Page 110 of Remnants: Disruption
Shed no tears, for the war has yet to begin. Gather thy families. Confess thy sins. For when we begin, we must remember for whom it is we fight. For whom we shall so willingly die.
Tempest Proverb, 400 A.D.
“Uh,” I stutter, but Ty snorts into his food.
“Ityreus, mind your manners,” Trish scolds, and Ty looks as though he might retort, but glances sidelong at Rey–whose little blue eyes are homed in on her uncle.
“Arya, the God Queen might be all powerful, but she isn’t all knowing,” Marla says, poking Rey’s cheek. “Spill.”
“Okay,” I nod, glancing down at my food.
It looks delicious. And I certainly hadn’t eaten at the diner when I’d gotten there. I’d barely managed to flag down a waiter before Mary had shown up.
I hadn’t had much of an appetite after. Especially given the way she wouldn’t look at me, even though I know she saw me.
“Well,” I say, not looking at the others as I take a forkful of the tender meat and put it in my mouth, then groan. “Holy shit.”
Ty laughs, as do the others.
I glance up to see Marla’s hands around Rey’s ears, but the two women don’t look the least bit annoyed.
“I haven’t had–” I gesture with the fork to the food. “Probably ever.”
“Ever?” Trish asks, and there’s a note of sadness in her voice.
“One thing at a time,” I say, laughing a little. “You two can ‘older lesbian’ me later.”
“Deal,” Marla says, eating a forkful, her eyes locked on her wife.
But Trish is still staring at me.
“I’m the Dark One, right,” I begin again, and Ty lets out a gagging noise. I look up to see him coughing out his food, sounding particularly like a cat with a hairball.
“Ty didn’t know that” Marla says, watching her brother with a note of amusement. “That was funny.”
“Sorry,” I snort, and Trish waves me on. “Well, Bloody Mary has been, I guess, stalking me for the last however long. I don’tknow when it started, but I can assume it’s been a few weeks at least.”
“Try four or five months,” Trish says, and Marla nods. “That’s when she told us about you, at least.”
“She could have shown herself,” I snort, probably a little more aggressively than I should, but the others don’t seem to mind. “Suffice to say, I got my butt kicked a few times, lost someone close to me, and only then did she deem it necessary to bring me here.”
“Was the person you lost your–” Trish begins, but I shake my head.
“Percy was straight. I found that out in the final days. Then she found out who I am. It ended poorly, and then she–” I glance at Rey, who seems to be absorbed in her food. “After a fight with Omen.”
“You fought Omen?” Ty asks, and I glance sidelong at him, a small grin growing on my face. “And then I got my ass kicked by Darkrend.”
Ty’s face pales, and he glances at the other two women. Almost like he’s realizing how close he is to a monster.
“Stop it, Ty,” Marla groans, thumping him on the shoulder. “She’s gay. You can’t hit on her.”
Oh.
“Yeah,” I say, grinning at him, this time a bit more warmly. “I’m just a heartbroken lesbian. Sorry, kid.”
“Kid,” he snorts. “I’m f–”
“Language,” Marla says, not even looking at him.
