Page 89 of In the Dark

He stood firm even as sorrow gripped him with tainted claws. “And the soul you hold in your hand is someone else’s baby. It’s time to give her up, Cecilia. We will find another way. I swear it to you.”

Tears sprang to life at the corners of her eyes. “No.” She shook her head. “No. Not when I’m so close.”

“Let her soul go free.”

“I can’t. I won’t.”

Morgan nearly jumped forward when the woman began to squeeze. The diminishing light of Karsia’s soul shivered and grew dim. He took an involuntary step before Vane reached across and clapped him on the shoulder.

Cecilia continued the manic shaking of her head while Vane spoke to her, keeping his voice low and calm. “You must. Listen to me. Please. You can never be free if you do this.”

Mad light shone behind her eyes. She suddenly crouched low and brought the soul close to her chest, rocking on the balls of her feet. “I don’t believe you.”

Vane responded with a breath of wind. It caressed Cecilia, billowing her gown and bringing the soul ball back out into the open. Cecilia lifted her face to the breeze, welcoming it like a lover, a keening sound beginning in the back of her throat.

The abnormal night hummed around them, tensed, on the verge of a tipping point. The breeze ceased, and Cecilia glanced up, as if recollecting herself. She stared from her empty palm to Vane and back again. “Where did—”

“You need to let her go,” Vane reiterated. He held the soul ball in his own palm now. Under his light ministrations, a pale echo of Karsia’s face formed and blossomed. It hovered inside the ball, her mouth open in a silent plea.

Morgan let out a strangled breath and tried to reach for her, but once more felt the hand tighten on his shoulder. There were still game pieces in play.

“She’s mine. Mine.” Cecilia snatched at the ghostly figure, but Vane evaded. “I’ve worked hard for this. You can’t force me to turn back now.”

“She is your blood. The daughter of a son of a son…back to our son. You would hurt your own?”

“It’s the only way! Why can’t you see?” Cecilia suddenly began to scratch viciously at her scalp. “Vane, get out of my head.”

“She’s insane,” Morgan muttered under his breath.

“Keep out of this, half-god,” Vane replied, shooting him a quelling look. “This is between her and me.”

“Karsia is almost dead!”

Vane returned his attention to Cecilia. “Cecilia, hush. It does no good to torment yourself. I told you we would find a way, and we will. If it takes a thousand more years…I will get you back.”

He held his free arm out, hand and fingers stretching until they reached their limit. She mimicked the action, stretching her own arm and hand and fingers out to his. Energy crackled between them as the distance shrank. Great lancing sparks of red and gold emanated from the tiny space left between them. They were like magnets, attracting and repelling at the same time.

Morgan read their sad story in that moment. Two lovers destined to revolve around each other eternally. Drawn to be together but never touching and forever apart. One could not exist without the other yet they would never again be able to live together.

“Vane!” Cecilia cried out.

He retracted his arm and the sparks ceased. “I’m here.”

“Let me have her and we can be together again. Don’t you want us to be together?”

“More than anything, my love.”

“More than one piddling soul?” Cecilia shook her fist toward the soul ball. “Would you put her before me?” A gleaming spear of obsidian materialized in her open palm, gripped tightly and held aloft, its end barbed and pointed. “Before me, Vane?”

“Cecilia…” Vane stared at the spear. “None of this is getting through to you, is it?”

“Before me, Vane!” Cecilia repeated roughly. Moonlight glinted off the sharp edge of the dream blade.

Before Vane could react, she reached out her free hand and snatched the soul ball from his palm. She brought the black spear to within inches of it, as if daring him to intervene.

“Do something,” Morgan whispered fiercely from the corner of his mouth. “You told me to stay out of this, but if she attacks Karsia, I will end her. Damn the consequences.” He didn’t know how. He wasn’t sure if anything he threw at her would work. All he knew was he was determined to try.

Vane nodded once before turning back to Cecilia. “If you won’t reconsider, then I will be forced to take drastic measures to ensure no harm comes to that girl.”

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