DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS

17

“Excuse, ma’am,” Devon said, addressing her mother. He sounded out of breath and disconcerted, and even after working all day long under the baking sun, Kianna had never seen Devon out of breath. “But I need to show you something.” He gestured up the hill, to where the field stretched over the property. “There.”

Her mother’s face contorted, from guarded to worried. “What happened?”

Taking a deep breath, Devon swayed and took two steps back.

Dirtying the hem of Jocelyn’s dress with his muddy boots.

The woman let out an exasperated gasp, her face turning red. “Why, you!”

Devon spun to her. “Oh, my apologies. I didn’t see you there.” Was he serious? He hadn’t seen the big carriage and the larger woman in the dress? He reached to her, brushing the skirt of her gown with his dirty hands—where it hadn’t been dirty before. He lowered his head. “My apologies.”

With a hiss, Jocelyn stripped herself away from his reach. “Mr. Flynn, let’s go.” She narrowed her eyes at Devon, then at Kianna’s mother, before gliding into her carriage. She didn’t wave goodbye as the carriage rode away.

With a half smile, Devon turned back to them. “Sorry if that was over the top, but I couldn’t stand the way she was treating you.”

Kianna swallowed a gasp, Cat let out a yelp, her mother smiled, and her siblings shrieked in delight.

“That was … it was well deserved,” her mother said, approaching Devon and patting his arm. “You did well. Thank you.” Her mother let out a long breath and waved her arms to the side. “I say we take the next couple of hours off and enjoy a long, lazy lunch. I think we deserved it.”

She ushered the kids inside the manor to wash up before laying their paws all over the furniture.

Devon glanced at Kianna. “I’m … tell your mother I’m going to finish one thing I was doing, then I’ll wash up and meet you all for lunch.” He lowered his gaze and started marching up the hill.

Something tugged in Kianna’s chest, a feeling she didn’t want to acknowledge, but she couldn’t ignore either.

“Devon,” she called before she lost her courage. He whipped his back head and stared at her. Kianna felt the corner of her lips sliding up in a small smile. After all, what Devon had done for them had been pretty great. “Thank you.”

The half grin was back, illuminating his entire demeanor. “My pleasure.”

Present

Kenna

“Are you almost done?” I asked Carol.

Seated on the foyer floor, with her books in her lap, Carol glanced up at me. “Just have …” She counted the math problems on her homework sheet. “Four more. Then I’m done.”

I grumbled under my breath and resumed painting the living room wall. Carol was persistent. Even though I had practically shooed her away a few days ago, she still came to my house as soon as she arrived home from school, and talked nonstop about things until I closed the door in her face.

It was for her safety, I told myself. Lia and I were playing house right now, but when we had to run again, she would only get hurt in the process.

However, two days ago, Lia had opened the door and invited Carol in. She made us a snack and set us up on the back porch with cookies and coffee. I had no other choice than to talk to the girl, and I was frustrated when after thirty minutes by her side I realized she wasn’t half as bad as I first thought.

Later that night, I had an argument with Lia about the risks of letting other people get close to us.

“We can’t live halfway, Makenna,” she had said, calling me by my real name for the first time in weeks. “We can’t join society, but hide from it. We can be careful, but still live. Do you know what I mean?”

I did know what she meant, but it didn’t feel any easier. I had lived in darkness and terror for five years, then been on the run every second of the next two years. She couldn’t blame me if I was suspicious and wary.

Wary. That was the best word to describe myself right now.

“All done.” Carol’s voice dragged me out of the dark emotional hole. I glanced over my shoulder. She pushed her books away, then grabbed another roller and stood by my side. “Didn’t we do this wall yesterday?”

“No, we did that one.” I jerked my chin to the wall on our left.

Well, since she wanted to spend time with me, she could help me with the house remodeling while we talked.

Lia and I had come up with a backstory for us, so when people asked where we came from and why we moved here, we had something ready: my father, Lia’s husband, had died in an accident a couple of years ago. After that, money was short and Lia thought it was better to move to a smaller town. Why Misty Hill? Because she liked the town as we were driving through.

That was it.

And that was exactly what I had told Carol during her thousand-question interview. When she asked me again if I wanted to go to school—Carol had just turned eighteen and she was a junior, so she still had a full year of high school ahead of her—I said no. It was already April and school ended the first week of June. To make it worthwhile, I would have to join her junior class, but I was almost nineteen. I didn’t want to be the oldest at her school. So, it was easier to take the GED and be done with it.

“… and you know what she said?” Carol asked. The girl never stopped talking. At first, it annoyed the hell out of me, but in the end, it filled the awkward silence. It was easy to talk to her when all I had to do was goad her so she would keep going with her story.

“What?”