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?