Essence, p.25
Essence, page 25
He wanted to celebrate. The Mirus were pulling back, but he knew this wasn’t over. Dax had erred and brought only a small group of fighters. Surely he would return with more. Rory knew his dad, and his dad would not accept this loss. He knew Menasal would care that he was gone, but only because of how it might look to the other angels. He wouldn’t truly care about losing Rory. Rory knew his place was here. He was now a Defector.
Inside
Sasha let out a horrifying scream.
Cybil had informed the house staff that Sasha had gone crazy and that it had been the Divine will. The handmaidens, cooks, and other staff had nodded to show they understood, but they were all in shock. How could such a thing have happened? And now, Sasha’s behavior seemed to confirm Cybil’s diagnosis.
Still locked in her room, Sasha pulled the doorknob violently shaking the door against the locks. They clattered and rattled with each convulsion. She tried the windows. They were also locked. She tried breaking them. She couldn’t.
She heard Dax’s thoughts, she knew Gale had been killed, and this was the last straw. First her father and now the only man she had ever loved. She didn’t want to live anymore, but before she ended it all, she wanted to destroy anything and everything she could get her hands on. Sasha clutched her head and ripped the strands of hair directly from her scalp. She couldn’t even feel it. She threw glass objects, ripped blankets from her bed, shredded papers and books, and destroyed everything she found that had ever meant anything to her.
In her fury, in the destruction of her own mind, she tore her room apart. When she finally reached her dagger, she paused. It was the answer. It had always been the answer. She gripped the handle tightly with both hands and looked at it adoringly as she held it up. She knew what to do. She ran to her mirror, the one that showed her so many things about her own mind, her own path, her own truths, and how to lie. She looked at herself. Her mind was gone; she was lost. The dagger would fix it all. She held the weapon up and placed the blade against her neck. She needed only to slice deeply on one side then lay down and let gravity do the rest. She placed the tip of the blade through the skin until she saw blood, but just as she was about to drag the sharp edge across her throat, she stopped.
Something stirred inside of her.
Natalie Jones, Essence
