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Thirty-Eight
Istumbled back, slapping a hand over my mouth to contain the scream that exploded in my chest as she looked from me to the arrow, confused. Blood dripped from her mouth, staining the stone pavers below.
She instinctively ripped it out, collapsing to her side. My bones turned to liquid, trembling as her nightgown turned bright red and blood pooled around her body, draining the little color left in her cheeks.
Time stopped, yet somehow, I kept moving.
Existing.
Breathing.
It shouldn’t have been possible. Surely, I’d fallen through the fabric of time and disappeared into nothing.
However, the scream that escaped me reverberated inside my skull, reminding me I was, in fact, still very much alive. I didn’t know what to do—what was I supposed to do?
I gripped the hair at my scalp, hoping to pull a thought from my worthless head. This couldn’t be happening. I prayed it was a dream, just another nightmare that I’d soon wake from, but the blood only spread further from her body, dripping off the steps. Pooling around us in inconceivable spurts.
I fell to her side. “Mother, Mother, please stay with me,” I begged, cupping her pale face in my hands. “Please, Mother, I’m here. I’m sorry.” Blood coated my shaking hands as they moved along her face. There was so much—too much blood.
Commotion to my right pulled my attention over my shoulder, spotting Talon rushing toward a dozen guards that emerged from the tree line, his sword drawn and ready.
They hunted us. Tracked us there.
Waited for the perfect moment to strike.
The king didn’t care if I escaped. No, what better punishment than to take the one thing I was fighting for?
The one person who kept me going.
My vision blurred with tears as I looked back down at Mother and grabbed her rigid fingers. “I’m here, Mother. I’m here. You’re going to be okay, alright? You’re going to be fine. Just stay with me. Please.”
Her lip twitched as if she were attempting to smile, and I swallowed the lump in my throat. Even when facing death, she still tried to comfort me.
“Your ring, darling,” she rasped. “Where is your ring?”
I looked at my hands—stained red—and found them bare, but I couldn’t bring myself to worry about that as her breathing labored and her eyes glazed over. Fear or wonder lit her expression as she looked to the sky.
“Oh, my love … so beautiful.”
“Please don’t go. Not yet. I—I can fix this.” I sobbed, shuffling around my vest for the nightingale vial, my damp fingers slipping on the smooth glass. “I can fix this. Just hold on. Please, Mother.”
But my plea went unheard. She took a final breath—her eyes locked on the blue, cloudless sky.
“No, no, no! Mother!” I cried.
No.
No.
An unnatural sound escaped me as I convulsed with shock—as if the grief was too violent for my mind and was trying to escape through my bones.
I wanted to hug her tighter one more time.
Tell her how much she meant to me.
Roll my eyes at one of her silly jokes.
But the person who’d tethered me to this world was gone, and I’d never get her back. I’d never hear her words of guidance or affirmations ever again. Never feel her unwavering love. Her warmth.
