Evenstar by Darcy Town Read Free Book Online Page B

deaf.”
    Berith remembered all of the things he’d said while he’d carried her body.   “If I hadn’t seen you take the wounds myself, I would swear you did that on purpose.”
    She shrugged and looked away.   Something strange passed on her features.   She looked into the woods.   “Sani is dead.   I am the eldest now.”
    Berith nodded.   “You will be queen someday.”
    “I will have to have children,” she spoke to the sky.
    He frowned.   “We don’t know that we…you and I, that we can’t do that.   No one knows for sure either way.”
    She nodded.   “True.”
    Berith looked at her.   “Let’s not think on that right now?”
    She managed a smile.   “All right.”
    Lucifer blinked awake and reached for Apple.   “Dahlia?”
    ***
    Paimon trudged through thickets and brambles.   Morning light filtered through the canopy above, leaving patches of brightness in the evergreen shadows.   He hummed as he jumped across logs and small streams.   He loved the forest, especially the smell of the earth and plants, but currently he couldn’t smell anything expect for blood and sweat.   His clothing stuck to him, chaffing his skin.   Furcas leaked various fluids all over him.   Paimon tried his best to ignore it.   He broke into a new song.
    “I liked the last one better.”
    Paimon whirled around, but no one was there.   He remembered Furcas was on his back, tied to him with a makeshift harness.   He turned his head to the left.   “When did you wake up?”
    “Somewhere between two songs I hate,” Furcas spoke with a pain-blurred slur.   His working eye was half-open.   He raised his stumpy arm as far as the bandages would allow.   “Why isn’t it growing back?”
    Paimon bit his lip.   “You got hit with the spear, Furcas.”   He turned back in the direction he had been headed and walked on.   He hit a slope and hopped down.
    Furcas breathed into his ear.   “So, it won’t come back?”
    Paimon wished he had his shades on so that he didn’t have to look Furcas in the eye.   “No.”
    “Why can I only see out of half of my face?   Why does it hurt?   What happened to my face?”   Furcas got his right arm loose and touched his sewn up cheek and neck.  
    Paimon grabbed Furcas’ hand and held it.   “Let’s not think about it right now, okay?”
    “My eye is gone.”   Furcas’ legs contracted and locked around Paimon’s midsection.  
    Paimon wheezed.   “Easy on the death grip, Furcas, I’m trying to walk here.”   He picked up his pace.   “Your face will be fine.”  
    “I am ugly,” the words were a whisper, despairing.
    Paimon expected rage, anger, hits about the head, not this.   He shook his head.   “Shush.”
    “I’m a horrid, pus-oozing monstrosity.   I’m worthless.”
    Paimon heard him sniffle.   He stopped and squeezed Furcas’ hand.   “I don’t think you’re ugly or worthless.”
    “You don’t count.”   Furcas shifted to Faith, but the cuts and wounds remained.   He shifted back to Furcas.   “ Fuck .”  
    Paimon reached up and touched Furcas’ good cheek.   “I always liked this side of you more anyways.”
    Furcas kicked him.   “Liar.”
    Paimon smiled.   He didn’t look where he was going and slipped down a hillside.   He wind milled his arms and caught on to a tree before he toppled over.   He righted himself.   “Shit!   Sorry about the rough ride.”
    “You’re always a rough ride.”   Furcas laughed and winced.   He touched the fabric that kept him bound up.   “You could have at least tied me up with silk.   These clothes feel like they are from a giant superstore.   They are, aren’t they?”
    Paimon laughed and looked at Furcas from the corner of his eye.   “You’re so high maintenance.”
    Furcas managed a smile.   “I’m not always.”
    “Yes, you are.   Don’t lie.”
    Furcas rested his chin on Paimon’s shoulder.   “Okay, it’s true.”
    Paimon jumped across a