Page 5 of The Starlight Savior

“Lost cousin,” Lizabeth corrected with a smile. “Who knows where your bloodline may lie? I simply cannot risk such a thing around my family.”

“Bloodline,” Saige said slowly, sounding out each syllable. “You’re letting me go, despite the current threats of scarcity, because you don’t know my bloodline?”

Lizabeth snorted. “Do you even know your own bloodline?”

Yes, but if anyone else knew, I’d be executed on sight.

Saige kept her mouth shut though, eyes narrowed into slits.

Lizabeth's face turned scarlet. “Don’t paint me the villain here, girl. King Brennus has always said you can never be too careful. And allowing some orphan girl into my home was out of the kindness of my heart.”

“I-I’m not an orph—”

“I hardly believe Judith is truly your cousin by blood. You look nothing alike.”

With her fists balled at her side, Saige fought the urge to scream.

When she had arrived in the village, there had been no questions of her bloodline or lineage. They accepted her as Judith’s family member, believing their carefully crafted story. Saige claimed she was born in a farming settlement near the river, right on the border. After her parents passed suddenly, she was shipped off to Judith. No one pried into the life of someone who lived so close to death or magic. The most Saige heard was praise for Judith’s generosity.

“And anytime I’ve asked of your family, you act as if I want to know who you share a bed with,” Lizabeth continued with a callow laugh. “If you don’t have something to hide, why cower?”

There were many reasons, but there was nothing Saige could say that could get her out of this. By law, she shouldn’t be alive. When she used magic, even by accident, she should’ve been the one who was executed, knees in her own blood.

“We do not need you anymore, Saige.” Lizabeth rose from her seat, placing her hands behind her back. “Now please return the key and leave immediately. You’re excused.”

Saige could barely feel the metal in her hand as she let the key slip into Lizabeth’s palm. Her body sagged walking through the familiar hallways. When she reached the doorway, she turned back. Lizabeth stood tall, pointed chin raised. The door slammed in Saige’s face without a final goodbye.

Chapter 3

The village brimmed with life as Saige shuffled along the main path. Head hanging low, she tried but failed to avoid the curious stares. Rationing was already beginning. There was a buzz in the air as people watched soldiers march towards the stone temple with confiscated goods. Children galloped in the square, on break from school, weaving between hollering shop owners. Priestess Norma floated along the line of bowed heads standing outside Terrus’s temple. Her palms rested on the citizen’s heads as she murmured blessings. She was in charge of almost every layer of Denholm, monitoring the temple, educating the children, and organizing village meetings. Offerings were already overflowing at Terrus’s statue. Fresh baked bread, fleshy fruits, and jugs of wine were piled at his sandaled feet in exchange for redemption.

The laughter and hope faded into the distance as the ground below turned to dirt. The silence of the empty path home swallowed her surroundings, leaving three words echoing in Saige’s skull.

I’ve lost everything.

How would she explain this to Judith, especially after such requests to control and suppress? If there was a chance of getting her job back, she couldn’t think of a single reason to dismiss Lizabeth’s concerns. Yes, Saige knew her lineage. She could vouch for her parent’s mortality, never witnessing a drop of magic from them. But if she admitted her true surname, it would trace back to their execution.

Maybe losing this job was for the best, she thought, trying to ease the weight on her shoulders. Yesterday had been the closest she ever came to losing control in public. What would happen when she was no longer capable of hiding her greatest sin?

In the distance, smoke rose from the chimney of Judith’s quaint stone cottage surrounded by fields. Tangled vines with brimming flowers grew up the sides and around the wooden door. Tilled gardens sat plentiful in the front and back, abundant with vegetables, fruits, and wildflowers that sold in the market and decorated every respective home.

Unease churned deep in her belly at the idea of facing Judith. She almost pivoted to her shack. But the disarray emanating from the house stopped Saige in her tracks.

Judith’s front door was left wide open. The summer garden, usually full with lettuce, squash, and carrots, was decimated with heavy footprints, vegetables reaped from the ground. Soldiers in their green uniforms and cropped hair trailed in and out of the home, arms full of boxes and bottles.

“Judith!” Saige shouted, stumbling into the kitchen.

The color drained from her face.

Judith was collapsed in a wooden chair, hair unbraided around her shoulders. A dark purple shawl wrapped around her shaking shoulders. It was a drastic contrast to the woman who awoke her this morning. She didn’t look up as Saige entered the room, focused on her fidgeting hands. Soldiers always made citizens nervous, only appearing when there was trouble.

Saige knelt beside her, grabbing ahold of Judith’s shaking hands. She opened her mouth, but words of comfort were lodged in Saige’s throat. All she could muster was moving her thumb back and forth over her caregiver’s slender hand.

“What are you doing home so early?” Judith asked, her head still bowed.

“What are they doing?” she whispered, quiet enough the lingering men couldn’t make out her words.

Judith looked up. Large pupils swallowed the pale blue of her irises. “Rations,” was the single word that escaped her thin lips.