True Faith 
chapter XII. Pegasus
Page 1 of 21
“He’s really not dealing with this too well… How are you holding up, Peg?”
I look down with a start as a hand makes contact with my own, then jerk it away abruptly. I glance up, meeting Noriko’s startled eyes, only now realising that she was actually talking to me.
Over her head, behind the bar, I catch sight of the clock. Strange, I think absently, that a hotel should have a clock. It reads five minutes to ten.
Five minutes before we’re supposed to go on stage. Five minutes to summon the last inspiration from the dredges of my soul. Raven hasn’t come out yet. What am I doing, I wonder now, frowning at myself, just sitting here? This isn’t the place I should be. Am I still…afraid?
No, not that, I decide, getting to my feet and finishing the last of my Midori and lemonade before turning from the table.
“Pegasus?” Noriko calls after me, sounding worried.
What do you care?
“What?” is all I say, glancing back at her over my shoulder. I have no warmth to spare for her. All I have left belongs to Raven, and his beautiful son… My…
I watch her shrink back slightly in her seat, looking down at her glass and pretending to find a sudden interest in her straw. “Nothing,” she murmurs, sounding defeated.
“Good,” I mutter, turning from her again and heading backstage.
✠
I find Raven leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest, staring off into space. My heart discovers a new method of breaking as I gaze at his face, the occasional small twitch of his jaw and the dullness of his eyes the only external clues to the madness I know is consuming him. Has been consuming him, ever since that night he tried to leave me…
Ever since the day they took his son.
I’m all he has left, and I am not enough. If I was enough, I could save him. I would have saved him, by now.
