an unspoken warning not to push her luck.
As much as Mori wanted to wrench herself free and swipe out her sister’s legs, she forced herself to be still.
“What is it now?” Mori asked impatiently, not bothering to mask her irritation. “We need to find the trail before it goes cold.”
“I already did,” Tia said under her breath, even as she watched Lottie kneel by the treeline. “Spotted her tracks as soon as we got here, up on the north side of the field. The charred footsteps become normal once they reach the forest, which is a good sign.”
Mori scoffed in disgust. “Why waste Lottie’s time, then? Or mine, if there was hope after all that Ava’s okay? Did you just want to scold me in private?”
“No,” Tia said firmly. “I need you to understand something.”
“And that is?”
“Ava is out there, yes, but there’s no telling how close to the edge she might be,” Tia’s voice lowered to a scratchy growl. “Expect the worst. You and that battleaxe are our best offense. Always have been. If we’re going to do this, I need you ready to fight.” She paused to take a shaky breath, and her grip loosened ever so slightly. “I need you ready for the worst.”
Unsure of what to say, Mori didn’t reply.
“Listen.” Tia’s expression softened, but her grip didn’t falter. “I know how these fights usually go, and I know what will happen if we fail.”
“And that is?”
“A hellscape,” she said in an awestruck tone with a gesture to the ashen carnage around them. “A charred ruin beyond anything you can imagine. This aftermath left you speechless and broke something within you. I could see it on your face. But this only scratched the surface of what a winged angel can do. If I tell you to kill her, Mori, you do it. Do you understand? You cannot hesitate.”
Again, there was no reply.
“Mori!” Tia snapped.
“Yes.” Her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat. “Fine, yes. If it comes to that, I will.”
But they could both taste the lie. The doubt. The uncertainty. The fear.
A divot appeared in Tia’s cheek as she pursed her lips, but she finally let go. She walked off, her boots leaving a glowing red trail through the embers.
Mori rubbed her arm as haunting ribbons of pain continued to shiver through the lingering bruise from her sister’s grip. For a moment, she just stood there, wondering if she could bring herself to do it.
With so few of them left, she didn’t want to consider that as a possibility. She didn’t want to think that she would have to end one of her own kind.
“It won’t come to that,” Cricket said gently from his perch on her shoulder.
With a thin smile, Mori scratched his ear in gratitude. He purred, soft and deep. The gentle vibration trailed through her fingertips, and she forced herself to press onward despite the growing dread in the pit of her stomach.
And, to the best of her ability, she tried not to think about how this would probably end.