ReadFin Literary Journal (Winter 2018)

and not have to think about the outside world. Like I used to. When
it was all too much I crawled into Leigh’s lap and he held me, calming
down the pain and making me see the light.
What I wouldn’t give to be back in our home, on our couch, doing
exactly that.
‘Because I wanted to save the argument.’
‘You just left me!’ I cried out at him. He slipped his fingers between
mine and pulled me away from the epicentre of pain. Or so he thought.
‘Lyra, oh god. I’m sorry,’ Colt said and I felt him try and stifle his pain.
I cried out and gripped Leigh’s hand tighter. He pulled me close and
held me against his side. The warmth of his body distracted me from
the pain.
‘Don’t, don’t do that,’ I whispered to Colt.
In his eyes were unshed tears and I knew that with the loss of his wife,
he was going to crumble.
‘Dad, pull it together. Don’t bottle it up,’ Leigh said.
They were the exact words that would have come out of my mouth if I
could find the words to say.
‘I was trying to save you from this, from this amount of pain, but you,
my sexy and stubborn wife, refused to see it,’ Leigh said to me without
looking my way.
Bodies tried to move the tent, pushing and pulling like it would make a
difference and save the battered bodies of those who were part human.
‘We have to get everyone out of here,’ Colt said and I could see that he
was already trying to reign back his pain.
I cried out and my legs went weak again. Leigh held me tight against
his body.
‘Makeitallstopit’stoomuch,’ I jumbled out.
Leigh helped me to my feet and took my face into his hands. ‘This is
why you shouldn’t be here.’
As I stared into those brilliant eyes, the rest of the world melted away
and there was only me and Leigh. No one else seemed to matter. It took
away most of the edge, and I could breathe again when I focused in on
him but there was a shift in the pain.
‘We can’t get everyone out, it’s about to get a hell of a lot worse,’ he said
without taking his eyes off me.
And I searched his gaze, relished in the warmth of his body. I felt the
pain ebb away but found the real source of the agony.
His eyes hid little from me and now that I could focus on him and no
one else, I realised that the bulk of the pain was coming from him. It
wasn’t because of his mother’s death, that was there, but there was…
‘No. No,’ I firmly said. ‘Fuck no. No, you are not going to sacrifice
yourself. I don’t care what you think you’re doing. Leigh you ca—’
Leigh crashed his lips against mine, hot, fierce and demanding,
always so demanding. It reminded me of the first time we kissed,
the electricity and magnetism that took my breath away and stole
my heart. I balled his shirt in my fist and pulled him closer, almost
wanting to slip inside his skin with him, but it didn’t last. He ripped
himself out of my embrace and ran out of the tent.
‘Leigh!’ I screamed. I tried to go out after him but Colt wrapped his
arms around my waist and held me there.
He was the God of War, after all, and just as strong as I was, if not
stronger.
‘Let me go, Colt!’ I screamed at him.
‘He has to do what he needs to do, Lyra. Trust him.’
I pulled at his embrace with everything that I had in me but I knew
that it wasn’t going to be enough. I twisted in his arms to look him in
the eye. He and Leigh shared so much in common and it didn’t matter
how many other children he had. Leigh was his pride and joy.
‘You, of all people, shouldn’t be stopping me. I’m not going to let him
do thi–’
A loud crack cut me off. I looked over my shoulder and saw a branch
crash onto Leigh in slow motion.
‘Nooooo!’ I screamed and ripped myself out of Colt’s arms, like the
proverbial ‘mother lifting a car off her baby’ sort of reaction. I used the
strength I never dared to use. The God of War couldn’t keep me away
from my husband.
Leigh’s screams cut through the fog and pain. I could faintly hear cries
from the other gods and goddesses in the tent but no one else would
dare follow me. They knew it was a death sentence.
I jumped over a fallen branch, with my hands in the air to hold my
balance. I stopped just short of another that came crackling down. The
rain fell harder, taking my sight away from me. I took a deep breath
and moved forward, intuitively finding Leigh. I saw the haze of him
and slid across the muddy field of green and tried not to move him.
‘Get back to–’ he coughed ‘–safety. Lyra don’t do this.’
I tried to lift the branch, but it didn’t budge. Through the rain no one
could see the tears that were falling down my cheeks.
‘No, you’re not leaving me. You promised me, Leigh Denali. You swore
an oath under that stupid oracle-seer-marriage guy that you are not
going to break.’
He laughed and it ended up in a cough. His free hand reached up and
cupped my cheek.
‘You always were so beautiful when you were determined.’ His eyes
crinkled in pain and my heart jumped.
There was a time when the thought of pain like that would make
me relish in the kill, in the torture, but that look on Leigh’s face was
enough to make me crawl out of my skin.
‘You aren’t going to leave me, do you hear me?’ I could hear the way his
heart was beating dangerously slow and the pain was moving through
his body. Soon he wouldn’t feel it anymore and that would be worse
than feeling it.
‘I love you, Lyra. I loved you even when I wasn’t supposed to, before we
even met.’
‘Shut up,’ I whispered to him, holding back the sobs.
I looked at the branch before casting my gaze up to the sky. I knew
what they were doing. The Elders were egging me on. They wanted me
to use my power and they were about to win.
After close to five years of them searching and baiting me, they’d
found a circumstance where I wasn’t going to back down. They were
threatening my whole life.
‘Lyra, go back. It’s okay.’ He coughed and blood coloured his lips.
My body ached and I heard his heart slow further. I was going to lose
him.
‘I’m not leaving you,’ I said to him and he groaned. His hand dropped
from my face and his eyes shut.
I choked back a sob and around me I could feel the very fibres of pain
in the air. As I dropped the human gaze I had become accustomed to,
I saw the angry swirls of red and maroon threads in the air. The pain
was tangible and my pain mixing with others was all I needed. Each
strain hovered around me, trying to stick to my skin through the rain.
I could pull on them and cause more pain in the air or I could use them
for an even more selfish reason. My tear-stained gaze held Leigh’s
unnaturally shaded face. I could feel Anders trying to make his way
over to us. The God of the Underworld was coming to collect a soul
that didn’t belong to him. And I wasn’t about to let him. He’d have to
come through my dead body to get it.
So I broke the stipulation that had been placed on my abilities when I
fell. I pulled in that pain and shoved the tiny fissures of threads into
Leigh. My vision tinged red as the pain flitted through my skin into
him.
Leigh’s heart started to beat again, soft and gentle at first before it
thumped loudly. He inhaled sharply as he came back to life.
‘Lyra,’ he wheezed.
And that was enough to give me the determination to use the strength
that I hadn’t used in five years, the one that I was forbidden to use. As
I stood I lifted the branch off him, throwing it far away from either of
us.
I covered my body with his and held him tight. ‘You stupid jerk, how
dare you do that to me!’ I was sobbing and I wasn’t even sure if I made
sense but I knew that he would understand it.
‘Kivutar. You don’t have authorisation to be on Earth. You’ve been
hiding for too long.’ The voice of The Elders was androgynous, a mixed
cohort to terrify the gods and goddess of every pantheon.
‘Fuck,’ Leigh whispered.
He’d heard the voice too.
ReadFin Literary Journal 35