Page 41 of Loving Amari

I sigh, trying to reach the cousin I know is buried beneath all that rage. “Look, I understand about Solomon. I want the best for him too.”

But Anora just keeps circling me like a shark scenting blood.

“You aren’t getting it.” She stops suddenly and glares at me. “How is it that you don’t see it? We are hated everywhere. We’re hated by the humans, hated by supernaturals, and now, FUCKING LIMBO.”

Anora’s eyes go completely black, the whites consumed by darkness.

“You are letting your dark magic take over,” I tell her. “Calm down.”

Her eyes fade back to brown, but then she gives me a wicked grin that’s somehow worse than the darkness.

“Let me tell you now, I am a woman desperate. They keep trying to take my man from me, and now my son. What do you think is going to happen when they do?” She steps closer, her voice low and dangerous. “Are you going to put me into the same prison as Nathaniel, or are you going to let me grieve properly?”

Anora gets right in my face, but I don’t blink. I’m not afraid of her anymore. We are matched, power for power. The Queen of Limbo doesn’t bow to anyone.

She grins at me, appreciating my courage. “You all know how I like to grieve.”

“You’ve made your point,” I snap. “Now get out of my fucking face.”

Anora laughs, the sound carrying unnaturally through the trees. “Let Nathaniel come after my son again,” she says as she walks away, not looking back.

“I’ll wipe all this shit out, and it will be just me, Amir, and Solomon.”

“And I’m sure Amir and your son will appreciate your madness,” I call after her.

She gives me the middle finger, keeping her back turned, then disappears into the darkness like smoke dissipating.

I let out a frustrated sigh, clearly irritated with my cousin. The weight of everyone’s expectations, everyone’s threats, presses down on me.

I take a minute to myself, breathing in the forest air, trying to center myself. But then Aya’s voice comes to me, and it just irritates me further.

“I told you my sister-in-law was far worse than me,” she says, appearing from the shadows. “Born of dark magic? Why would Mother Fate make such a creation?”

I look up at Aya as her ghostly form approaches.

She taunts me. “Ah, she’s the answered prayer. The woman who changes Wintermoon for the better. But it comes at a cost, balancing out the darkness that made me the monster I was.”

“You sound bitter,” I observe.

Aya puts her fingers up like she’s pinching. “Just a little.”

“This isn’t going to work,” she says suddenly.

“What are you talking about?”

“You!” Her ghostly form flickers with agitation. “I need you to get your shit together.”

“You are the Queen of Limbo,” she continues. “You don’t get the luxury of being selfish.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” I raise my voice, and suddenly I feel power stripping from my fingertips, pink magic dissipating into the air.

Aya pauses, her ghostly form staring at me with those penetrating eyes.

“I have a chance to go home to my mother, and be with my sisters, letting my daughter be at peace and truly heal. Hazel will never truly be able to move on with her life with me stuck in limbo. I’m still tethered to her.” Her voice softens for a moment. “And as difficult as it is to believe, I love my nephew. I love my brother. I love all of you. But I need you to stop being selfish.”

She fixes me with a look that cuts straight through me. “You cannot keep Amari and Limbo. You will have to choose.”

My heart sinks at that, plummeting to my feet.