Page 15 of Oh, Sacred Dark
“Thank you. You too.” Roman waited until Cross started walking away to move, returning to the Main House quickly.
That was enough excitement for one day.
**********
Roman was pretty proud of himself for leaving his room the following day even though he’d Dropped the night before. It’d been a bad one, too, had almost caught him during dinner. The stress of holding it off had elongated it, and he’d only surfaced at three in the morning, stuffed in the closet, whole body aching from how hard he’d been shaking.
It was drizzling, the road mostly empty as he walked down it slowly. Roman still didn’t have a coat, and it was freezing cold after getting thoroughly wet, but he didn’t mind.
He took his time exploring, eventually lured by the thick forest bordering the buildings. He walked up a pebbled path until he was swallowed up by the trees, the air clean and smelling of dirt and rain.
Roman had always loved his magic. Listening had a calming effect on him, the connection between him and whatever was speaking, each being and object and soul in its own unique language.
He loved Listening to ingredients and loved Listening to plants. It had been a long time since he had let himself be immersed in it, and the urge coalesced and burst in his chest. The tendrils of his magic reached out.
Oh, the land was happy. It glowed with the good of the coven that took care of it. Oak worms had been a problem a few months ago, at most, but had been taken care of swiftly.
A deer fed nearby. An owl burrowed and slept. Bats, birds, insects everywhere.
Like a fault finally giving way, Roman collapsed. His knees were sore and bruised from kneeling during his Drops, but the wet ground siphoned the pain away. He was the loam, and the leaves, and the bark. They spoke to him, and he Listened.
It was a bright sorrow, to connect to something at last. To let himself unfurl in the spring of the moment, thawing away and growing into more.
The land was happy, and for a breath, so was he.
CHAPTER FOUR
TYLER
Tyler was trying to ignore the searching looks Archie was giving him, but little could deter his best friend when he started worrying about something.
“When’s the last time you scened? And got to Domspace?” Archie asked. He seemed tired, worn thin at the edges, but there he was, taking care of everybody else first.
“Why, Arch, I didn’t know you were interested,” Tyler joked.
Archie rolled his eyes. “I’m serious.”
“I thought we were talking about how to help Connie find the help she needs for the farm.”
“Tyler…”
“Archie…” Tyler echoed in the same tone. He liked meeting up with Archie in his office, hashing coven problems out and helping where he could, but it also gave Archie an avenue to be a mother hen. “When was the last timeyouwere in Domspace?”
Archie made a dismissive gesture. “I don’t need it as much. And I have an arrangement with Pauline.”
“First, I can’t believe you’re trying to sellmethat bullshit about not needing it as much. I fucking grew up with you, bozo. Like, seriously?”
“I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that my position fulfils some of my needs, so I don’t needsceningas much,” Archie explained.
Tyler hummed doubtfully. “And Pauline is a terrible match for you.”
“I’ll tell her you said that. Dick.”
Tyler snorted. “Like she doesn’t know it. She’s been trying to set you up with that librarian that keeps flirting with you, idiot.”
Archie frowned. “What librarian?”
“God, you’re clueless. Truly, how are you such a good Listener and so fucking oblivious at the same time?”
