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“If I’m going with my gut?” The enormity of it all turns my stomach. “All of them.”
Fucking genocide.
“Fates. How long has she been Primary?” she asks, pressing against my chest and sitting up. “Has she been killing Aegis children this whole time? Why hasn’t anyone noticed or done anything about it?”
Aurelia gulps back tears, pressing a hand over her heart. “Then she’s killed them her entire reign.”
“Yeah.”
“She’s been Primary for the last six hundred years,” she breathes, realization dawning on her face. “There have been at least two Aegis deaths a year—sometimes more—so at the bare minimum, twelve hundred children have died. She’s a fucking mass murderer.”
“So instead of running from this bitch, we should probably fight.”
“Probably?” She shoots me a searing glare. “Ya think?”
“Okay, more than probably,” I concede. “Definitely. This has gone on too long.”
“That, we can agree on,” she says, pacing the length of the room. “But I refuse to be nice to that lying sack of shit.”
Fair enough.
A knock comes at the door, but before I can open it, Carver pops into our room in a swath of black smoke. I’m positive the expression on my face tells him this intrusion is not welcome.
“What?” Carver shrugs. “I knocked first.”
“What are you doing here?” Aurelia asks, her hands crackling with electricity.
I’m a little afraid she’s going to kill first and worry about the consequences later.
“I need to know what you saw,” Carver demands irritably.
“Why?” Aurelia growls. “So you can stab me in the chest sooner? No thanks, dick.”
“Look,” he placates, holding up his hands in surrender, “I don’t know what you saw, but I wouldn’t do something like that.”
“Sure you wouldn’t,” Aurelia agrees sarcastically as her eyes begin to glow. “You wouldn’t lie to me either, now, would you?”
“Dammit. Am I going to be judged for trying to keep the fucking peace? Fine. Yes, I lied when I said I forgot why Asher and Cam were fighting. I wanted you to feel safe here, and I didn’t want you to hate Cam, okay?” Carver tosses his hands to the side in frustration. “Cam is a good guy—he’s just a little pissed right now. He has family in Cortez, or he had family in Cortez. He lost contact with them about a week ago, and when he went to check on them, he found the whole place burned to the fucking ground. Cam doesn’t want you here. He doesn’t want Iva here. He sure as shit doesn’t want any more war. He was rather vocal about it, and Asher shut him down.”
“You’re right,” Aurelia admits. “I wouldn’t have felt safe here, and for good reason.”
“And there’s no way we would have stayed.” I interject, finishing Aurelia’s thought. “Is there some reason you want us here, Carver?”
“Yes, there’s a reason. In case you haven’t realized this yet, Iva is having us exterminated like we’re motherfucking roaches. Like our truce means nothing. And I know what you phoenixes think of us, okay? Most of you believe wraiths are worse than dog shit on the bottom of your boot, but dammit, we’re people, too. And we serve a purpose. It might be awful, but it is necessary, and I’m not going to be ashamed of how I was born.”
Wraiths are the trash collectors of the supernatural community. They ferry deceased evil souls to Hell—Ethereal and human alike. To do that, they must consume them. It’s a nasty process that no one wants to witness—or be a part of—for that matter.
Phoenixes, in turn, are supposed to ferry all other souls to be reborn. There is obviously a rift between the two species when there shouldn’t be. Why people give a shit who does what, I can’t fathom, but it's common for phoenixes to be snooty elitists with sticks up their asses.
“What the fuck do you mean, ‘you phoenixes’?” Aurelia squawks incredulously. “My best friend in the whole world is a wraith. I understand your purpose, and I commend you for it. I couldn’t do what you do—consuming that much evil without going crazy. I can’t possibly imagine what you must go through to do that job.”
“So not the point,” Carver says, punctuating each word with a clap of his hands. “I want to know what you saw.”
“Come with us to talk to Nicola,” Aurelia offers. “I’ll tell you both at the same time.”
“Fine,” he agrees and smokes out.
“Why do they do that? It’s not that far of a walk.” The whole “poofing” thing is fucking annoying.
