Page 151 of Dark Souls

“We all have shit to deal with, Ilaria. I just thought we’d always be dealing with it together. Clearly, I was wrong.”

He stormed into the castle and I collapsed on the step with my head in my hands. What a shitshow this night had become. I wanted to speak to Luka or Heath. I wanted to see them because I knew it would make me feel better. Remind me of why I was doing all of this and upsetting my family. But I felt conflicted between checking if my soulmate was okay and sorting out my family drama. A choice I never thought I would have to make.

Deny, Deny, Deny

Ilandedoutsidethemanorand stood on the edge of the jagged cliff top, staring down at the unrelenting waves as they raged against the rock’s surface, sending plumes of icy salt spray into the air. Above, dark clouds rolled in with the beginnings of a sinister threat. The wind howled endlessly, beating against my black feathered wings that were half spread behind me in a battle of strength. I stood my ground, planting my feet firmly in the dirt and focused on the foaming slate-grey water below.

The ocean had always fascinated me. Its calm lapping tides against the shoreline offered peace and hope, but just as quickly, it could change, showing its true nature of power and ferocity. Something to be feared as well as admired. In the light of day, the surface glistened. A unique display of beauty and untamed wilderness. That’s what people like to see, right? Sitting on the beach, soaking in the sound of gentle waves and the sparkle of the sun’s rays, gave people a feeling of warmth and serenity. Many people weren’t interested in what lurked beneath the beauty. The depths of the sea was a vast unknown chamber of mystery and danger that many preferred to keep their distance from. The tides could easily change. The waves could easily rage. If it so chose, the sea could drown your ass without remorse. I understood why so many feared it. But the sea couldn’t help what it was. No more than I could change who I was.

Sometimes, I felt like the sea.

I closed my black eyes and tried to allow the roar of the ocean’s anger to dull my own. Ilaria’s family’s reaction to me didn’t surprise me. The deepest feeling of rejection and judgment that I hadn’t expected to resurface almost knocked me to my knees. The sense that no matter what, I didn’t belong in this world. This world would never accept me. Everyone I loved suffered because of what I was. Luka. Hana. Ilaria. When would it end?

The cawing of a raven that circled above the cliff forced my attention back to the present and I felt The Devil’s presence behind me.

“Is it done?” My shoulders tensed when I heard his voice carried by the breeze. Was it done? Technically, yes. But had I made the second-biggest mistake of my life by showing myself to the Royals? Most probably.

I turned around and retrieved the fae’s membership card from the back pocket of my jeans. Tossing it towards his polished shoes, I clicked my neck to the side as he slowly bent down to pick it up.

“Good. And he never made it to the meeting?”

I met his blue eyes with a blank expression. I knew this man had connections, ways of finding out information and assessing the truth of my words. He may take mine and Luka’s words at face value, but he always did his research to check we weren’t playing him. We’d learned that the hard way in the past. But I had to buy Ilaria time to persuade her family to help us. I had to find a slither of faith from somewhere that this wouldn’t be how it ended. The Devil couldn’t find out that the Royals knew about me.

“He made it onto the premises but not to the meeting. No.”

“And you weren’t seen?”

“No.”

He rolled his tongue around in his closed mouth; the action making him look like he was chewing a giant gumball as he narrowed his eyes with distrust.

“And you wouldn’t be lying to me, would you? You know what is at stake here?”

My sister. My life. Of course, I always knew what was at stake. But this was the closest I had ever been to freedom and I needed to take a leap of faith. Because what life was this if I didn’t? I couldn’t carry on like this. Not anymore. Luka couldn’t carry on like this. Every day that passes, we put Ilaria in more danger. It was now or never. If the Royals refuse to help us, The Devil might as well kill me.

“You don’t need to remind me,” I gritted through my teeth and turned back to the cliff edge. His meticulous footsteps approached until he stood beside me, peering down at the sea. I dug my talons into the palms of my hands to stop me from giving into the deadly urge to push him over the edge. It would only cause more harm than good to me, seeing as that sigil was firmly in place around his neck.

He released a deep sigh that made the vines on my body shiver with trepidation. Anxiety wasn’t a feeling I was well acquainted with, but there was a looming sense of doom in the air around me that I couldn’t ignore.

“You know, Heathen, all you and Luka had to do was comply. The day I bought you at that auction, we made a deal. You promised you would do anything I asked of you as long as I bought your sister, too. Luka promised he would be loyal as long as I allowed him to kill The Knowltons. I gave you a huge manor to live in. Clothes, sources of food, money to live off. Yet you both still act like I am The Devil himself.” He smirked at his unoriginal word play. He named himself The Devil of The Underground because I once joked that he must be the Devil for wanting to own a demon’s soul.

Ignoring his attempt at poor humour, I stared at the abyss of darkness at the base of the cliff. “The sea doesn’t like to be controlled.”

He huffed. “And I do not like being deceived.”

I noticed him pulling something out of the back of his trousers and my entire body tensed when I caught sight of Ilaria’s journal. He held it in his hands, allowing the wind to flick through pages of scribblings and drawings until he found one he wanted. My heart felt like it was attacking my rib cage, attempting to break free as panic took over. My mind raced, trying to come up with a plan, with a single logical thought that would explain why he had Ilaria’s journal in his hands.

“After you left, I took a little tour around the manor. I quite like what Luka’s done to the place. Much more homey. Especially the bedroom. What was fascinating, though… was the few items of women’s clothes that were in a drawer. Oh, and this. I found this in the library among two shot glasses, a mess of Knowlton’s history books and pictures of your sister.”

I twisted my head to look down at the journal, pretending I had never seen it before in my life. “I have no idea what you are talking about. If Luka decides to turn into an interior designer, explore his kink of cross-dressing and start keeping a diary, that’s his business. Not mine.”

The Devil clicked his tongue over his teeth and ripped a page out of the journal. He held it up in front of my face as I stared at the sketch of a Demonski Upir. A sketch of me.

“Funny,” The Devil said without any hint of amusement. “Yet this is the property of I.R.B.”

“I.R.B?” I quizzed, playing the fool because I had no idea what else to do at that point.Shit. Shit. Shit.This was so fucking bad.

“There is only one very well-known person who goes by these initials, Heathen. And I think you know exactly who it is.” When I said nothing, he slammed the journal closed and chucked it off the cliff edge. I watched as it plummeted down into the icy depths with the last of my hope. “Ilaria Romano Black.”