“There were forty or so attempts that did not make it.”
Silence followed, and Arryn felt the need to fill it.
“I suggested that I create a human baby. I could place it in her arms. It would not be a biological child, technically, but I could pull some pieces of DNA from both of us. She called me heartless. She said it would feel like holding a doll, empty and unattached to her. The fight continued from there, and she left in tears.”
“She doesn’t think you are a monster; she was just hurt,” Reign said, putting her hand on Arryn’s back in comfort.
“Allienna, my life love, is in agony, and I cannot give her what she desires. If I can not create something so simple for her, then what is the point of any of this? Why am I here on this Earth? What is the purpose behind the Gifter’s choice to create us?”
Arryn pulled down the branch of a tree they passed as the two continued to move their feet in any direction, neither of them walking with a destination. Having no answers, Reign turned back to Arryn.
“Do you want to know why I came to release you?”
“Do go on.” He waved his hand at her to continue. A breeze rustled the orchard trees, creating a symphony around them.
Reign bit her lip.
“It was a few days ago. I was flying, accelerating a bit too fast, going in and out of time accidentally. When I landed, I was about two thousand years in the future. You’re going to love that period, I think.” She smiled. “I stayed for a few months, made a home, and enjoyed learning about that culture. Gods do not exist in the mortal mind then as they do now; it's a large burden off of our existence.”
Arryn never got to hear specifics about Reign’s time traveling. Any little change could have a potentially fatal effect on a future outcome. She was banned from disclosing anything about it.
“What happened?” His hair stood on the end of his forearms. “Why are you telling me about this?”
“I don’t know when or how it happened. I have so few details. When I walked through that time, Allienna had already died an immortal death. Vrae roamed the earth. You were at war with the Gifter.”
Arryn was stunned into silence.
“Why . . . who . . . why are you telling me this?” His voice was soft.
Reign dropped her cloak, revealing a sleeved backless dress that was sophisticated yet certainly scandalous for their current period.
“The Gifter wanted to meet with me. He knew I would tell you about Allienna. He knew that it would cause a chain reaction. Kamakura wanted me dead for changing the tapestry of her future. I have been told that I will see death for my actions. I'm assuming Djoser will be forced to carry out the honors. I wanted to tell you before it happened. I needed you to be prepared for it all with us both gone.”
“We shall gather everyone at the temple and hold a council. There, we will make a plan,” Arryn announced, softening his hands.
Reign smiled with sad enthusiasm. “After you.”
Throwing off the front of his tunic, leaving his chest bare and exposed to the sunset, the skin of Arynn’s shoulder blades violentlyripped open. Large wings, four times the size of the man, appeared. They were smooth and cyan blue with streaks of gold, reflecting the color and pattern in his eyes.
Arryn took three large strides with his legs before jumping into the sky, letting air catch in his wings. With a supernatural speed, he found himself above the clouds, waiting only a moment before Reign’s dark brown and gray wings joined him in flight.
2
Hadley | Sacramento, California | Early 2000s
I am officially a whore,Hadley wrote on the corner of the piece of scrap paper in dark red satin ink. Her eyes lingered on the words that framed her limited options before slamming her hands down on the desk in frustration.
It’s just sex, she tried to convince herself. It could be over quickly if she closed her eyes and played a song or wrote a story in her head. There would be no visible evidence for the world to see her shame. That was something she could take on alone.
Dancing at Little Darlings in the questionable part of downtown was another option to make quick cash. It was something she could do, perform, and become someone else for a few hours a night. The shoes that the women wore were a different type of horrifying, but maybe they'd allow her to be barefoot.
Hadley rolled her hips back and forth, seeing herself on that stage with a silver pole behind her. Half of the boys in her graduating highschool class would be in the audience, smug intensity on their focused faces. They would come to support her, the strong feminist who didn't care what people thought of her. They would tug on her stockings, stuffing dollar bills down them as she'd let their hands graze her skin with intent.
She was voted most likely to be an author in her senior class yearbook. Once they left the club, those boys would laugh about how far she had fallen.
No, stripping was not an option. It would have to be something behind a closed door.
Hadley blew her chance earlier, promising to meet a manager for high-end escorts and not following through. Just hours earlier, she had walked toward a coffee shop to meet this man. She wore her long, blonde hair down her back and a white fit-and-flare mini-dress that emphasized her cleavage. Casual flip-flops and chipped-toe nail polish completed her outfit as if she would ever wear anything else. Hadley was just another typical Californian who didn't own close-toed shoes. She didn't understand the point of them.