Grim Omens

REXANNA

we were fire and water.
love laced with sin

A crooked smile was sent his way at his initial response, and she nodded. Even if they were exaggerated, she didn’t mind hearing them. Their truthfulness wasn’t what she was interested in – if she were being honest, she just loved to hear him talk about things he was passionate about. He was dramatic and charming, and his storytelling abilities were nothing short of any of those things. But then the conversation began to shift, and he simply told her he didn’t have enough kindness to give her – and for a moment she wanted to argue the point.

But she didn’t, instead she let him admit it with that same crooked smile crossing her face as she leaned into him briefly. He knew exactly what to say to her, and for her whole life she had spent it telling herself she didn’t deserve the kindness. That she was a monster, a creature born from circumstances out of her control, but a monster all the same. He helped her realize that was wrong – that perhaps she had atoned for her sins in a previous life, a previous world. And there wasn’t any way she could try to argue that.

He offered his hand to her and she took it gladly, squeezing it back in return as they began the trek back home. The knot that had formed in her stomach upon seeing the crimson river loosening with every step further from it. And she realized she truly missed the comfort of her bed, of Bastien there with her; of making dinner (even if he couldn’t taste it very well) and spending the days with him while he painted and she sewed. She believed she was finally happy.

and whenever we happened to touch,
smoke rose from our skin.