Darkness Embraced by Winter Pennington Read Free Book Online Page A

part of her that cared. I had not expected that. I’d expected her to get angry or to feel hurt, but not pain, not fear of what I thought of her.
    I searched her for an answer. Renata turned away from me, as if she did not want me to find words written in the expression of her features.
    “Why did you cast me out?” I asked.
    “Because you no longer held my interest,” she said and her words were empty.
    “That’s a lie. I don’t have to be in your head to know that is a lie.”
    We stared at one another, until Vasco said, “If you were trying to challenge her, my lady, why didn’t you pick someone that Epiphany would actually fight?”
    “You loved me,” she said and her voice wasn’t empty this time. “You couldn’t fight that.”
    “You set her up to fail,” Vasco said, surprised. “You don’t want her to become an Elder.”
    “I did not set her up to fail.”
    I laughed, but it wasn’t a funny laugh. It was the kind of laugh you give when everything was going horribly wrong and there was nothing you could do about it. “No, you didn’t,” I said. “You set me up to stroke your ego. I won’t fight you, Renata.” I took a step closer to her, this time of my own will. “You’ve always liked that I didn’t fight you.”
    “You fought me earlier.”
    I moved forward again, and this time I realized that the stone floor was cold beneath my feet. At some point during our little power play, I’d lost my leggings and boots.
    “It’s kind of pointless to fight you, Renata. Don’t you think?”
    “Why?”
    “You are my Queen and my Siren. You were my lover.”
    “Once,” she said.
    “More than once,” I said.
    She gave a sly smile, eyes lit with remembrance. “True.”
    I felt the heat rise to my cheeks.
    Her lips curved even more, noticing my blush. “That is why you do not want to fight me? Because of love?”
    I started to smile and stopped myself. It wasn’t her power; it was just the ridiculous effect she had on me. “Am I supposed to want to fight my Siren, my Queen?” I asked, very carefully avoiding answering her last question.
    She sighed almost wistfully. “It is such a waste.” She looked me up and down.
    “You’re the one that threw it away.”
    “I had my reasons.”
    “I’d love to hear them.”
    “No.”
    “Suit yourself.”
    The look she gave me was too complex to decipher. At last, she said, “You have changed, Epiphany.”
    “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
    “I am not sure yet. I do believe that some of Vasco’s confidence has rubbed off on you.”
    I smiled at that. “Well, he had plenty to spare.”
    She gave Vasco a displeased glance. “She is no longer the aching, trembling thing I once knew. You have inspired change in my Epiphany, Vasco.”
    “No, my Queen,” Vasco said. “I have helped Epiphany bring herself into the light. This is the real Epiphany.” He motioned at me with his wrist like a magician unveiling his assistant. “Do you not like what you see?”
    Renata looked at me again and I fought the urge to fidget. “I have always liked what I see. I would not have brought her over and made her mine had I not,” she said, “but I am not so certain this newfound confidence and boldness is beneficial to her. It makes her more difficult to bend to my will.”
    “Then stop trying to bend me.”
    “And what would I accomplish by doing that?”
    “I’d be happier with you.”
    She laughed. “Happier with me? That does not matter to me, Epiphany.”
    “In some part of you, it does.”
    She wasn’t angry this time, just thoughtful. “I told you to stay out of my mind.”
    “I can’t help it,” I said. “I feel you as if you are a part of me.”
    Renata nervously licked her lips.
    My mouth hung open for a moment, words caught on the tip of my tongue as I stared at her. “ That’s why you cast me out,” I said, the shock and disbelief making my words a whisper. “You saw my power. It wasn’t because I am or was weak. It was