Page 12 of The Umbra King

Rory’s heart pinched. Today must be a good day. Lenora only had one or two good days a month, and Rory always called in to work to spend as much time with her as possible. Lenora used to only have one or two bad days every few months, then every month, then every week, and now it was reversed.

“Good morning.” Rory crossed the kitchen and wrapped her hands around her mother for a hug. The comfort of Lenora’s bright red soul set Rory at ease. “What are you making?”

She held up a plate of fluffy pancakes. “Your favorite. Have a seat, dear. They’re almost ready.”

Rory poured them both a cup of coffee, added cream and sugar, and sat at the wooden table in their kitchen. Their apartment was too small for an actual dining room and instead had a small breakfast nook.

While her mother finished at the stove, Rory sent a quick text to her boss, letting him know she wouldn’t be in tonight, and another to her mother’s evening nurse. Often, Rory stayed with Lenora during the day and a nurse stayed in the evenings until her mother went to sleep.

“Fill me in on everything I’ve missed,” her mother insisted as she sat across from her. “Have any men caught your attention?” She waggled her eyebrows, and Rory snickered at her mother’s antics.

As aSibyl, Lenora was aware she missed time between her gooddays and always played catch up for the first part of the morning. It was both a blessing Rory didn’t have to pretend everything was fine, and a curse her mother knew she was trapped in a cage of her mind’s making.

“For the last time, I’m too busy for men.” Rory stuck a piece of pancake in her mouth and sighed. Her mother was a phenomenal cook.

“Not even a friend with goodies?” her mother asked, pouring syrup over her own pancakes.

Rory choked on her food and looked up. “It’s friends with benefits,and no, for aether’s sake.” She preferred one-night stands.

Her mother laughed, the sound like music to Rory’s ears. “Whatever you say, dear. How is work going?”

Rory’s head bobbed as she ate and answered the next question she knew was coming. “Good, and Dume is doing great. He’s still an enforcer, and Keith still drives him crazy.”

Her mother smiled. “I love that boy. Tell him to come by today, and I’ll make you two dinner.”

“Great idea,” Rory said, wiping her mouth. “I’ll text him now.” She fired off a text and sat her phone back down. “What do you want to do today?”

Her phone pinged with Dume’s response, and Rory read it aloud. “Tell Lenora I want homemade roast.” Rory grinned. “He’s coming.”

Laughing, her mother took a drink of coffee and waved her hand. “I’ll cook that boy whatever he wants.” She pointed to Rory’s phone. “Did you get a new phone?”

Rory rubbed her stomach as she sat back. “The essence sensor on my old one shattered when I dropped it.”

Everything in Erdikoa was powered by the essence, the magical power that gave mystics their abilities, of the inmates in Vincula, or as some called it, the prison realm. When mystics entered Vincula, they lost their essence until their sentence was paid in full.

The technology in Erdikoa had sensors that absorbed theessence, giving them power. Rory didn’t know how it actually worked, and she didn’t particularly care.

“You break your phone more than you change your socks,” her mother tsked.

It was true. Usually, she dropped them during her kills, but her mother didn’t need to know that. “I’m a klutz.”

Her mother set down her coffee mug. “You’reFey. It is impossible for you to be clumsy.”

Rory stood and gathered their plates. “Do you want me to call Dad?”

Her mother and father, Patrick, divorced not long after her mother’s abilities manifested when Rory was ten. It took years for the visions to fully take over.

Her father wanted to stay, begging Lenora not to kick him out, but her mother insisted on the divorce. It killed him to leave, but he respected his wife’s wishes. When she was having a good day, he wanted to visit, but sometimes her mother didn’t want to see him. She said it was too hard.

“Not today,” her mother said in a strained voice.

Rory kissed the top of her head. “Okay, Mom. I love you.”

Fifteen minutes later, a knock sounded through the apartment three seconds before Dume threw open the front door with a wide smile. “Lenora!”

He ambled across the room and wrapped his arms around Lenora’s neck, making her laugh. “Hello, love. I’ve missed you,” she said, patting his arm as she pulled back.

Dume was a son to her, and he deserved to spend the good days with her as much as Rory did.

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