Page 22 of A Heart Of Bitter Poison
I let go of his hand and race Eryx to the first roller coaster. There’s no line, of course. It’s too next-level perfect here for things likelines. We’re both still dripping wet as we sit next to one another and the braces slip over our shoulders to lock us into our seats, Eryx sitting on his folded, gleaming wings. My heart thunders but not with fear or loss or pain for a change, though my physical injuries still hum in my skin. It pounds withexcitement. And maybe that will trigger a seizure, who knows? Right now, glancing over at Eryx and seeing the same excitement and joy in his face, I don’t give two flying fucks. I just wanna have FUN. Don’t look so surprised about it either. Like I said a while ago, I’m not the crusty old vampire of your imagination. I might be five thousand years old and capable of reciting The Lament of Ur word-for-word in ancient Sumerian, but…why? Why when roller coasters are so much better?
The gears turn and the car lurches forward, whisking us up a steep incline. From here, I get a view of the land and sea that surround us. There’s an archipelago of small islands in the water, some with white structures that point like pins toward the sky. Straight ahead, the amusement park skirts along a canyon cut by a river, over which a bridge leads to a grand white city. To the left, the rides are bordered by a high wall, and beyond that are green plains of grasses and wildflowers that sway in a gentle breeze. I point to it as we near the top of the hill.
“That’s the city of Anur, straight ahead,” Eryx says, gesturing to the white towers and palatial buildings. “The House of Virtues controls this park and the closest quarter of the city. Those plains to the left fall under the stewardship of the House of Esagila. They have the ziggurat there on the left within Anur, you can see the top of it capped with gold.”
The ziggurat temple is blocky and imposing, surrounded by a fortified wall. The gold glints in the sun, making the building seem both beautiful and severe. I want to hear more about this place. I want to learn everything there is to know. But the bottom drops out beneath us and before I can think of anything else we’re plummeting toward the ground, rocketing through the park on tracks the color of the summer sky.
I hold my arms up and scream with terrified delight even though no sound comes out of my mouth. And normally that loss would grip my heart in a tight fist of sadness, but there’s no time for that. Not with Eryx absolutelyshriekingnext to me. All I can do is laugh and laugh and laugh.
And that’s how we spend the morning. Shrieking. Laughing. Maybe seizing once or twice. Okayfine, three times. The Slingshot is legit terrifying, even here in the Realm of Light. And yeah, I feel like shit still. I’m too hot. My head pounds. But really, it’s all worth it. Even though I’m sore, and I tire out fast like a human, and sometimes my brain feels like it’s sizzling inside the toaster that is my skull... it’s still worth it. Two days ago I was stuck in a cell. I thought I’d never have fun again. And now I’m making the most of it. Fuck the consequences.
That’s exactly what I’m thinking as I eat cotton candy and stroll next to Eryx as he dips a churro in chocolate sauce with a look of absolute ecstasy layered on his face. I don’t usually eat much human food at all. It doesn’t always have… positive results. But straight-up sugar is at least easy enough to digest. See also: fuck the consequences.
“Try this,” Eryx says as he catches me watching. He tears a piece off and makes sure it’s thoroughly coated in chocolate before passing it over. “Cole made me churros as dessert for our first date. His were better, but still.”
I pop it into my mouth. Itisfucking good, and an oddly decent accompaniment to cotton candy. I mime a question to him and back it up with silent words.How did you meet?
“Oh, he killed me,” Eryx answers, his tone matter-of-fact and his face serious as he nods his head. I choke on my churro.
What?!
Eryx pats my back as I cough and gives a wistful laugh. “Yeah, he killed me all right. I was human. So was he, at the time. It’s how he got himself noticed by the Shadow Realm.”
I look around us, feeling off-kilter, like some other secret might be lurking in plain sight. I roll my hand in a gesture for Eryx to keep going.
