Verum (The Nocte Trilogy 2)

I’m the moon.

And I have no light of my own.

I need Dare for that.

But if he’s the sun, he’ll burn me.

And my metaphors are making me sick.

I retreat to the gardens, where I’m surrounded by flowers and silence.

All I have are my thoughts here, and my mind is a scary place.

I close my eyes and will my memories to return,

But all I can see is the past.

The past I know.

Not the things that I don’t.

My mother’s screams haunt me.

Finn’s headstone, my tears.

His journal, which I left at home.

I wish I’d brought it.

At least I’d feel closer to him, even though his words were crazy.

I picture a page filled with scribble, with his familiar handwriting and scratched out words.

With perfect clarity, I remember it.

Calla will save me.

Or I will die.

I will die.

I will die.

Serva me, serva bo te.

Save me and I’ll save you.

A shudder runs through me because I couldn’t.

I couldn’t save Finn.

And no amount of words and consolation… from my father, from Dare, from Sabine… no amount of argument can change that.

You survived them for a reason.

Sabine’s nonsense comes back to me, and I ponder it.

For what reason?