Page 30 of A Haven of Brimstone and Darkness

“Mom, you’re back!” Tears fill my eyes as she tosses the book to the side and jumps up, rushing over. Her body is warm against mine as she wraps thin arms around my middle. My chest cracks wide open and I can’t stop myself from sinking into the future that I want more than anything in the world. Wrapping myself around her, I snuggle my face into her hair and inhale the smell of firewood and ink and dust.

When I speak, it’s through a ragged throat. “W-where’s your father, baby?”

She pulls back and frowns at me. “You didn’t find him?” Her brow pinches and worry steals across her features. As close as I am now, I see that she isn’t quite all of me. The shape of her nose favors her father far more as well as the coal-lined lashes of her eyes. The body against mine is thin, but not fragile. Her bones are thicker than mine. Dearly Divine, she’s beautiful.

I cup her cheek, feeling the smoothness of her skin and both hating and loving how real it feels. “Find him?” I repeat absently as I try to absorb everything about this would-be future.

Kiera takes a step back, my hand falling from her face as her features shift and change. The cabin around us falls away, a swirling mist overtaking its place. The face that appears next is that of a much older child—no, not a child at all. A woman.

Deadened gray eyes meet mine from a scarred face. Her hair is shorn nearly to her scalp. Her lips are cracked and dry and her very expression is the definition of hollow. Fear whips into my heart and I reach for her once more, only this Kiera is different from the other. She moves away from my reach.

The mist clears and with horror, I recognize where we are.

Ortus.

“No…”

“Come to me, Kiera.”

My head jerks up as I recognize that hated voice. Tryphone stands atop a dais with one arm outstretched. “No!” I scream as I hurl myself towards the once-child in front of me.

The second my body hits hers, though, the fate surrounding us dissolves once more. Wrapping my arms more securely around the frame of my daughter, I squeeze until I can’t feel my limbs. Still, she changes.

Her skin turning a dusty white-gray, her hair growing longer, but no longer with the thick vibrancy of a healthy woman. Purple and black-rimmed eyes twist towards me. My mouth parts on a wordless scream. Tears spill over onto my cheeks, dripping down and falling… falling… falling.

Still, I don’t release her.

Empty. My daughter’s face is nothing but a skull with skin stretched over bone. Her lips bloodless. Her eyes unseeing.

Dead.

Dead.

Dead.

Cradling her against me, my knees hit hard stone as I rock back and forth.

This is what will happen if you stay with her, Ari.Caedmon’s voice is gentle.This is why you cannot go to her.

“No!” I scream again as the body against my chest begins to disintegrate. Bones and flesh turning to dust. Gasping for breath, screaming, I claw at the ground. “Bring her back!”

The path falls away and this time there is only one silvery snake-like choice. I reach for it without thinking, knowing at least she must be alive again in this future. I’m ripped from the first rope of fate into the second and find myself standing in a wet, dark room.

My body aches as I twist on cold hard stone and sit up. A figure appears a few feet away, separated from me by a row of stone bars.Brimstone.It would frighten me were I not so focused on the person standing there, watching me.

Kiera.

I straighten, my bones protesting as I realize my hands are bound. I glance down and see that they aren’t just shackled, but bolts of brimstone have been inserted through my wrists. The pain fades, though, as Kiera raises a torch in her hand, illuminating the space.

Though I don’t recognize the prison, the brimstone walls and stone tell me it’s likely Ortus—once again.

Can we not avoid this terrible place?I wonder absently.

If Caedmon hears, he doesn’t answer.

I allow myself to look at her again, noting that her hair is long and twisted away from her face. Her features are thinner, but they are still strong. There’s no horrid scarring, no sunken eyes. Instead, there’s a fire burning in those stony depths. Power seeps from her in waves. It drifts over me, sensing of both myself and … him.

Oh, Henric.My eyes begin to burn once more.Our daughter is so strong.

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