Chapter 105 Lis
My control was beginning to come undone at the seams.“If you mean to waste my time…”
“What the hell would I do that for?” he returned in indignation.
“Then you must think me foolish to believe that a soul can alternate between two bodies.”
“You’re not listening!” he barked, rattling the mirror. “At the moment, we share a common goal. I'm only too happy to push you in the right direction. The quicker you find out her real identity, the better for me.”
Flames were leaping in my eyes now, the heat from my core cranking up the room temperature, bringing the atmosphere to a boil so much so that it felt hot even to me.
The windows clouded over, rivulets of moisture running down the glass as the room breathed and bent from the force of my mounting rage.
But my brain lagged. A step behind comprehension, like an old computer.
“Your woman and her lover. The specifics are unclear. When they are together, I feel her essence, but apart, I am pulled back and forth.” His voice took on a contemplative tone now.” Nymphaea has always been clever.”
I punched through the barrier I made and yanked him out of the glass.
“Say her name again, I dare you to say her name again.”
Cracking and popping sounds came from my grip around his neck, as I squeezed tighter.
“Give up, Mordiane,” he cried out, hissing from the burn when he tried to touch me. “She does not belong with you. Never has.”
Even then, I knew I should get more out of him, bend his body till he was staring at his asshole and singing like a canary.
But I was already driving him through walls, ramming through wood and concrete, still gripping his neck tightly.
My spine formed ridges under my shirt, and flames cracked through my skin.
We burst through the final wall, both white with plaster, him bleeding and me ignoring the itch to spread my wings.
I tossed him onto the floor.
“I do not give a fuck!” I barked. “About your theories. You’ll keep away from what’s mine. The next time you're caught around either of them,” I raised my feet and stumped on his knee, it broke cleanly.
His cry was like a strangled animal's, high and pure in its agony.
“I would give the Firstborns a reason to hold another meeting.”
I leaned down and yanked. The flesh ripped around the broken bone and I rose with the calf as he screamed and pleaded.
Holding his leg up, I exhaled flames from my mouth. And later, dusted the ash in his direction.
Maybe he could not be destroyed, but he would have to live out the rest of his life one-legged from now on.
He was sobbing at this point, a sound as ugly as he was. And his eyes were hateful as he stared at me.
I spat and turned around.
“Delay his healing.” I said to the unseen ashbound I felt hovering around.
In the clear air outside the house, I found that I did not have the courage to go home yet.
Her lover? One of them was her lover?
That my pet was an old soul was no news to me. But there has been nothing interesting in her mind.
I had made a habit of invading her mind at our every kiss from the moment Hale insinuated she could be Nymphaea. And before then, I had swum into her dreams.
But I found nothing.
It was dead at night and people stared at me from the few cars on the road, staring without blinking at the odd sight of the pilot on a dirty sidewalk in East Hollywood.
Logic. Think Logic.
The existing proof so far of Nymphaea's return existed in Finn's body. Every last detail beside gender. Arguing the results of his spirit Helix was like arguing the human DNA.
As for the doll, Finn thought she was Nymphaea because her name was Lys. Illogical.
Hale thought she was Nymphaea because of her name, her wolf and her career. Nymphaea had always threatened she would be a dancer. Again, illogical.
If only I had not let my rage overpower me just now, I would have asked that idiot for his proof.
LYS
I came awake slowly, realizing I was still by the poolside in the empty house.
But my afternoon had been an improvement from my chaotic morning.
I swam in the pool, caressed by a hundred white roses, and then I ate the lunch that had been waiting for me. And in between receiving more gifts every hour: a pair of ballet slippers, a figurine sculpted with the exact dress and hairdo I had on the night I fell, a sketchbook, and a pure diamond tiara, I read a book.
Now, I stretched, moved to the floor to ceiling window and stared at the setting sun.
I felt safe high up here, staring down the hills, but I could not even imagine how dangerous it was for the others to be walking around in the city below amidst the skinwalkers chaos.
And then there were those children of the last moon.
A shiver ran through me.
I left the natatorium after putting out all the candles, already thinking of how lonely my first full night alone in that custom-sized bed would feel, when I froze suddenly in the hallway.
As if hypnotized, I found myself walking towards the vault instead of the elevator.
Worse, I felt no hesitation opening the dragon's safe and pulling out the heavy, leather-bound book. My gaze stopped on a smaller book. A diary.
Here, I felt a slight hesitation.
But with that rare flush of selfishness, I bit my lip and took the diary.
He wouldn't give me unlimited access if he did not want me to read it, right?
Opening it at the table, I discovered the entries were in French, and I was about to close it when I noticed a pattern. Lis was scattered all over the page. .
Pour chèche les lis,
Les lis pâles, les lis royaux
Les lis levés ver le Ciel comme cierges éternelles
O lis, mes lis
An odd sensation formed at the back of my head as I stared at the diary.
Grandma told me my name was French, and it meant lilies.
It was a common word. But the whole first page was covered with the word" Lillie, coincidentally the same scent as her husband wears now.
I tapped my phone awake and navigated to language translation.