Page 74 of Speak No Evil

AJ’s shoulders shake with silent sobs. “Y—you mean that thi—thing is really me?”

He lets out a slow hiss of breath, eyes shuddering closed. “Aye,” the fire fae says. So much sadness in a single word.

“How could that monstrosity be me? How could it ever be used for good?” Her question is a bleating wail.

And I’d be a liar if I said it didn’t affect me. That I didn’t feel pity for her.

But she’s their problem now.

He looks down at her with pity. “Child, that creature is anarchalus, though it is known by many names and has many faces to others. Charon. Haros. Aken.”

“I—what does that mean?”

The fire fae kneels next to AJ. “With its serrated claws, thearchaluscuts the veil between the here and the hereafter. It’s meant to take fae souls from this realm to the next in its womb-like chest.” The fae looses a heavy sigh. “It is our angel of death.”

“But… No. Fae don’t die.”

“We do, child. It takes longer, much longer than others, but we all come to an end in this realm.”

He shakes his head. “But you didn’t know that. You don’t know our history, our ways. And for that, I am remorseful. I am remorseful that no one taught you. Remorseful you suffered so much with an untrainedarchalus,that your unconscious repressed it until the creature could take no more and burst out of you in an effort to do as its nature bids.”

I let out a slow breath. The true nature and gravity of the creature's actions striking me like a white-hot iron.

To relieve the suffering of being kept from fulfilling its purpose, and in the absence of fae souls, AJ’s creature found a substitute.

Witches and humans.

But that only sated it so much. It escalated, trying to find what was missing. Ripping bodies apart, searching for what would never be there.

A fae soul.

A shudder ruffles my wings.

“But most of all, granddaughter, I am heavyhearted.”

The fae closes his eyes and slowly lifts his head to gaze up to me.

“It’s your city. Your people. Your kin. It is your right to decide punishment.”

And there it is.

My throat hardens, wings sagging behind me.

The end of this journey.

I expected it to be different. To feel…

Better. Satisfying.

But all I am is…

Tired.

Vengeance led me here. The promise of avenging Em’s murder and making her murderer pay in an equal amount of anguish guided my steps to this very point.

But did AJ act out of malice?

Was she truly unaware, or is this all a smokescreen she and her grandfather are pulling over our eyes?

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