A Crown Of Fire And Wrath (The Shadow Walkers Saga #5) - Sloane Murphy Page 0,61
for centuries for no reason either.
I find my opening and take it, using the parts of me I hadn’t realized were lost, and pin Pestilence himself. I smile down at him, my blade at his throat and he grins back. “There’s my Mara.”
I laugh as I remove the blade and stand. I offer him my hand, and he takes it, while Caleb and Killian grumble and Bryce laughs, winning the bet they had. At least one of them had some faith in me I guess.
“Thank you, Mara, for showing me I need to spend more time working out, rather than resting on the stories of how badass I am.” Malik laughs and takes a swig from a bottle of water Killian hands him.
“You are a badass,” I tell him with a grin. “I’m just a bigger one.” Caleb laughs and strips off his t-shirt.
“My turn now, right?” His cheeky grin makes me laugh just as Morgan enters the room.
“Caleb, that is hardly a fair fight. She’ll beat you in a heartbeat,” Morgan teases, but Caleb takes it in his stride.
“Maybe she will, maybe she won’t. Won’t know unless she tries,” he taunts.
“Did you tell her yet?” Morgan asks the guys, who grin but shake their heads.
“Tell me what?” I ask.
“Tell you about the treasure we stumbled upon,” Bryce chuckles.
“What treasure?”
“A certain soul might have found its way down here, and into my lap. He’s been so much fun to play with,” Bryce tells me, while the others just grin.
“I already knew you had Jack.”
“Yes, but you didn’t know that while Caleb gets to play with Jack. I get to play with Archer.”
“You really think the Hunter’s curse is broken? That they don’t cycle anymore?” I sit on the bed cross legged, opposite Morgan, taking in everything she’s been explaining to me.
“It seems that way, it’s rare for us to get any souls from Hunters, but we’ve had more than a few recently. It could just be that they’ve been rejected from Avalon after choosing the true death, so I can’t say for sure,” she says with a shrug, that somehow still looks regal on her.
“How many others?” I ask.
“A good few. I know the boys are hunting them to see if there’s anyone with information about everything that’s going on is in the mix. Hence Caleb and Bryce locking up Jack and Archer.”
I lean back on the mass of pillows behind me and try to take it all in. After the bomb they dropped earlier, Morgan demanded girl time, so we came back to my room, I showered and found her sitting on my bed, and that’s where we’ve been since.
“You seem more settled,” she observes as she watches me. “Are you feeling better?”
“I feel a little less lost. Remembering fundamental parts of myself has helped, rather than clinging to that darkness, and working out with the guys, proving to myself that I am still who I thought I was, even though I’m different now,” I tell her quietly. “But I think I just put another plug in the pain and guilt. If I think about it, then it’s still there, that darkness wanting to swallow me whole.”
“Telling Levi might help with the guilt.” Her voice stays steady, but her eyes practically pierce my soul.
“I know, I’m going to, as soon as I go home.” I bite the inside of my lip, because I know her next question.
“When are you going home?”
“I don’t know. I know I need to. I need to face them. Explain everything. But I’m also so fucking terrified. What if, I tell them and it changes how they see me? What if this version of me isn’t the one that they loved? What if they can’t get behind the new aspects of me, now that I’m more than I was?”
“Remy, I’ve been you, remember. You were with me in this exact same situation, worrying that the ones who loved me wouldn’t love me once I became more than I was. Just like my guys still loved and cherished me, so will yours. We are lucky, you and I. Not everyone is so blessed to be loved so much.”
She’s right. I know she’s right, but the fear is so fucking real. Which pisses me off too, because I’ve never had any doubt in the love from my guys before. I hate being this insecure, but that guilt keeps suffocating me and riddling me with doubt.
“Mara, you can take on the Four Horsemen and come out victorious. If