Page 48 of Seeds of Sorrow

Tying rope around her wrists, binding them together, he dragged her down to the dark basement. She was terrified of the basement in this house, of the shadows that lurked in every corner. Sometimes she thought that they were staring back at her, monsters waiting for the right moment to gobble her up.

He dumped her in front of the wooden post in the middle of the room, grabbed the length of rope connected to her wrists, and tied it around and around the pillar. Once he was satisfied that she wouldn’t be able to go anywhere, he tied a knot and stood back to admire his work.

Tears clouded Peyton’s vision and burned her skin as she sobbed, mumbling how sorry she was over and over. Despite her apologies, her foster father’s smile was sadistic as he looked down at her.

“Now maybe you’ll appreciate what we give you, huh?” Slapping her again for good measure, he stormed up the stairs and slammed the door shut. Peyton heard the click of the lock as he left her in the cold, dark basement.

For three days, she lay quivering with only the shadows of her nightmares for company. When her stepfather finally returned to untie her, she couldn’t feel her hands. She shivered and stared at the burns on her wrists from where the rope had bitten into her young skin, marking the abuse.

She didn’t cry after that. Even when he hit her or his biological son crept into her room at night, her tears didn’t fall. Instead, she let her mind wander and imagine a day where the monsters in the shadows were hers to control. She would picture the creatures lurching after the ones who had hurt her, eating them whole so that no trace of them was left.

One day,she would think to herself,I will tell my shadows to destroy those who hurt others. They will devour them all.

“Peyton? Are you okay?”

Hadina’s voice drew Peyton from the hellish memory she had buried a long time ago. She often didn’t think of her life before she was adopted by her parents, instead choosing to bury those years where she was passed around foster carers and abusers. A small part of her, however, relished the fact that she had wished to be able to control the shadows and now she had foundla reina de las sombras. It was fitting that she had fallen in love with the queen of the shadows, who would burn the world for her if she asked.

Peyton blinked away the memory and blew out a breath. “I’m okay.”

Furrowing her brows, Hadina stared back with pursed lips. “Peyton…”

“Hadi, I’m fine,” she snapped, turning to Amelie. “Now then, Amelie, would it be okay if we took you upstairs? We can get you a nice warm blanket and some food. How does that sound?”

“Will you give Claire some too?”

Peyton smiled softly. “Of course we’ll give Claire some too! We would never leave her out.”

Amelie grinned, taking Peyton’s outstretched hand. The little girl looked up with hope glistening in her eyes. “Will you really take me back to my family?”

“We’ll do our best, baby girl,” Peyton answered, squeezing Amelie’s hand softly.

By the time they had all the girls fed and sent off to the hospital to get checked over, Peyton felt completely drained. There was so much energy put into pretending like you weren’t breaking apart at the sight of the abused children, so much dedicated to containing the fury blazing within your blood when you thought about what they’d endured. Adding in the memory she’d unlocked on top of that was, well, fucking exhausting.

Hadina sighed as she slid into the driver’s seat of her car, throwing her head back. She turned slightly so she could look at Peyton while worrying her lip between her teeth. “¿Estás bien?What happened back there? Are you okay?”

Closing her eyes, Peyton contemplated keeping it a secret. But after the day they’d had, she realized there was no one who would understand her more than Hadina. She told the other woman what had brought the memory back, and everything she had suddenly recalled from her childhood. Her voice cracked but she refused to cry, channeling the child who wished to control the monsters. When she finished, she was too scared to open her eyes for fear that she would see pity reflected in Hadina’s.

“Peyton, look at me.” There was a commanding tone in Hadina’s voice that made Peyton slowly open her eyes and look at the goddess beside her. Where she had expected to see pity, she saw anger instead. “You wanted to command the monsters hiding in the shadows,tentadora, and that is what I am. Tell me to destroy them and I will make them pay for everything they ever did to you.”

Peyton unbuckled her seat belt and leaned across the console, pulling Hadina into a long, slow kiss. “I don’t need you to destroy them for me. I want you to teach me how to destroy them myself.”

“Convertirse en la oscuridad.Become the darkness, Peyton, and I will be by your side. I will teach you how to devour the entire world.”

Chapter32

HADINA

It physically painedHadina to see the heartbreak in Peyton’s eyes during her first mission. She had endured almost being killed and seeing the true horrors of thosebastardosup close. Her mind was chaotic as she struggled to understand what she was feeling—pride and fear were both eating her alive. Hadina was happy to have Peyton by her side, but she hated how much it felt like shebelonged. Peyton was a light in the world, and Hadina’s life would consume her until all she knew was darkness.

“Why do you look like you want to murder someone?”

Hadina shook her head, looking down at where Peyton lay beside her in bed, blonde hair spread out across the pillows like a golden halo. “I always want to murder someone.”

Peyton snorted and smacked Hadina’s arm. “You’re so fucked up.”

Hadina beamed, baring her teeth with the gesture. “Indeed I am.”

“Tell me what it was like for you growing up. Before you found out about Adis & Co.” Peyton trailed her fingers up Hadina’s arm, running soft circles across a white scar marring her skin from a bullet wound.

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