Page 19 of As Darkness Fall
I snorted. “I’m probably not even special. Anyone could have come in here and wielded that power, I’ll bet. That would be the cruelest trick. Making me think I’m special, that it wasn’t just random.”
“It called you.”
I shrieked at the sudden voice, whirling around and backpedaling.
“Vir’s, uh, I mean,yourOath,” I snapped. “You can’tdothat, man.”
“Do what?”
“Sneak up on people like that. You have to give them some warning. My heart can’t take it. I’m already on edge about everything else. I don’t need to start having panic attacks every time you show up unannounced.”
“Sorry.”
He didn’t sound sorry, but I let it go. There was something more pressing that I needed to ask.
“What do you mean it called me?” I asked.
“It wasn’t random.”
“You don’t know that,” I said.
Vir’s eyes seemed to glow a bit brighter. “Do not forget that I am agod. I know some things.”
“Maybe,” I said cagily. “Maybe not. You don’t know how to sever our Soulbond.”
“No,” he said heavily. “I don’t. As you keep reminding me.”
“Suck it up, princess,” I said hotly. “You aren’t the one being passed around from person to person like your Soulbond is the candy bucket on Halloween, okay?”
Vir didn’t respond. I wasn’t sure if it was out of respect or indifference. Probably a bit of both.
“I’m scared,” I said.
I wish I hadn’t. It was a momentary weakness, thanks to that damn Soulbond. It had pulsed gently inside me at the right moment, doing just enough to bring my walls down, enough that the words slipped out. I hated it. But now it was out there, and there was no taking it back. I would have to see what Vir had to say about my confession.
“I–I understand,” Vir replied in an odd tone. “I can feel it.”
“Feelwhat?”
“Your fear,” he said, tilting his head slightly, staring down at me. “I don’t like it, Dani. I want to make it go away. I want to make itstop.”
Something clicked in me at the way he was talking. Perhaps it was the slightly confused undertone or the narrow furrowing of his brows. Maybe it was a vibe I was picking up from our Soulbond. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew the answer to my question before I asked it.
“Vir,” I said. “Have you everfeltemotions before?”
“Of course,” he said. “But only some. More like instincts, perhaps. Like my drive to protect the Direen. The instinct to fight for Amunlea.”
“Is that it?” I pressed.
He thought. “There was a sense of satisfaction, I think you might call it, when I would spar with other gods. Humor was one when we would laugh and smile. I know that one well. Those were simple things, though.”
Vir looked at me wide-eyed, a mixture of astonishment and, though I doubted he would ever admit it, a hint of fear.
“I never realized howdeepit went with you mortals,” he said, exhaling a slow breath as he spoke.
Perhaps that explained some of his actions. This must be a lot to take in for a god. For a thousand years, he’d known nothing but war. Before that, he’d been a god among other gods. He thought he knew everything. Now here he was, forced to learn and experience andfeel, possibly for the first time in his immortal life.
He must be scared as well. I’d never stopped to consider his side, but it made sense that Vir would be on edge. Trying to come to terms with things that had been nothing but concepts to him. Things that he was experiencing firsthand through our bond.
