Page 74 of As Above, So Below

Her face softens, and a small smile forms.

“Vestaris, your father may be the king of demons, but you are no demon,” she says in a reassuring tone. “I’d dare say you’re like the rest of us—just trying to find your own happiness in the world.”

Cora flashes me a bright smile that pierces straight through my feeling little heart. It’s so bright and pure, I’m forced to look away.

She is innocence and goodness.

Everything I’m not.

I want to transition seamlessly into the living realm. But how can I do that if I’m persistently slapped in the face with reminders of how much darkness and death I carry?

It isn’t Cora’s fault.

She’d spoken without malice. Intending kindness. Showing me it’s possible for mortals to look past what I truly am. But it’s a kindness borne of ignorance, and her outlook will change when she sees the truth of the matter, of my demonic blood.

“I may not appear demonic, but I assure you, I am demon. I’ve only ever existed amongst demons for centuries. It’s all I’ve known,” my voice is quiet with revelation. “Perhaps I’m not the most notorious demon, as I don’t often embrace my urges, but they’re still there.”

“Twelve centuries is a long time,” she grins, “but, even so, that makes you like what… mid-thirties in human years?”

“What?” The look I give her is one of sheer confusion.

She bursts into laughter. “Humans have such a short lifespan, we reach adulthood around our early twenties. Fae, on the other hand, aren’t considered adults until about three hundred years. To help our brains manage the fact that we’re walking around interacting with a species that can potentially live forever, we’ve attributed that roughly every two and a half centuries is the equivalent of around five human years.”

Blinking, I continue to stare.

“It helps us relate to and understand fae behavior,” she says with a half grin.

I think I understand.

Or perhaps I don’t.

Being concerned with age must be a purely mortal thing.

Which, considering Cora’s involvement with Eve, sheds some light on the dynamics between humans and fae in the context of a romantic entanglement.

Breathing deep, my attention turns back to the hen sitting protectively in the next box before me. She is the last hen that needs to be checked for eggs. She eyes me with one wide, rust-colored eyeball, coiling to strike me again. Shoving my hand under Darla, she growls but remains coiled.

My hand falls upon three eggs. Reaching blindly, I collect them and withdraw my hand slowly. Darla rears back and pecks at the fleshy part of my hand between my forefinger and my thumb.

Shocked by the pain, my hand loosens and flexes instinctively, successfully dropping one egg while crushing the remaining two. More colorful Malbolge language leaves me cursing the creature and all her ancestors. My hand drips with broken yolk and egg shell as I stare at the busted egg on the floor.

The hen, frightened by my sudden outburst, leaps from the nest box in a hurry and slips between my legs toward the other side of the coop. If that isn’t some kind of foreshadowing, I don’t know what is.

Shaking her head, Cora begins laughing.

“That’s one way of going about it, I suppose,” she muses as she draws near. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

?????????????

The heavy downfall of rain I awoke to this morning shifted into a light mist-like spray by the time I began walking along the streets of Ollora.

A slew of puddles and flooded portions of the street are left in the storm’s wake. While I remain mostly dry as I walk along, my feet are a different story. They’re utterly soaked, despite avoiding as many puddles as I could.

Not a pleasant experience.

Based on what Cora had shared with me, sunny days are a rarity in Ollora. Most summer days are like this—gray clouded skies with light rain and fog. Not that I mind this kind of weather. It creates a moody scene that fits well with the presence of the city.

Ollora will always be one of my favorite mortal cities, rivaled only by Elias in the human-run country of Monora. Artemise had given me a general layout of the districts, and right now I’m heading toward the Twilight Mire.