For She Is Wrath

by Emily Varga

“You know I’d follow you anywhere, Dani.” Something twisted in my heart, and I was suddenly robbed of breath in a way that had nothing to do with the battle.

“Sometimes, when we fight, I stare so much at your arms that I get distracted.”

“I would read you like a novel. From cover to cover, learning everything about you.” He tilted his head. “Leisurely, only taking me out when you felt like it?” I snorted. “Is that how you read your novels, Mazin? How uninspiring. No, I mean in a fierce frenzy, by candlelight, devouring you until I finished every page and committed it to memory, and then I’d flip right back to the front and start again from the beginning.”

“I’d read you like scripture, a prayer. And all the worship I felt, I’d heap at your feet.”

“Well, I’ve never been one to do what men expect.”

“Did you think I wouldn’t know you? I’d know you with any face. Any skin. Any hair. A thousand djinn could disguise you from me and I’d still be able to find you just by the sound of your breath.”

You may have given him forgiveness, but that doesn’t mean you owe him kindness.”