AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A necklace glints at her neck. It’s a black diamond, held in a twist of—platinum? A delicate chain with flower petals in the links.
“Can I keep that for you?”
Daisy smiles, and her teeth—they’reactuallysharp. They look deadly. A beautiful nightmare. “Keep what?”
“Your necklace. It’s gorgeous. Tell me I can’t have it.”
Her smile widens. “No.”
I approach her like she’s not the most powerful person I’ve ever known. I go to her like she’s the woman I’ve spanked and fucked and held while she cried. Sheis. Like the diamond necklace, eternal and fragile. She’s both. She’s mine.
Daisy bends her head. I expect the necklace to fight. To cut me, maybe. But the clasp comes undone beneath my fingers, easy as anything, and I put it in my pocket.
“Where is your kitten?”
The smallest frown curves her lips. “I don’t know.”
Conor hasn’t moved from her feet. He’s in thrall to her, and her hand drops to stroke his head. It’s a gesture that’s entirely Hades. Daisy’s never been tall enough to pet Conor like that.
I look over the field in the rising light. “Kitten,” I call, softer than Daisy, because my voice is still the same. “Baby.”
It mewls, and I find it at my feet. Its pink nose nudges my pants, and it circles one of my ankles, its tiny body warm and purring.
I lean down and take it in my palms. It curls into a ball, purring louder.
“You’re very strong,” Daisy says, her voice reverberating through everything. “She’s never come to me.”
“I didn’t need to be strong.” I stroke the kitten’s head with one finger. “I wasn’t afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
Of seeing her as she was. I’ve never been afraid. I’m not afraid now. Just in awe.
I hold my free hand out to Daisy. “Tell me you won’t come with me.”
“No.”
She takes my hand, and I stifle a gasp at the feeling.
Like a laugh in the dark. Like razor-sharp nails. Like a nightmare.
A beautiful, righteous one.
I lead her toward the gates. It’s the same shimmering dark. The closer we get, the more it tries to push us away. Pushmeaway. Daisy doesn’t seem to feel it.
“What’s on the other side?” she asks.
“Life.”
She laughs like I’ve told her a wonderful joke.
We stop at the threshold, and I kiss her knuckles. “How do you feel?”
“So good.” Daisy rolls her shoulders, her wings moving with them. “Like I couldrun.”
“Would you run with me?”
She wrinkles her nose, grinning, and it’s the most human she’s looked since we got here. “Not too far, I hope.”