“He made a deal. If he relinquished his wings for this mission, any human life he took in the Living Realm to get himself on the demons’ radar would be given the chance to become more than just a soul here in the Realm of Light. I had the choice to become an angel.” Eryx shrugs and smiles, tearing at a piece of the fried dough in his hands. “It sounded kinda great. And it has been. I mean, flying with knife wings is pretty kickass. Don’t you think?”
My smile grows. Yeah, actually, it seems pretty great. I nod and Eryx looks a bit relieved that I might agree.
Eryx leads me to a railing where we can look out over the cliff of the canyon to the river that leads to the sea. We lean next to one another, watching the water snake through the stone. “When I was told why Cole did what he did, I offered to join the effort to keep the balance. I sought him out. I wanted him to know I forgave him,” Eryx says, his smile faint with the pull of memory as he turns his gaze to the City of Anur. “It took a while to convince him it was true. He was angry at himself, even though he did what he had to do. Sometimes he’s still angry about it, especially when he has to reap an immortal soul and send them to the Shadow Realm.”
Eryx falls silent for a long moment and I think we both become lost in thoughts of Cole. My chest constricts when I imagine what it must feel like for him, to give up who he was, to have to do terrible things to earn a place among his enemies. To live among them day after day. To become one of them for little more than a chance of stopping some kind of war. My throat tightens and I turn my gaze out toward the sea.
Were you angry?I ask after a long while, tapping Eryx’s chest and miming the emotion. He takes a moment to answer, but when he does he gives a gentle smile as he looks down at his hands.
“Yeah. Sometimes. But I also saw what kind of person Cole is. A good man. A brave man. Even despite what he did to me and what he’s done to others. He made hard choices, not ones he wanted to make. It wasn’t difficult to fall in love with even the darkest parts of him. Those were the parts I saw first, the worst of him.”
I look down at my own hands, turning my palms over to look at my scabbed-over nails and the cuts and bruises that still lace my skin. I think of Ashen, wondering why he made the choices he did. Were they hard choices or easy ones? Was he trying to protect himself, or the interests of his realm? I can’t say that he was driven by some noble principle. And after what I’ve endured, I don’t know as it matters if he was. Because the anger and hurt I feel are still hot in my chest and bright with flame.
My hand folds into a fist as I look to the sea again.It’s not the same, I whisper to myself, not expecting Eryx to notice the movement of my lips. But he does. He lays a hand across my shoulder and pulls me to his side.
“Ashen is a demon, Lu. If you give your heart to a creature of the shadows, you have to learn how to love the darkness as much as the stars.”
We stand in silence for a long while. I turn his words over and over in my mind as the rides whirl behind us and the laughter and music fill the air. Somehow the atmosphere of this place loses its shine when my thoughts are trapped by shadows.
CHAPTER10
Eryx leads me to a dais near the place where we arrived, a portal back to the Living Realm. A waterfall of light envelops us, depositing us in utter blackness, the scent of limestone dust swirling with the smell of the angel’s cinnamon skin. I open my eyes to darkness so complete it feels like it has weight. It presses on my face. Before I can draw a breath, a dim light starts to shed light on the shadows. Eryx glows, the flesh beneath his skin illuminating the darkness. It throws light on the ancient paintings adorning the walls that surround us. I take his arm and marvel at the way the veins are visible paths of darkness over the light, tracing one with my finger to watch the light brighten beneath my touch.
“Cole calls me his glow stick,” he says.
I snort a laugh.I’m sure he does.
Eryx rolls his eyes but smiles nonetheless, taking my hand and leading us from the antechamber of the Pyramid of Userkaf. “My glow stick will lead the way.”
We follow the long and narrow passage that leads to the entrance of the structure. The morning light starts to reach into the shadows, the heat of the desert creeping closer. Eryx dims until he returns to normal and we step outside just as dawn breaks on the horizon. We look around but see no one.
“Come on,” Eryx says, turning toward me with open arms in an invitation for me to grip on. “Let’s get you better.”
