Page 8 of Currency in Flesh

I rose from the bed, dropping my bare feet to the warm wood floor. I wasn’t sure what exactly I was supposed to do here if Lady Cora wasn’t around to tell me. Without the need to eat or take care of bodily functions, what else was there to do on my own? Past the bed, the room opened up slightly and I saw a comfortable-looking armchair with a small table beside it. As I got closer, I could see a little stack of books as well. They were vaguely familiar titles, poetry by famous dead women, gothic horror, a smutty vampire book. I fought the urge to smirk. Of course, Lady Cora would choose to provide me with smut, darkness and feminist poetry. Taking a seat, I picked up the vampire novel. If I was to have nothing else to do, at least I’d waste my time on something titillating.

Four chapters in, just as things were beginning to get good, I heard the sound of heels from behind me. My stomach did a little flip, but I shook the sensation off. I was the captive of a stranger who was clearly dangerous. Whatever effect she had on me wasn’t based on attraction, it had to be fear.

“That is a good one,” Lady Cora whispered near my ear. Her words flowed over my skin like honey—thick and warm. I realized too late that I hadn’t responded, nodding to try and disguise my distraction. “Have you read it before?”

“No,” I replied, trying to keep my tone neutral. “I watched a few episodes of the TV show, but I didn’t have much time to read, and what I did manage was usually for work.”

“I am rather surprised. You seem like the sort of woman who reads.”

“I did when I was younger,” I began. I wasn’t sure why I found it so easy to fall into conversation with her. It would probably be smarter to keep my distance, maybe she would lose interest. But then what? I was as good as dead already, wasn’t I? “I read a lot growing up. My mother didn’t approve of mosttelevision and I enjoyed the escape of books. I used to really love fantasy novels.”

“I am happy to provide any you desire, marigold. There are many things to be learned from books.” She walked around the chair, nails dragging along the velvet as she passed. Even without touching me, she made my skin erupt in goosebumps. It was disarming, always feeling slightly out of control.

“You keep talking about things I need to learn.” My voice came out snappier than I had intended. “To what end? Why bother teaching me anything at all?”

“Do you think I enjoy my duties?” She didn’t look at me as she spoke, instead looking at what appeared to me as a wall, though I’m sure to her it was nothing at all.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “You seem to be bored, but you were perfectly content to—” I swallowed. “Deal with that man.”

“My true responsibility is keeping balance. All life possesses some measure of power. There must be a balance within that power. I may not be fair, but I am just. I take no pleasure from knowing there are people who do terrible things to the innocent or the weak. What I do here is to restore the power they have unrightfully taken. I do not deal solely in corrupted souls, I also care for those which are bright and pure.”

“That doesn’t sound any better. You have to interact with bad people while also watching good people die.”

“I do not see life and death in the same way you do, Grace. Life is brief and fleeting, while death is eternal. Life, I suppose, is simply a test to see how you are destined to spend eternity.”

“But don’t people make mistakes? Can’t they grow? Become better? I don’t see how it’s fair or just to torture someone forever because of mistakes they made when they were young and stupid or in circumstances beyond their control. People in bad situations are driven to do bad things all the time, it doesn’t make them bad people.” I spoke with moreconviction on behalf of humanity than I’d have thought myself capable of.

“Bold of you to assume I cannot tell the difference.” I felt her gaze when she turned back to face me, hot on my skin even beneath the robe. She was right, I was making assumptions without knowing anything.

“How can you tell?” I asked, genuinely curious. “How do you know when someone is truly unworthy of redemption?”

Lips drawing back as though my words had caused offense, Lady Cora grimaced. “I do not provide redemption. What is done is done. I direct those who deserve reward to the isles, and those whose souls are unremarkable to the meadows. There is no redemption involved. But I can take a soul in my hands and feel its weight, its worth. The balance lies in making certain there are enough people worthy of the isles without allowing the pit to overflow.”

My brows drew together. “Can it do that? Overflow?”

Her low chuckle was cold. “Not in a literal sense. But there have been times where the centuries of darkness have spilled into the world above. My goal is always to keep the balance. I can choose to repay those in the pit for what they have enacted in their lives, just as I repay those who inhabit the isles. But when I am through, I destroy what remains in the pit, because there will always be more evil. Good is far less common.”

“So do you enjoy it?” I asked.

There was a momentary distance to her eyes that I couldn’t interpret, a pause I didn’t understand. “Sometimes. I enjoy knowing that in my own way, I am serving justice to those who have earned my wrath. But I do not enjoy seeing the consequences of what they have done. I do not enjoy welcoming good people to my realms before their time. I do not enjoy seeing how many children walk the isles, or how often their parents fail to join them in the end.”

My hand lifted to my stomach, but I dropped it just asquickly. I didn’t have any children walking these lands, and I never would. I guess that was some sort of blessing. Lady Cora’s eyes snagged on my middle as though she had seen the small motion, but she didn’t ask. Changing the subject, I met her gaze. “And I’m here as a distraction, then? Something to keep you from having to focus solely on the balance of good and evil?”

The small muscles beside her mouth tensed before she spoke. “If that is how you would like to see yourself,” she said. “I would hope your opinion might change with time.” She held out a hand, and I took it before I could second-guess the action. Without letting go of my fingers, she ran her other hand down my body slowly, and I couldn’t help but to shiver.

My eyes pressed closed as I tried to shake the sensations building in my core, and when I opened them, her impossibly green irises met the soft brown of my own. There was a heavy pause where neither of us moved or looked away, but I broke the moment to look down to where I was now clothed in a black knee-length dress with an intricate leather corset belt drawing in my waist. My forehead creased in confusion, but when I looked back up, Lady Cora wore a small smile. “I assumed you would prefer to be clothed to visit the meadows.”

“And the corset?” I asked.

“I like your body in it.”

There was a glint of challenge in her eyes, so I took it. “You’ve never seen me in a corset, how would you know?”

“I have seen you many ways in my imagination. I am glad to see the reality is just as divine.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

This time, when the walls of my chamber fell away, it was not to the sight of a cloudy, orange-tinged day. Instead, I stepped into a brilliant meadow filled with softly waving grasses—bright and cheery flowers dotting the green landscape. Above us, a wide, pale sky stretched as far as I could see. There was no visible sun, but the light shone warm upon my skin and I breathed in the scent of fresh air.

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