Moon Child by Christina Moore Read Free Book Online Page B

to all the bad that’d been happening to him? Maybe it all had nothing to do with his fate. It was all Yuki’s fault. He really had to think it over now, seriously killing her that is. It wasn’t like he’d need much proof or convincing of the vampire’s wrong doing against humanity. He was still humanity, right?
    “You know, you didn’t really answer my first question.” He had to stop for a moment as the pain ebbed up his arm and down his torso. God, he hoped the trip to land wasn’t far. “What’s Lilith said about me?” And when? The girl cut out her own eyes and refused to speak again right after their passing meeting at that onsen in Japan the night he killed Malik.
    “Oh dear.” Chrysanthe looked to her silent companion for guidance before looking back to Tristan again. “I suppose you really don’t know…”
    “Know what?” he snapped, teeth gritted against the new rush of pain.
    “Lilith’s been talking about you for years.”
    “What—years? That’s impossible.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I—”
    “You have always been what you are, Tristan.” Her tone was sharp, she was annoyed. “You were born an Uruwashi, you grew up an Uruwashi… what makes you think all of this was sudden? What makes you think your fate hadn’t always been what it is now? There are things at work, things bigger than any one person, all around us. Just because you didn’t know of your own self didn’t mean others didn’t. You have always been. Do you understand?”
    He blinked at her a moment, feeling a little blindsided, before answering, “I wish I didn’t.”
    “The raven flies. The flower blossoms. The star falls. The earth shudders…” She turned to look at him. “Darkness awakens.”
    Tristan let out his held breath by way of a shaky sigh. “You know the words,” he whispered. He had hoped no one would ever utter them again. They were just words, simple, nonsense words. But they frightened him in a deep, profound way that even he couldn’t explain.
    “You are the raven, you know.”
    “I… I am?”
    Chrysanthe gave a decisive nod. “Don’t you know what your kind was called before they garnered the name of Uruwashi?”
    Holy shit. She was right. He’d heard Yuki mutter it so many times now that he thought about it. Karasu , karasu, always with the karasu, like she was cursing someone. Cursing Tristan?
    “Uruwashi were the ravens…,” he said softly.
    “Yes. And there is a mention of earth.”
    “So?”
    She blinked up at him. “Asta no Tsuchi…? Does that mean anything to you?”
    “Oh my god!” Tristan gasped and sprung to his feet, only to immediately wince and groan. The sudden movement sent a new surge of broken pain throughout his upper body. Holy Christ, it was getting worse. He carefully sat down and said in a low voice, “Ash is of earth.”
    “Aye,” the pythia said, eyes fixed past Tristan on her companion. Silas was imploring her with his eyes over the rim of his glasses to please stop this. She spoke of interference and now that’s exactly what she was doing.
    “But what does it all mean?”
    The pythia grimaced. “You know, you really should ask the child, Lilith, herself. Well, that is if she weren’t with Yukihime…”
    “You,” Tristan stopped and looked at her. “You don’t know about Lilith, do you?”
    “Oh dear, what exactly do you mean?”
    “She… I’ve met her, face-to-face. I tried to ask, but…”
    “Yes?”
    He frowned, looking away. Just remembering the child made him shiver uneasily. “She’s gone mute. And she uh… she tore out her own eyes.” Immediately after seeing Tristan for the first time. He still wondered if it was because of him.
    “Oh dear. So it’s come to that then.”
    “That, what?”
    She wouldn’t look at the others. “The most powerful of us—it takes great strength to carry such a burden as a strong foresight. Madness is… late stage for a pythia near death.”
    “But she’s just a child.”
    “Only in