ALL Chapters & Episodes of The Beta's Daughter by Hazel Lowell - Page 6

There was said to be an old sundial, lost somewhere deep within the forest, buried amongst the conifers and pines. It was so told that one could not find it, no matter how hard they looked, no matter how close it may have seemed.It was said to be blue in places, cracked and decaying with age. It had withstood the elements for years, shrouded by the trees as it was, slowly marking the passage of time using the fragile, splintered sunlight that fell in dapples into the woods.Time fell upon it, cast in shadows and as fleeting as one. The bright hours shone, the darkness winding around and around it in circles, never meeting their end.I’d never given much thought to the sundial before; I’d never considered it with more than with a peering, intellectual curiosity. As I lay awake that night, anxiously awaiting Samyak’s return, I measured its meaning more than I had ever had need to before.Despite my quavering anxiety, I’d stood tall, pulled myself up from the ground and told the pack not

FIFTY-TWO | LEVEE

The Beta's Daughter/Hazel Lowell

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FIFTY-THREE | ALO'S TALE

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FIFTY-FOUR | THE RAIN

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FIFTY-FIVE | SHADOWS

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FIFTY-SIX | SUNSHINE

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FIFTY-SEVEN | CLOUDED

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FIFTY-EIGHT | EMBLEM

The Beta's Daughter/Hazel Lowell

“I – I suppose I do, in a way,” I said, wanting to be completely honest with Samyak. “But it’s not the same as the way I love you.”I realised what I’d said as soon as the words had left my lips, and I floundered for a way to tug them back in. I didn’t want to use this conversation to say that, and I hadn’t realised that I’d felt that way until I’d said the words.I made a split second decision to keep talking, so as to prematurely silence anything Samyak may have had to say on the matter.“At the time, it felt like love. But now I’ve met you I know that it was not. With each passing day I feel more for you, and it settles within me, constant and stable yet somehow exciting, restless. It’s like… it’s like it reckons hours for months, every moment passes in a flash when I’m with you, but every time we’re apart the time draws out slowly; your absence passes like an age. It’s like coming home to a crackling log fire, rain on the windows, and a comfortable, worn sofa that knows exactly how

FIFTY-NINE | TIDAL

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SIXTY | ON THE ROAD

The Beta's Daughter/Hazel Lowell

I shoved the paper back into my pocket, and scrambled out of the truck. Samyak’s brown eyes had darkened against the grey of the rain, and his long hair was stuck to his face. Curled tendrils, dampened so much that his brown hair was almost black from the downpour, were slicked down against his forehead and cheeks.It was the expression caught in his eyes that worried me the most, though. His eyelids were wide, revealing the whites of his eyes, and his dark lashes were dripping with droplets of rain – but there was something else. His eyebrows were knotted together in the centre, and the skin around his eyes and nose was taut, and, as I let my gaze flick down, I noticed something else. His nostrils were flared, just a little. Samyak was scared.“What is it?” I asked, glancing around before I shut the door behind me.“Just… come look.”I pushed the door closed slowly, and took Samyak’s hand as we crept around to the back of my truck. I kept my eyes on its warped, teal paint as we walked