"Look around you, Laurel. You've covered this whole world with blood." I don't need to look. I'd seen it happen, felt the first drops of blood splatter across my cheek. Instead, I stare at him, searching his face for something - anything - to let me know that things haven't changed.
"What were you expecting me to do?"
"I don't know," he shakes his head. "Not this. I've never seen anything so terrible." His eyes are fixed on the bloodied fields.
"You mean terrifying." My throat swells around the words, trying to trap them deep inside. My chest aches with the pressure of forcing them out. "I..." my throat chokes that sentence off entirely. "You've known from the beginning." I move to stand in front of him and he stares at my feet. "What does this change?"
"I didn't know this," he says. "I didn't know you had that much... death, lurking beneath the surface."
"I'm the same person I was yesterday. Remember yesterday. Please. Just look at me and you'll know." My voice breaks on a sob and I can't hold the tears back any longer. They streak down my cheeks, hot and muddied with blood. "Look me in the eyes, at least." I watch his eyes crawl up my body. They stop at my waist.
"I can't."
I fling my arms around him and hold him as tightly as I can, trying to squeeze his heart into mine. If he was dead, I'd probably be able to manage that, but he's alive and my abilities have no dominion over the living. He doesn't push me away. He doesn't hold me. I sob into his chest. Just for a minute, I tell myself, just one minute pretending he's still mine. That's all I'm going to give myself.
I try to memorize the scent of old leather and sandalwood which clings to his shirt. Try to imprint the sensory memory of his skin against mine.
Realizing how long I've spent hopelessly pressed against him, I wrench myself away. I turn quickly, barely glancing at his face. His eyes are shut. No chance of even the most fleeting eye contact.
I clutch the pendant around my neck and fall through the hole at the centre of myself. I fall through darkness, thick and heavy, struggling to hold onto thoughts of home.
Home.
Where I can curl up in a ball and cry alone.
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Thank you to @ysmnnaa for the awesome trailer!
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The Necromancer ✓
FantasyPerks of being normal - the dead leave you alone. Unfortunately, Laurel can't catch a break. Being haunted by her dead mom is one thing, but now there's a hot elf appearing in her bedroom offering her a job in the Otherworld. Raise the dead king and...
