Page 225 of Venom Sweeter than Honey
What an asshole.
“But like all corporeal things, they are tied to the incorporeal. One cannot exist without the other... At least not in any cohesive form.”
Azrael’s bronze pallor nearly turns alabaster, and finally, there is something like a flicker of compassion in the cervahnith’s gaze.
Wait... that can’t mean...
“I would imagine you will be drawn back together soon enough.”
Tendrils of unease seep through me as I try to harden my will against the possibility of Azrael’s shadow not returning.
He will return.
Surely...
The cervahnith gestures vaguely at the forest around us before pointedly meeting our gazes and repeating. “You are welcome to forage. Kill nothing.”
Tension lines Levi’s features as he scans the forest. “Can you expand upon that? So we can avoid unwittingly eating something poisonous.”
The cervahnith looks mildly offended. “Poison? There is nothing here that will bring you harm.”
Levi doesn’t look remotely convinced. “Well, what do you eat?”
The cervahnith gives him a pleasantly surprised look. “I don’t. Not in the same way you eat, at least.”
Levi’s expression grows bored as he heaves a sigh. The cervahnith turns to leave, and I realize our former audience has disappeared. “You will not find us after dusk.”
Pardon?
“You’re leaving?”
He calls back, not bothering to look back. “This is not our home.”
Now I’m doubly confused. “Where is your home then? And why are you here?”
Finally, he pauses, glancing over his shoulder. The line of his profile glows against a brief sliver of sunlight peaking through the clouds and treetops, even as snowflakes continue to drift around us. His brow knits together as if the answer should be obvious.
“For you, of course.”
LEVI
Dusk falls shortly after the cervahnith disappears between the trees, and the forest seems to come alive again. Evening birdsong lightens the air as the three of us forage for berries. There are a variety of mushrooms growing from the aersyan trees and are somehow able to survive the freezing temperature but I’m hardly inclined to risk trying them. There are also what look like nuts dangling from a smaller, nearby tree, but with shells as hard as stone.
Every time I see a scurrying, hopping, crawling, or flying woodland creature, the knife in my belt becomes heavy, but I dare not risk whatever wrath might be wreaked upon us should I go against thekill nothingrule.
Azrael’s mood has become increasingly somber—a cause for true concern considering I cut this male’s head off and he took it in stride.
What inconceivable horror has he discovered that is so capable of darkening his mood?
Shoving away my anxiety, I pop one of the fat, firm peach-colored berries I’m collecting from a bush. An explosion of flavor–sweet and tangy–hits my tongue. It’s like citrus in a berry. My eyes flick to the rapidly setting sun as I mutter a smallprayer that I don’t die in the next thirty minutes, and that I’ve just found our dinner.
And thanks to my flint, the blade at my belt I can use as a striker, along with the char cloth in my pocket, we just might be able to cuddle in front of a fire tonight.
The sound of Azrael’s soft murmur draws my attention. He’s holding up a sparkly rock to the waning light. “How lovely are you, you wee treasure. Would you like to go on an adventure with us? Yes? I thought so. You won’t regret it.”
He then slides it into his pocket, and gives it a pat before he resumes scanning the flora and forest floor for signs of food.
The seams of my heart threaten to burst.
