The Grey Sight: An Erotic Novella by Briony J. Lorien

not being hunted anymore.”  Answered Lily testily.
    They passed through three locked doors until they stood below a black obsidian arch. 
    “We’re here. Speak only when you are spoken too.  Do not yell, do not show emotion.  Nothing will sway House Fury but the truth.  Your counsel will meet you inside. Best of luck, grey-sighted Lily.” 
                  “Who is my council?” Lily asked. 
    “Must you even ask?” he said with a smile .
                    The doors swung open with a loud creak.  Lily’s stomach contracted.   She stepped, head bowed into the circular cavern. Its walls were wet and slick, carved from pale green stone that seemed to glow from within.  Hundreds of grey walkers sat in a crescent shape, all facing a perfectly flat slab of rock. Their grey light filled the darkness, a misty fog, simmering with malcontent.   Standing alone on the slab of rock, Chase waited for her.  Lily trained her eyes on him and him alone.   He stood tall and proud, wearing a striped navy-blue suit that hugged tight around his slim waist and emphasized his strong arms.   His black ties stood against a perfectly starched white shirt.
    Chase didn’t hold a suitcase, or even a piece of paper.  He simply stood, waiting for her.   His black eyes looked straight into hers, and Lily felt all traces of her fear dissolve.   She had always been his.   Her life was in his hands, and somehow she knew that she would be safe.
    Odhran gestured to a small sea stone chair next to the rock.  “This is where the accused sits.”
      “NO.”  Lily climbed up onto the rock and stood next to Chase. “I will stand here.”
                    He took her warm hand in his and the council stirred uncomfortably.   Chase looked deep into Lily’s eyes. 
    “I love you.”
                  With that, he stepped forward and addressed the army of powerful grey-walkers that stood before him.
                    “For centuries, the House Fury has stood as the protector and cornerstone of the grey-walkers.  As we straddle the line between life and death, we have been ruled by the five Great Houses, but none among them are as powerful or as influential in the course of our history – and the history of the world – as House Fury.   This is the House that first agreed to the Great Reckoning, the Rite of Voluntary Passing, and finally, The Grey-Sight Resolution , which decries that those gifted with the Grey-Sight are dangerous. “  Chase gave the silent crowd a dazzling smile.  
    “And indeed they are.  In the past, those given the grey-sight have tried every possible way to tell the truth of our kind to the wor ld. This is where the concept of “ghost stories” came from – those with grey-sight trying to pass on their knowledge of our world to their children, and their children’s children.”
    C hase gave Lily a confident grin and she stared back, unnaturally confident in his ability to sway the glowing crowd.  
    “The world has whispers of us everywhere, all because those with the grey-sight have needed to share their experience.  And can we truly fault them for trying?  They experienced something otherworldly, something that made them feel alone and terrorized.  And so we punished them, and at the time it was justified.  We could not risk our very existence for the sight of one mortal.  They didn’t come around very often, and when they did, they were hunted and killed so swiftly, that we never had time to consider the consequences of our actions, to look at the life – and the gift- we robbed them of.” 
    Chase took a deep breath and looked over at Lily. 
    “This woman, Lily Harrow, was given the grey-sight two days ago, when she happened to be at the right place at the right time. Since that moment, she has been strangled, chased through a train station, threatened, stabbed, stalked, and has seen her roommate needlessly murdered