Light Within

Chapter 36: Where Evan Finds Silvia

Duncan lunges forward and pinches the earring hook between his fingers. "Break your oath with it."

Silvia shakes her head. "I ... I don't know how! I barely even remember making that oath!" She grasps her hair. "I'm sorry, Duncan, this is so much to take in all at once!"

"For once in your life," Duncan says, his lips curling back into a fanged snarl, "have faith in yourself, Silvia! Have faith in your abilities! I've tried to get this earring to work, and I can't. Hazel thinks that only you can use it."

"It's a special object that bonds to its user," Hazel says. "And once it is bonded, the seal is difficult to remove. If I thought I could do it, I would have."

Silvia's gaze slides to Hazel, bitterness bubbling up from the bottom of her stomach. Who is this woman, anyway? Who is this woman to Duncan? "Duncan ... I think I just need some air." Silvia pivots toward the ladder and grips the rungs—

Crash! Silvia jumps and spins around, finding another of the metal tables smashed in. Duncan's fists sit in the center of the massive indentation. His reptilian eyes flash with wild strands of red lightning. Then he's coming toward her, clamping his hands on her arms, and squeezing too tightly for comfort.

"Your love has always been a lie," he says, his jaw clenched tight, his nose flared, and his eyes seething with electricity. "A lie meant to DESTROY ME. I won't let you keep me here any longer."

Silvia yelps as his sharp claws draw into her flesh. She fixes him in an owlish gaze of terror, hoping to find some semblance of insincerity in his words. But his features are deathly serious; he truly believes that she only loved him to kill him.

And didn't she?

Silvia snaps her eyes shut, angling her face away. Her voice tremors as she says, "You're wrong. I fell in love with you because of who you are, Duncan—"

"Stop LYING to me!" Duncan's words devolve into a bellowing roar. He releases her and grasps the horns on his head, folding over himself. His hands slide to his ears, and his hair tumbles in front of his face.

Silvia backs up against the ladder, watching cautiously. "... Duncan?"

Duncan marches toward her, knocking her aside and flinging himself up the ladder. He clambers out of the bag and lets the lip flop shut behind him.

Silvia feels a sensation like two fire pokers pressed against the back of her skull. She looks in the direction of the sensation, finding Hazel staring intently at her. A ghost of a smirk crooks the woman's face. She smooths her mouth into a fine line. "What's that expression for?"

Hazel obscures her mouth with a hand. "Nothing." She gives a sagging, one-armed shrug.

Silvia sucks in a breath. She turns back toward the ladder, gripping the chill metal. She hesitates for only a second, wondering if Hazel might stop her, but then she ascends the ladder and exits the bag.