Page 39 of Darkness and Deceit
Thirteen
LILITH
I waketo warmth on my face.
Not sunlight, but something softer, flickering, like firelight. I blink slowly, my lashes sticking together. My limbs feel heavy, like I’ve trained way too much.
When I inhale, I smell moss and magic. My hands sink into the earth beneath me. I’m on the forest floor.
And I’m not alone.
Augustus kneels nearby, his glow dimmed but still visible. His eyes are locked on me and he looks like he hasn’t moved since I fell.
Just behind him, something shifts, and I see them.
My fox. My deer.
Predator and Prey.
Two halves of one whole.
Both standing at the tree line, silent and watchful. Their eyes glow faintly in the low light, otherworldly but… familiar. It’s like they’ve been waiting for me to return to myself.
“Lilith,” Augustus says quietly, drawing my attention. His voice breaks something in me. A crack between breath and memory.
He doesn’t reach for me. But his hands hover—one ghosting inches from my arm, fingers twitching like he wants to help but can’t bring himself to touch me.
No contact. No interference. No comfort.
The Keeper rule.
Still, there’s something stormy and unspoken in his eyes. There’s conflict carved into the tightness of his jaw, in the way his body leans forward but won’t cross that final distance.
For one suspended moment, all I see is him and the weight he’s carrying alone. Then I shift slightly, and the moment fractures.
My fox pads closer and nudges my shoulder gently, grounding me with the warmth of its breath. My deer remains in the shadows, vigilant, like it knows this forest isn’t finished with us yet.
I sit up slowly, and Augustus exhales like he’s been holding his breath this whole time.
“You were unresponsive for several minutes,” he says. “I was about to call for assistance.”
“But you didn’t,” I rasp, voice scratchy.
“I… couldn’t.” His eyes flick to my fox, then back to me. “They wouldn’t let me.”
I glance at them, then back at him. I don’t know what I expect to see—maybe guilt, or regret—but what I find is worse.
Distance.
Not the kind that comes from duty. The kind that comes from someone pulling away. And I don’t know if it’s because of what he saw… or what he felt.
“What did you see?” Augustus asks, quietly.
I rub my temples, trying to remember. “Chains. Fire. A voice that told me to step through.” My hands tighten against the ground. “I don’t know if it was a vision or a memory… Or if something was trying to get in.”
Before anything else can be said, I hear the shift of branches. Three sets of footsteps are approaching fast—too fast for anyone casual.
Kai breaks through the trees first, eyes locked on me like he’s tracking my heartbeat. His movements are tight. Controlled.Dangerous.
