Page 39 of Touched By Sin
“I know. I won’t be long.” My piggy tails are ruined. I have a scraped knee and leaves stuck to my hair. I’ll be in trouble when I get back, but I don’t care.
It takes me a while to reach the top, and by the time I finally heave myself up on the thin branch, I’m breathing hard and my muscles ache. I creep forward, careful not to fall, and move the leaves aside. Beyond the tall gates is a forest—a deep, dark forest lined with fir and birch trees. Low-lying mist hovers above the treetops, seeping into their branches and spilling out on the forest floor. It’s so dark that I can sense the supreme silence from my perch on this branch.
“What can you see?”
Aurelia…
I drag my eyes away. “Err, a forest.”
“A forest? Is that it?” Freya asks, disappointed.
I swallow thickly, and my eyes slowly return to the darkness that seems to be calling out to me.
Aurelia…
I lose my balance, letting out a shriek as I fall. Branches catch my skin, my hair, and my feathers. The pain barely registers.
“Aurelia!” Freya cries, her voice thick with fear.
My wings erupt, knocking into branches, but then the most miraculous thing happens. My downward fall stops. Suspended in midair, I stare wide-eyed while my wings disturb the air with big, powerful sweeps.
Freya gasps and breathes out, “Oh, my God.”
The fear in her voice startles me and I fall the rest of the way, landing with a hard thud.
“Are you okay?” Freya asks, kneeling beside me.
Blinded by the sun, I push up to sitting. There’s not a cloud in the sky. What happened just now? Why did I stop falling?
“Please don’t tell anyone,” I beg, gazing into Freya’s blue eyes.
“I won’t,” she promises.
My eyes fly open, and I blink at Daemon. “I flew!”
He looks adorably confused, if you could ever call anything about Daemon adorable.
“I fell from a tree when I was eight years old.” I hurry to add, “I flew.”
“You flew?”
Nodding eagerly, I continue, “Yes. My wings erupted from my back when I fell, and I hovered in the air for a brief moment. I didn’t even realize I was flying at the time. My best friend was there, and I made her promise never to breathe a word to anyone.”
He starts to speak, but I interrupt him as I step back and place my hands on my head. “I didn’t understand it at the time. It was instinct, Daemon.”
His brows knit together. “So, are you telling me we should shove you off a cliff and see if you fly?”
I stop pacing and roll my eyes at his ridiculous remark. “Very funny. No, my point is that I wasn’t thinking about anything. I wasn’t even trying to make anything happen. Itjustdid.”
“Because you were in danger,” he confirms.
“I can fly, Daemon.” I release a surprised laugh. “I can fly!”
Daemon peers back at the dark house before looking at me. “Then try again.”
“What? Right now?”
He walks toward me with such intention in his dark eyes that I stumble back a step. Damp leaves stick to my bare feet as I retreat, and my heart starts racing in my chest. He doesn’t stop until my back connects with a tree.
