DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS

7

I turned onto my street and slowed, upset with myself for letting my thoughts wander back to my punishment. My f*****g curse.

How could I not think of it, though? Eighteen years, ten months, and six days ago, the gods pulled me out of hell and offered me a second chance.

“Don’t fail this time,” they said.

I had spent three hundred years in misery, and they wouldn’t even give me a clue about what came next? “If I don’t know what happened the first time, if I don’t know what I did wrong, how can I fix it?”

“When the time comes, you’ll know,” they said. They handed me a ring and said, “Our gift to you. It’ll bring light even in the darkest of times.”

Then, they sent me to Earth.

I had been roaming the world for almost nineteen years, searching for whatever I was supposed to find, but how did I even start if I had no idea what I was looking for?

Finally, I settled in Misty Hill. But not because I had wanted to. The gods had sent me here for some reason, one I hadn’t found out yet. But even if they told me to move again, I wouldn’t. Until the gods came to me and told me more about my mission, I wouldn’t move. I would stay here and live a lonely, aimless life, my only interest taking the next breath.

I came to a halt, my running shoes skidding on rough concrete and my hands resting on my hips as I sucked in cool air.

I had new neighbors.

Two women had parked their beat-up Corolla in the driveway of the house next door. Slowly, I walked to my house, watching as they carried their bags from the car to the house. From my front porch, the darkness was engulfing, but I blinked, adjusting my eyes to the dark, and saw almost as clear as day: one looked like in her mid-thirties, the other was not much older than a teenager.

I frowned. Who were these women and what kind of neighbors would they be? If they disrupted my peace …

I closed my hands into fists and forced the air out of my lungs.

Relax, I told myself.

If they bothered me, I could arrange for them to be kicked out of the house. That simple. For now, I’d watch them in case they spelled trouble.

Past

Kianna

Once a year, Kianna took all her books from the shelves in the manor, cleaned the surfaces, and then reorganized them. It was her way of connecting with her books and sometimes finding a hidden gem she had forgotten about—and reread it.

“Have you really read all of these?” Catherine asked as she put a few books back on the shelf in the living room, the way Kianna had told her to.

“Yes,” Kianna replied from across the room. She sat on the floor, several books spread around her, as she piled them by author.

“And they are all romances?”

Kianna looked up. Cat held a book up with only two fingers, as if it was disgusting to touch. A smile spread over Kianna’s lips at her best friend’s silly action. Cat had always been silly and fun to be around. If Kianna had to guess why the two of them became friends as children, she would say it was because Cat could make her laugh like no one else could.

“Yes, most of them are love stories,” Kianna admitted.

Cat wrinkled her nose and shook her hair, her mop of dark curls bouncing. “So, I assume you know all about romance. And yet, you’re not betrothed. Are you waiting for your prince?” The smile on Kianna’s lips faded. “I didn’t mean it like that. I didn’t … sorry.”

Kianna didn’t understand why she got so upset when talking about love and marriage and the future. Love and marriage had been out of the question for a few years now.

At eighteen, she didn’t even think she was suitable for marriage anymore. Not with the calluses in her hands and the constant pain in her back. Maybe when her father had been alive, and their farm had been prosperous, when they had more helpers and she didn’t need to work, she would have had suitors. Now, she barely stepped a foot off the farm, much less in town. Even if there were potential suitors, they didn’t know of her existence.

Upset with the turn her thoughts had taken, Kianna grabbed a book and squeezed it hard as if it was her enemy. Why was she thinking about marriage anyway? She didn't need a man to make her happy. She was plenty happy with her mother and her siblings. Between the manor, the farm, and her family, she didn’t have time to think about anything else.

“It’s okay.” Kianna stood up. “Love and marriage is all in the past. All that matters now is the farm and my family.” She picked up a pile of books from the floor and took them to the empty shelf next to her. “Never mind me. Tell me about you and that young man you mentioned last week.” Kianna glanced at her friend. “John? Joseph?”

“Jonah,” Cat said, her cheeks reddening. “I went to the village with my mother yesterday.”

“Did you see him?”

Cat nodded. “I lied to my mother about having to stop at the bakery, just so we would walk past the blacksmith.”

A smile spread over Kianna’s lips. “Did you see him?”

“Yes.” The red in her cheeks darkened. “He actually stopped his work and came outside to greet us.”

“Really?” Kianna felt glad for her friend. If she had to live vicariously through Cat, she would. “And?”

“My mother was surprised, but after we left, she told me he was handsome.”

Kianna clapped her hands. “That’s great!”

Cat came from a modest family. She didn’t have many prospects for marriage, like Kianna once had. Truth be told, if Cat married the son of a blacksmith, she would raise her family's social standing.

“She wants me to invite him for supper,” Cat said, sounding nervous. “But—”

“Catherine!”

Cat’s face paled and she hid behind the sofa.

Kianna placed her hands on her waist. “Why are you hiding?”

“Because I’m not supposed to be here,” Cat whispered.

“What happened?”

“She was receiving a punishment,” Giles said, walking into the living room. The old man smiled at Kianna, showing off the wrinkles around his eyes, and lowered dipped his chin—a sign of respect for the daughter of his boss.