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I jumped out of my chair. “Precious, stop it!” If she kept going like this, she’d melt a hole through the entire Limen. Her flames burned hotter than Celestial fire, and putting them out took an immense amount of power. I thought about mentally calling for Rumple. He was often the only one she’d listen to when she got this way, and possibly the only one who could extinguish the blaze if it got going.
“Time to count, baby,” I whispered desperately.I wanted to take her hands and talk her down, but if I touched her now, she might burn me, too.
She nodded almost imperceptibly, holding still.
“You’re talking about Perception, aren’t you?” I said quietly as she closed her eyes, fighting to regain control of her volatile emotions.
Eyes still closed, she muttered a “yes” between inaudible numbers. The floor was beginning to cool down, turning black instead of ember-red.“Mom. I… I love him. I want to be with him.”
My stomach dropped. This was a crush that we’d all seen coming, but knew had no future. How could I make her see? “You have to understand, sweetheart. He’s a grown Protector. He was your teacher once. He can’t… He can’t ever merge with you.”
She put her hands over her face, so I almost couldn’t make out her next words. “He wouldn’t want to, anyway. If merging is what you say… if it means he’d see inside me? I would never want him to. I never want him to know what I’m really like.” Her last words ended on a choked-off sob as she sank to her knees.
“What do you mean?” I whispered.
“I’m evil, Mom.” Her voice was a low rasp. When she finally lifted her eyes to my face, I had to force myself not to react. The swirling galaxies that were so entrancing had changed. They were dark, and bottomless, like the Abyss itself. “I’m evil to my core.”
“You are perfect as you are,” I replied firmly, wishing I could force her to believe it. To see it. “It’s in your name.”
“Yeah, Mom. Perfect Devil. Thanks for that.” Her nostrils flared as she sneered again, putting on her teenage attitude armor like it would protect her from the emotions that raged inside her.
Before I could speak, a baying hound came racing through the open door of the hall and skidded to a stop on chocolate-stained paws, right next to Precious. He licked her face, tasting her tears.
For a moment, Shadow stared at me with a question in his wise doggy eyes. I shook my head, and he lay over my daughter’s lap, flopping down for pats. His enormous, hematite-gray body almost completely obscured hers.
“Can you go?” Presh asked, her voice still tear-choked. “I want to be alone.”
Leaving her alone and heartbroken was the last thing I wanted to do. My daughter was alone far too often, and I worried that she would spiral deeper into her sadness.
But when she added a soft “please,” I murmured my agreement. “Of course. I’ll walk you outside, sweetie.” Shadow jumped up and tugged on her sleeve. She didn’t take the arm I offered, but she followed me through the back door and slumped to a seat on a nearby bench. I nodded to Shadow, but I already knew he would stay with her.
I wasn’t certain there was any power in the universe strong enough to separate him from his beloved friend for more than a few hours.
I hoped there wasn’t.
* * *
My own house wasn’t that far from the community hall, but it took a lot longer when your wings were stupidly tiny and you had to walk. I was about halfway back when the hottest Protector in the Limen flew directly overhead and hovered there.I stared up at his dangling bits, that were really less “bits” and more “lengths of thick pipe” that grew thicker and more prominent as I gawked.
“Scrap, are you staring up my robe again?” the dark-haired hottie called down.
I kept staring. “I don’t know, Anaconda Pants, are you hovering over me because you’re some kind of super-powered flasher who gets your kicks surprising poor, unsuspecting women with peeks at your Megalodon Peen?” The clouds around me jiggled slightly with his laughter.
“I’ll give you more than a peek if you vote for my name for the community hall,” he cajoled as he landed next to me. I jumped up into his arms, and he flew us back toward the house.
“What’s your current pick for a name? If you let me paint you with chocolate and lick it off while Rumple watches—”
“Tied upRumple?” Righteous interrupted. His cheeks were slightly rosy. Tied up Rumple was a particular favorite in our bedroom.
“Sure,” I said with a shrug. “I’ll throw in Rumple in ropes with the chocolate art lesson. Tell me what you want to call it first, though.”
He grinned. “Mine is the best. I was thinking the Sanctified Sexposium.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Ew. No. That sounds like a strip joint near a regional airport. Try again.”
“It’s alliterative! It’s descriptive! What’s wrong with it?” he muttered as he flew. “It’s better than Mik’s idea. The Spiritual Cloisters? Way too formal and religious. Gavriel suggested the Consortium.” We both wrinkled our noses. “Rumple’s latest was Heavenly Bodies.”
That wasn’t terrible, but still. Kind of low-rent gentlemen’s club.
