The Chosen Soul by Heather Killough-Walden Page A

that she could stand before him in all
    of her glory. From her gorgeous wings to her web-spun, waist-length hair, to the smooth
    dusk of her perfect skin, she was pure flawlessness. But it was her eyes he loved the
    most. They were reflections of his own, having changed from solid blue-black to a tri-
    colored fire and ice that glowed hotly beneath impossibly long, thick lashes.
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    90 -
    The Chosen Soul
    She was extraordinary. His only daughter was more beautiful than any she-devil he’d
    ever laid eyes upon. And she was his, a powerful piece of his soul, combined with the
    eldest soul in existence, made flesh.
    She stood before him naked, her own clothes having torn in the conversion that made
    her taller and stronger. She blinked at him. She looked down at herself, and then she
    stretched her arms out, her eyes taking in the darkened tone of her skin, the curves of her strong musculature, the fine spun silver of her snow-white hair.
    “Father...” She spoke, and her new sultry, other-worldly purr escaped from behind
    her fangs, wrapped around him, innocently, unknowingly, awakening protective emotions
    he barely recognized.
    For the love of the Dark Powers , Malphas thought, This one will to be hard to shield from the prying eyes of Hell.
    “I feel...” Winter paused mid-sentence, and the perfect skin of her brow furrowed
    slightly as she searched for the words to describe the sensations that flooded through her.
    “I feel so -”
    “ Powerful, ” he finished for her. She blinked, smiling shyly. He noticed the faint
    glow about her body, the way she fairly emanated the magic of Darkness.
    “ Yes ....” She closed her eyes and, holding her arms out at her sides, she released her claws.
    “ You are ,” he said as he reached out, gently grasped one of her outstretched hands,
    and pulled her toward a window that she could have sworn was not there only moments
    before. “ And you will have to learn to control your new power before you leave this
    realm .”
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    Heather Killough-Walden
    They reached the window and Malphas peered out over the dominion that was Caina.
    The vast expanse of an icy and desolate wasteland stretched into infinity under the
    towering shadow of Malphas’s palace. Raven gazed out at the bleak landscape of cold,
    gray despair. A howling wind carved the pattern of eons into glaciers that shifted and
    floated, rimmed by rivers of slush and rime, bottomless and barren.
    The mortal heart looking upon such frozen solitude would surely have felt the
    wretched anguish of frigid despondency. It would have, perchance, ceased to beat,
    overwhelmed by the unwillingness to go on, without hope, without passion, as dead
    inside as was this eternal, lonely winter.
    However, to Raven – to Winter – it felt much, much different.
    “Caina,” Raven let the word roll off of her tongue. It was an almost beautiful sound,
    soothing and welcoming in an unfamiliar kind of way.
    “ Your home ,” her father added, softly, gently.
    They fell into a mutual, comfortable silence.

    *****

    Princess Zeta watched her brother as he gazed, distracted, into the fireplace in the
    richly decorated drawing room. He leaned over the marble hearth, his arms braced against
    the mantelpiece. The firelight cast shadows upon the planes and angles of his handsome
    face and caused his eyes to flicker like blue flame.
    She smiled to herself. His mood had progressively deteriorated since his return from
    the tavern that afternoon. And as his mood worsened, hers improved.
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    The Chosen Soul
    She looked away, turning her attention to the diamond beading on her lavender silk
    gown. “So, she managed to break your enchantment, you say?” she cooed as she
    languidly stretched her long legs out onto the divan and re-arranged her dress so that it
    draped properly over the edge. She chuckled softly and shook her head. “And then she
    attacked you.” Her smile was all but cruel now. “She sounds positively delightful.