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“Youareafraid of the little succubus.” I smirk at him.
He gives me a vulgar gesture. “You know that’s not what I meant, asshole. She took out several cores like they were nothing. I’d be an idiot to underestimate her, not to mention the trouble that will rain down on us once other crews get wind of what we have. It’s a risk,” he continues. “A life or death one.”
I wet my lips, returning my focus to the blood-sucker.
“I know,” I finally admit. “But if risking death is what it takes to get what I want, then so be it.”
Chapter 4
Livana
“Pretty,” I say, pointing at the ring Mama wears on her right-hand middle finger.
She stops kneading the dough she’s been working on for the past ten minutes, turning to look down at me where I sit on a small wooden stool. Smiling, she bends to my level, wiggling her fingers so the crimson red jewel in the center of her ring glitters under the light.
“It’s more than pretty, silly dearest,” Mama says. “It’s my talisman,” she continues, curling her fingers. Sparks of bright red light crackle and burst, swirling to create the shape of a flower that hovers and glows right before my eyes.
I clap, giggling at the display of magic.
“It magnifies the power that’s already in our blood.” She taps the end of my nose, the flower disappearing as she turns back to the dough. “You’ll get one too, when you’re old enough.”
“Where did you find it?” I ask, looking down at my fingers, wondering what my ring will look like.
“It found me,” she says, sprinkling some flour over the dough before working it again.
I wrinkle my brow, and she laughs. Sometimes I love her laugh, and other times I feel like I’m missing out on what’s funny.
“Silly dearest,” she says, shaking her head. “It found me,” she says again, showing me the ring one more time. “Like magnets. When the time is right, your talisman will come to you. You can’t force it…” She hesitates, a look I don’t understand shaping her face. “Well, you’re not supposed to anyway.” She shakes her head.
“Where did yours find you?” I ask.
Mama works the dough some more, digging her hands into it before flipping it over and starting again. “Around your father’s neck,” she says.
I smile harder at that. I love my papa so much. He tells me stories before bedtime and brings me yummy things to drink from the forest around our home. He holds me when thunderstorms make me tremble and he always explains things in a way I can understand, unlike Mama. She likes it when I figure things out on my own.
“What happens if you lose it?” I ask, pointing at her ring again.
Mama freezes at her work station, her entire body going rigid. Her sideways look is just as severe, and I curl my shoulders around myself. I love my mama, but her punishments are the worst if I make mistakes.
“You never,everlose your talisman, do you understand?”
I nod so rapidly my long blond hair tumbles over my shoulders.
“Yes, Mama,” I say, something wilting inside my chest. I hate messing up. It’s so much more fun when I make her proud.
She blows out a breath, blinking a few times to soften her gaze. “Silly dearest,” she says. “You’ll understand when you’reolder.” She looks at the ring with a loving gaze. “Your talisman is the most important thing in the world. You and it are one.”
“You must love Papa so much for bringing it to you,” I say, so proud of him for having it when he met her. Fate brought them together, and I wistfully wondered how my talisman would find me. Would it be around the neck of a stranger, like Mama’s? Or would it be at the bottom of a river? What if I never found it? What if it never found me?
“Run along and play,” she says as she shapes the dough. “Find Papa and tell him dinner will be ready soon.”
“Okay, Mama,” I say, hopping off the stool and racing out the back door, into the golden sunlight that streams through the thick canopy of trees surrounding our home.
I weave through the trees, eyes trained on the grassy ground with high hopes of spotting a gemstone made by fate specifically for me. I call Papa’s name, but he doesn’t respond no matter how many times I say it. I look and search everywhere, but I can’t find him.
The forest grows cold, an inky darkness blotting out the sky. Terror creeps down my spine like an icy finger. I hear screams in the distance.
My papa’s screams.
