The soft cloak of time slips gently around the pale stallion’s shoulders, caressing him with the kind of comforting warmth capable of the longest, sweetest sleeps. Time has changed him, subtly. There’s a light in his eyes that didn’t illuminate his face before. Well-adjusted and handsome, he’s become more charming—perhaps elusive, more private but without the burden of secrets. His walk carries the light footedness of an absolutely adored man, both by wife and children.
There’s a wisdom to him, perhaps. Quiet beneath his handsome swagger, but ever whispering in his ear.
Oh, that creeping darkness. That devil on his shoulder. It whispers in his ear, too. Dormant in these recent years—the world was too hectic for Litotes to focus on anything other than ensuring his family survived—but now, in the quiet, it purrs like a cat. Hisses when ignored. Curls up, hot and soft, on his shoulder.
The beach is a peaceful change of pace, one the shadow-weaver can allow. He breathes in and out, golden eyes closed, the image of a perfectly serene meditation. The ocean crashes in his ears and it’s almost, almost, enough to drown out the shadow feline purring in his ear. But she calls to him, the little cat walking up and down his spine, yellow eyes urgent and unblinking.
You’re not alone, Litotes, she whispers.
This time, he listens.
When Lie opens his eyes, there is no emotion in them. He simply studies the mermaid as she emerges, elegant, from the ocean. Some cruel part of him, some armored piece, comes undone in his chest. She reminds him of . . . what is it that she reminds him of? The lake in the heart of Hyaline?
The heart? Does she remind him that he has a beating, vicious, ravenous heart?
One that longs to break.
Litotes has always been self-destructive, but he doesn’t hear the bomb ticking as he takes a step closer.
Doesn’t feel the sword plunging into his chest as he offers Adriana a smooth, wicked smile.
There’s only a slight ache, a reminder, as the cat on his back kneads excited claws into his flesh.
“Do you always put on such a show for strangers?”
as it softly glides across your back
and i hope you leave right before the sun comes up
so i can watch it alone
