Page 24 of Oh, Sacred Dark
“That’s fine. My hands are pretty cold, actually. Let’s return to the Main House, yeah?”
Roman nodded choppily, face blank again. This time, Tyler had no idea what had caused the reaction. Maybe just the idea of having to learn something new—the possibility of failure.
The walk to the Main House was tense and quiet. Tyler didn’t come up with an excuse to keep Roman longer, wary of seeing that dead look on his face, and watched him disappear up the stairs.
A pit grew in his stomach, the same feeling as when Kay had left the other night and Tyler had felt adrift.
He went to his workshop with something crawling under his skin. He was doing a metal piece for someone in one of the big cities who had heard of him from a friend of a friend.
They’d commissioned a large sculpture and Tyler had been grateful—artistic pieces were an opportunity for his magic to work in its purest form, a wild animal on the loose.
That day, though, nothing productive came out of it. Tyler sat on his stool with the massive lump of vanadium, watching it morph into something ugly, deep red sores bubbling to the surface like diseased skin.
Tyler closed his eyes and pulled his magic back, almost losing it before he managed to curl it into himself tightly.
It had beenyearssince he had struggled to control his magic—since he was a teenager still trying to figure out the ins and outs of his abilities.
When he opened his eyes, he could see his hands were shaking.
Nothing of use would come out of him that day.
He packed his stuff up, storing the vanadium away, and made his way home. The familiarity of his space was an immediate relief, but whatever restless, slippery creature had taken residence in his gut still writhed uncomfortably.
He stripped himself of his clothes and got into the shower, revelling in the almost-scalding water pummelling his muscles.
Whatever was going on with Roman wasn’t his fault. He was trying his best. And maybe Roman was just acting, and this was all an elaborate ploy to—
Tyler turned the water off. He was driving himself crazy.
He dried off and dressed, mind wandering. It wasn’t late—just past dinner time. Roman probably wasn’t asleep. Tyler would just check in on him, make sure everything was okay.
The night was shockingly cold, the temperature having dipped with the sun, and Tyler hurried to the bright lights of the Main House, shoulders unknotting as he finally stepped inside its warmth.
One quick visit and he’d make himself dinner and watch something on TV. Maybe text Archie and accept one of his offers to set him up with a sub that was ‘more his speed.’
They should hang out soon, actually—it was easy to get so caught up in responsibilities that they didn’t see each other outside of work.
Tyler was feeling calmer by the time he was at Roman’s door, knocking a few times. He waited for Roman to open the door, unease trickling up his throat as no one answered. From what Nai had said, it was unusual for Roman to go out at night.
Tyler knocked again. Maybe Roman had spontaneously decided to be a social creature and was downstairs. Maybe—
A noise filtered from inside Roman’s room. Tyler stilled, straining to hear. There was nothing, and nothing, and then a muffled cry that sounded more animal than human.
“Roman?” Tyler called loudly, hand already on the doorknob.
There was something wrong. Tyler couldfeelit.
Tyler tried the door and by some strange miracle, it was unlocked. Tyler’s heart was racing, a galloping rush in his ears.
The room and bathroom were empty. Tyler opened his mouth to call out when that small, creature sound trickled out of the closet.
Tyler’s limbs felt numb. It’d been a long time since he had been genuinely scared, but the feeling was still familiar.
If Roman had kidnapped someone…if there was someone in there…
Tyler walked over to the closet and, with one big yank, swung the doors open.
There, curled up in the darkness, was Roman.
