Page 70 of Loving Amari

Isit at my throne, smiling as I think about Amari. I can see him living, being a dedicated father, working with Bobby to take down Brookstone and Blackburn, and spending his nights in a web bed waiting for me. Hoping I’ll come home. One day. I just don’t know when.

I can tell time now that I can see outside of limbo. It’s been two months. Two agonizing months for Amari, but it feels like nothing here in limbo. Time moves differently in the void.

Verto still hasn’t caught Nathaniel and something tells me he’s stalling on capturing him. Why?

Verto approaches my mystical throne with another head from a lost soul, a head that doesn’t belong to Nathaniel. I give him a smile of approval and he takes it to his massive web bed, adding it to his collection.

I sigh and adjust myself on my throne. I don’t eat, don’t sleep, don’t need to go through the mundane tasks of hygiene like they do in the living realm. I just simply exist, a goddess with all this power I’ll never truly understand. I can travel betweenthe many realms, but the void is the only one I can touch, call a home. I don’t visit the white void, but I’ve visited hell, making a deal with the devil for Alexis’s head. I know which souls are bound for the void and which aren’t. Alexis was bound for hell, but she’ll be making a detour soon enough.

I use my special vision to watch the sunset, anxious to visit Amari so I can speak to him. I never show him my full form because it’s easier this way. I just speak to him as a voice in his head that only he can hear. Seeing me and not being able to touch would be too hard for both of us. I’m not ready for that yet.

Mother Fate said it would only be for a time, but when is that time going to come? Because I constantly watch Wintermoon, speak to Amari every night.

I go alert in my chair when I feel an intruder in my void. Who is it?

I stand, pink magic trickling from my fingertips, ready to send whoever this entity is back to where they came from.

I roll my eyes and sit back down in my chair when Aya approaches, but she’s not in her ghostly figure anymore.

“Oh hell no. That was not part of the agreement. Your ass back from the white void coming to rub in my torture?”

Verto runs from his web toward Aya, who’s different now. She’s wearing a white cloak instead of her usual black one. Her eyes look more alive, vibrant.

“I’m not here to rub it in.” Aya stops a few feet away.

“Then what do you want?”

“I’m here with a gift from Mother Fate.”

I cross my arms. “I don’t need anything.”

“Oh, you’ll want this.” Aya steps closer. “The sacrifice you made. I watched it happen and I swear, if I could cry where I live now, I would have. I was so proud of you for making that sacrifice.”

I shrug. “Whatever. It had to be done for the betterment of Wintermoon.”

“As much as I want to praise you, I’m afraid your battles are far from over.” Her expression grows serious.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve never been happier to be a Bailey witch, because the things you’re about to endure...”

I sit up in my chair, glaring at Aya. “Just leave whatever you brought and get out.”

“I can’t just leave it. I have to give it to you.”

I furrow my brow, then stand from my throne. Instead of taking the stairs, I teleport like a blink from my throne to stand right in front of Aya. She doesn’t even flinch.

Aya just smiles at me.

“Well, what is it?” I demand.

She holds out her palm, but there’s nothing there.

“The sun is setting in the living realm and I want to talk to my man. Get to the fucking point.”

“What do you want more than anything right now?”

I sigh in annoyance and roll my eyes. “I want many things, but what I want most is Amari and my children.” My voice softens despite myself. “I would find a way to balance my role here in limbo. I just want the privilege of holding them, loving them.”