Page 13 of Live Like Legends

“Zane, we’re fine. Just a little err…mishap.” Natalia started picking up more pieces of glass from the floor, but Zane stopped her before she could even attempt to accidentally cut herself.

“Mishap, mmhmm,” he muttered, keeping his eyes clearly on Elise.

“About your powers…” Garrett began, rubbing his hands together. I licked my bottom lip and shook my head. For now, my resurrection powers were off the table, they’d given me Dani back and I was grateful for them, but I honestly didn’t want to think anymore about them.

“We really don’t have to talk about that. You have a lot of things going on already, my issues aren’t your problem.”

Garrett nodded as if he understood, but he still pressed. “There aren’t many out there with these kinds of powers and if you did ever want to understand it, I’m here. The distraction might be, well…” His voice trailed off as he looked towards the window he was previously at.

I gave him the best smile I could. This man made me miss my father and I knew that what he was feeling would be my own father’s exact same feelings if it were me stuck in another realm. Our issues seemed so trivial next to Garrett’s, but on the other hand, I spent almost fifteen years thinking there weren’t any issues at all. If I spoke about the powers then everything else would come up and personally, I wasn’t ready for that. Hisshoulders were too heavy with his own burdens and my own would not be adding to it.

“I think for now my plate is full dealing with Dani’s—” I turned to look over to her, but she was nowhere to be found. She must have slipped out while Elise was on her tirade, because the room wasn’t big enough for me to just miss…

That’s when I found her. She had opened the doors and was outside on the balcony. She was hanging out near the railing with her back to me. The sunlight framed her so perfectly I could have just stared at her for hours; there was no doubt in my mind that she deserved anything and everything that the realms had to offer. If I didn’t know what was going on with her, I would think she was so calm and serene from where I stood. my heart hurt, knowing how much she was dealing with it and how there wasn’t much I could do about it. Loving her just didn’t seem like enough sometimes.

I gave Garrett one more smile, which he reciprocated, but his particular smile told me that our conversation wasn’t over. I started to make my way over to Dani, but Natalia stepped in front of me. Her honey-colored eyes were soft as she looked over her shoulder at the balcony. “You’ve spent a lot of time with her, Nicholas. Maybe let me give it a try, hmm?”

Idesperately tried to let every ounce of tension leave my body the minute I got outside. I’d slipped away from Nick and managed to escape to the balcony with no issues, but regardless of how many people were around, it was never enough. So many questions that I didn’t know the answers to. I understood that they were curious but, fuck, I’d never been so agitated in such a short amount of time. My fingers tightened around the railing as I closed my eyes, mentally counting to whatever number I could before I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“It’s a little much in there.” Natalia gave me a small smile when I looked up at her.

“Isn’t it always?” I volleyed back, chuckling to myself.

Natalia turned around so that her back was against the railing. “Now that we are away from everyone else, would you like to tell me how you are really feeling?”

I pressed my lips together, mulling over my thoughts. I wanted to sound sure of myself with whatever I said, but thatwas proving harder than I imagined. “I guess I’m fine, but then again, I’m not. Does that make sense?”

She nodded, never keeping her eyes off me. “You did die and then came back to life, so I would think it odd if you didn’t feel something exactly like that.”

I nodded solemnly. “I think I just don’t understand what that means for me now. On the outside, I’m perfectly some version of my normal self, but on the inside…”

“Things are a little off?” She inquired, raising an eyebrow.

I scrunched my mouth to the side. “Actually, no. It’s not like that at all.” I raised both my eyebrows at her, hoping my point was clear as day.

Natalia twisted her body so she could lean one of her arms on the railing. Her eyes left my face and looked out over the trees and floral arrangements that were scattered around us. “Ah, so you feel like everything is much more balanced within yourself. The dark and the light.”

It wasn’t really a question; there was no inflection in her voice.

Instead of answering her, I followed her gaze, watching the wind take hold of the foliage that fell from various tree branches.

After a moment, the High Priestess spoke again. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say you haven’t told Nicholas about your internal balancing act?”

I rolled my eyes, taking a glance over my shoulder. I found my angel easily. Fuck, he was handsome. He was also an overprotective, grudge holding deflector, but I loved him. “I haven’t lied to him, okay. I am actuallyfine. I didn’t want to burden him with something he can’t fix or change. We both know he would try.” I caught myself smiling at that last part. Nick put his whole heart into everything he attempted, even when he knew it was a losing battle. There was a tiny partof him that thought there could be a chance. “Despite Ariel’s horrendous fucking attitude, this is kind of what I wanted.”

“Youwantto work for Ariel?” Natalia sounded appalled at my words.

I nearly choked. “No. Fuck, no, I don’t want to work for that piece of shit, but I wanted to figure this out. I wanted your help, and I wasn’t going to see you anytime soon otherwise. Without my dagger, it’s all just kind of swirling around inside of me, which is fine, but now there are two different kinds of powers. They are trying to find a way to connect but they can’t. Maybe I won’t let them, I don’t know.” I shook my head, feeling frustrated. “I can find a way around his threats and probably find a way out of his grasp, but I need this handled. You are the best, are you not?”

Natalia laughed and it was musical the way it settled into my ears. I’d missed it. “I’m no miracle worker, Dani. I’ve never tugged on the powers of angels, nor have I touched the power of the darkness, but I do have a place where we can experiment with both and hopefully get you into a position where you can use them both safely and confidently.”

I gave her the most genuine smile I could muster up and she awarded me with a look that told me she saw right through my efforts. I wanted to figure this out and I wanted to do it safely. The dark was all I’d ever known; I was safe there.

I could be safe in the light as well, couldn’t I?

I noticed Natalia chewing on her bottom lip and my eyebrows pulled inward. “What is it?”

“I know you don’t think he’ll understand, but Nicholas might be your biggest asset.”

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