AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But one of our sisters is already dead,” she says.
I hold her cheek, trying not to get lost in her eyes. “Lark, if you are truly the daughter of Zeus, if Remedy is the daughter of Ares, and Harlow is the daughter of Poseidon, that means your other sister was the daughter of a Greek god too.
“It means you’re goddesses, or demi-gods, or something powerful. You can fly. Remedy uses her hands and kills fire. She said Harlow is a siren who can calm the fucking sea. You don’t know for sure what happened to your other sister. But maybe she isn’t dead...”
“I don’t want to hold on to false hope,” Lark says.
“Maybe it isn’t false.” I shrug as the sound system directs us to take our places. “Maybe it’s just complicated.”
She closes her eyes, her hand on my wrist, holding it in place, against her cheek. “It’s all too complicated.”
“Not all of it,” I say, kissing her even though I shouldn’t. “This, what we share, it isn’t complicated.”
She bites her bottom lip, holding back a laugh. “Did you just say a relationship between one woman and five hawk shifters isn’t complicated?”
I kiss her again. “Okay, good point. Maybe a little complicated.
But it also means you have five men in your corner.” “All for one.”
“One for all.”
Our eyes close as we hold on to one another, not ready for the moment to end.
Melanie sticks her head in the dressing room. I kiss Lark one more time before Melanie pipes up.
“Okay, lovebirds, it’s show time!”
31
Lark
The show starts, and I open my heart, as wide as I can, giving it all that I’ve got.
For Mom.
Mark was right. I do have something special and isn’t about the ring or magic in my veins.
It’s the love in my heart.
Halfway through the show, I do a costume change, slipping off the ball gown and changing into my bird’s wings, I smile, thinking how this show mirrors my own life. Five men swept into my life.
But they aren’t locking me in a birdcage. Before the show, Brecken, the show’s villain, reminded me that I can be as free as I want. Fly as high as I want.
I believe him.
I climb a ladder backstage, positioning myself for my sweeping entrance with the white dove wings on my back. It’s the moment when thousands of white feathers are meant to be released into the audience. Then I pause.
Someone in the front row catches my eye.
It’s startling, seeing someone whose face matches your own.
His body is twice the size of any man I’ve ever seen, and we can’t be more opposite in terms of appearance. I am small and he is all power, all strength–but his eyes pierce mine.
I know those eyes. They are mine.
He knows I know.
He’s the eagle in human form.
I’m supposed to leap from the top of the ladder the moment the orchestra starts up again but I’m frozen in place. Last night this man came after me in the sky–shooting bolts of lightning at me, trying to kill me.
I’m not ready to die. Not now. Not like this.
I look down, searching for one of my hawks to meet my gaze, wanting them to understand. But the stage lights are blindingly bright, and the complicated set of tree branches obscure my view. In this scene, I leap from the ladder and fly from branch to branch, until I eventually land in Vaughn’s arms.
An extra second passes. The two, then three. I have to jump before I start freaking the stage crew out.
Everyone is counting on me to make my entrance, so I do. Clinging to the idea that this man – who, according to Remedy is actual Zeus–won’t cause a scene. By, you know, trying to kill me.
It’s not funny, but I feel on the verge of collapsing in hysteria. But that isn’t an option. I have to be strong.
Fortune favors the brave.
I leap, and as I do, feathers begin to fall into the audience. Gasps, and sounds of laughter, of glee, escape thousands of mouths; everyone clapping in delight as I leap from branch to branch, as I soar across the stage.
Time stills as I watch Zeus stand, then move to the aisle, and shift into his eagle form.
The audience is transfixed. I am terrified.
No. He doesn’t get to do this. Ruin this night. Take it from the cast and crew and Mark and Melanie. He can’t take it from the casino owner who gave me this show, or from me, the star.
His daughter.
I keep doing my part in the show, leaping and soaring across the massive stage. But my hawks now see what is happening below. They move quickly. Sawyer, Brecken, and North shift before my eyes, before all of our eyes; turning into hawks and moving toward the eagle who is gaining altitude in this massive theater. Feathers are still falling, and the orchestra plays on.
