Page 72 of Immortal Sun

I frown, why am I so wet? Did I really fall in that far? “I just looked for a few seconds because?—”

“No,” he interrupts. “You don’t even let your guard down for one second.”

“That’s really all it takes.” Another voice sounds.

“Dag?” I ask.

He’s in his police uniform and smirking at Kratos. “Trouble in paradise?”

Kratos rolls his eyes. “I was walking by, asshat.”

“Good to know your manners didn’t get damaged.” Daggon smirks. “Are you okay, Cleo?”

Yes? No? Yes? I simply nod.

“Good.” He rocks back on his feet. “So, no report needed. Kratos, aren’t you expected somewhere?”

I swear Kratos attempts to kill him with his eyes before crunching his empty can and tossing it onto the street only to kick it, pick it up, and put it in the trash.

I don’t even get a chance to say “thank you” while Daggon just shakes his head at Kratos like he’s hopeless.

“So, that was fun.” He holds out his arm. “But we should get you back to the house.”

“Actually.” I go still. “Cyrus said some really violent things toward me. Maybe I can get a different hotel?”

Dag pauses and looks up toward the sky then back down at me, his eyes a crystal blue, mesmerizing. “What do you feel?”

“I’m sorry?”

“What do you feel? It’s not about what you see. That’s the trouble with Deer Harbor, with the flames, you see then you feel, butyoushould feel then see.”

“That’s a riddle.” I force a laugh.

He doesn’t.

I clear my throat. Clearly, I’m safe right? With a cop? “I feel scared and alive.”

He nods slowly. “Good. Then we should probably walk toward the house. Your feelings are more trusted there.”

“Why?” I’m almost afraid to ask but I do anyway.

He stops walking, takes my arm, then pulls me close against him and whispers, “Sight is nothing when it comes to instincts. You might see a tree, others might see a sprite. It’s all in your perspective and sometimes, because of the way we’re born into this world, we get lost in that perspective.”

My entire body chills. “So, how do you fix the fear? The sight?”

His hands go to my shoulders. “You allow yourself to feel. Even if it means you’re afraid.”

“And if you can’t get past that fear?”

“Then”—he grabs my hand and squeezes it—“you embrace it.”

We’re quiet the entire way back to the dark house. Though I’m with a police escort, I’m still terrified, yet he holds my hand, he keeps it securely in his, and when Cyrus answers the door and stares me down, when Dag leaves, I boldly walk in and look up at Cyrus and say, “I’m gonna go read.”

CHAPTER 17

CYRUS

“Never cheat your master.” —Njal’s Saga, ch.. 86

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