The King's Possession ✔️

THIRTY FOUR

Word Count: 2168

I stare out into a serenade of darkness, the shifting mist swirling tauntingly, illuminated by the golden glow from the light inside.

With a storm fervently rolling in, Marek and I found refuge in a small barn in the back of someone's property, too wary to book ourselves into a motel with Tai's correspondents crawling around everywhere. Despite the bitter chill that has fallen with dusk, curling up in the hay will have to do for tonight.

Shivering, I run my hands up and down my bare arms, Marek using my coat to create a make-shift bed behind me. In the distance, white-gold lightening erupts, framing the vicious clouds tinted ash grey from the storm.

I can't bring myself to look away from it. Part of me wants to step into the onslaught of heavy rain, to let it wash me away, douse all my problems in icy cold water and have them melt away into nothingness.

If only it were that easy.

"Try not to think about it too much," Marek says from behind me. Sighing, I rest my head against the wooden frame of the outer barn door, enjoying the livid growls of thunder in the distance, getting threateningly closer.

"Right, because my Tani tearing a man up isn't that big of a deal," I murmur under my breath, being well aware that Marek will hear me regardless.

Vivid flashes of the man's appearance hit me, my eyes squeezing shut as I wish them away. I think of the pink blooms in Tai's greenhouse, the ash forest, Marek's gentle, cornflower blue gaze. Anything to make those images disappear.

"You don't need to rely on your Tani for validation," Marek reminds me, his voice drifting closer to me. "You're strong enough without it."

Turning around, I see what he has created out of a mixture of our clothing.

Underneath the warm, buttery glow of the light above, Marek has used our two coats for a place to lie on. He has even removed his shirt, which is a shamefully glorious sight I avert my eyes from quickly, as a pillow, having bundled it up and laid it down nicely.

"Does everyone know about the Beast being evil, or am I just the odd one out?" I ask, even though I know the answer. I've experienced first hand how people truly perceive the Beast.

Marek rests on the straw, reaching up to lay the back of his head on his palms. "It seems as though its quite a popular belief here. To see the Beast as a predator. But that doesn't make you delusional. It was how you were raised."

I sit next to him, soaking up the comfort of the two coats, the rain and thunder from outside enough to lull me to sleep quickly.

"Is that why my family sent me to another Province? So I wouldn't know?" I ask more to myself than him.

He shrugs. "I don't know. I don't want to speak for them."

"You're wrong about me being strong. Without my belief I'm nothing. I have no skills, no real interests," I mutter, laying back to stare at the ceiling. Marek sits up next to me, looking down at me with a warm tenderness. "I must be so boring to have a conversation with, because what do we even talk about..."

"Don't say that. You're not boring at all."

"After this, I really can't go back to my old life. And I don't think I want to," I admit. I cannot predict how mother will react if I tell her what I've heard about the Beast, although I have a feeling it won't be good. She will excuse me of being weak willed for listening to others. She will claim I should know better.

"Help me kill the Beast," Marek murmurs gently.

"I know about your plan," I admit, recalling Tai's reveal. "Kill the Beast and lose your powers."