AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Acuran.”
I hear my kind’s name whispered from above me in the dead of night, but Esmeralda’s cool body is wrapped tightly in my arms, and I don’t want to move an inch. Instead, I coil my arms even tighter around her waist, pulling her closer to my chest, and nuzzle my face in the long curve of her neck.
The voice curses. “Holy Beyond, Acuran, wake up,” she whisper-yells.
I roll over, doing my best to untangle my right arm from under Esmeralda’s body without waking her. “I have a name, witchling. Feel free to use it.”
”I’ll pass, thanks,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest. She’s standing over our bed, looking down at the tangle of our limbs like it’s a weed she needs to cut down but doesn’t know where to start.
I take a deep breath in, caging in my annoyance, trying to remind myself that however many years — close to thirty, I’d venture to guess — of indoctrination cannot be erased in one night, even by kernels of truth. Hopefully, those kernels will bloom into a garden one day, and Marta will become a witch worthy of that name, worthy of her cousin. For now, she’s trying, and that’s more than I can say about others of her kind.
“Then I’ll go back to sleep, thanks,” I retort.
Marta snorts. “Tei, will you please get out of bed? I don’t want to wake Esme.”
I smile a gloating grin. “Was that so hard?”
“You have no clue.”
I roll out of bed, grabbing the pants I’d discarded before going to sleep. Marta keeps her gaze firmly planted on the ceiling as I dress, and I’m not sure if this is some kind of loyalty to her cousin she’s displaying or just her own prudery. She has nothing to worry, one way or another — Esme owns me. Soon, she’ll own all of me. Another’s gaze is completely inconsequential to me.
Once I’m somewhat presentable for her standards, she points to the door and leads me out in the hallway. A courtesy lamp lights above our heads as we step onto her entryway. The hallway is long and narrow, with four more doors just like Marta’s lining it, and one wide window right next to Marta’s. Outside, it’s still raining, and the drops pattering against the glass offer us cover from the complete silence of the hallway.
I run a hand through my hair, still curly and messy from getting wet earlier. “Speak, then. You dragged me out of bed in the middle of the night for this, so it better be good.”
Marta keeps her arms crossed over her chest, her fingers pinching the skin of her bicep over and over, her eyes traveling everywhere in the space but me. “Tell me what’s going on with Esme.”
My eyebrows rise. “I’m sorry?”
“She’s acting weird, and don’t try to tell me she’s not.”
I roll my eyes. “Right, because you know your cousin so well.”
This earns me a glance, and her hazel eyes are full of ice. “I know her well enough.” She pauses and looks away again. “I don’t have any siblings, Tei. I don’t have any other cousins, either. Esme is the only relative in my generation.”
I lean against the door, picking at my cuticles. “She’s also the first born of a first born, so technically, she’s bound to become matriarch over you. How old are you?”
Marta’s jaw ticks. “Twenty-nine.”
I smirk. “Your younger cousin, who didn’t even know she was a witch until a few months ago, taking everything you’ve worked for your entire life.”
She fires me another one of her glares. “That’s not why I’m concerned at all.”
Judging by the slightly smokey scent in the air, Marta’s angry. My line of thought is upsetting her.
“Then why are you concerned?”
She chews on her lip. Her next words are so quiet, if I didn’t have superior senses I probably wouldn’t have heard them. “It gets lonely, being the only one. Carrying the legacy of our family on your shoulders. Okay, fine. When we first met, I was worried about Esme taking my place. But, Tei…” her voice breaks. “Now I just want her in my life. I don’t want to carry this legacy alone.”
Marta’s scent changes, turns slightly pungent, like ginger and salt. The smell of sadness. It’s impressive how similar the cousin’s emotions smell, and yet how I’d be able to pick them apart even from a mile away.
“You won’t,” I say quietly.
“That’s it? That’s all you’re going to tell me?”
I square her with a glare of my own, examining her head to toe. “You’ve given me no reason to trust you with this information, so yes, it is.”
She leans on the door as well, her shoulder next to mine. “But you trust Esme, right?”
