Navara said. “Just in case.”
The blood soaked through the fabric, seeping between my fingers. I refused to believe this could be the end. I rested my cheek on the crown of her head and, with a shuddering cry, shed tears into her hair. After a moment I nodded and lifted her with the whisper of an incantation.
In the edifice Navara spread out the flour sack that had covered her mother’s painting. Gently, I set Perennia down and cradled her head in my palm.
“Is my father alive?” Navara asked.
“Yes, he’s alive,” I whispered back numbly.
“I’m sure the physician will be here soon,” Navara said, but I didn’t miss how she pursed her lips until they drained of color as her eyes skimmed over the blood.
“I love it up here,” Perennia said, her eyes tracing the stars. “This is a good place.”
“Perennia, you wouldn’t dream of leaving me, would you?” I asked through an aching sob. “That’s not what you mean, is it?”
“This isn’t your fault,” she said, sputtering for breath. “Promise that you will save her. She needs love to come back to us.”
“You’re not—”
“Please. Promise.”
“I promise.”
She drew in a long, convulsing breath and released it.
The last one she would ever take.
Her head drooped back, heavy in my hand. The soul behind her eyes vacated like mist in the sun.
My younger sister was gone.
And the last promise I made to her was a lie.
I would never be whole. There was no coming back, no escape, no healing, no light, no hope in this forsaken wasteland of a world. I begged for her to return, screamed at the stars, blasted away the altar until only crumbling stone remained, and screamed again. Tears blinded me. Navara tried to be comforting, but I felt her tense with fear as she held me.
Ambrosine had returned with a young woman, who looked upon the carnage with a neutral expression before she bent to shoulder the weight of Hesper’s body.
“What have you done?” I asked Ambrosine.
“What have I done?” Ambrosine demanded through her tears. “This was your fault! You murdered our sister! It was your spell!”
In my imagination, I rose. I let my rage build up like a column of fire around my spine. I released enough power to rip the skin from her bones.
But in reality, I collapsed and curled against my sister’s body, holding her cool hand, weeping until I felt my soul might retch out of me.
Navara stayed with me, clasping Perennia’s other hand, for what seemed like hours.
Eventually, the sound of footsteps broke through the silence of our sanctuary of mourning.
“What are you doing here?” Navara asked the newcomer.
I heard what sounded like a weapon swiping through the air, preparing to strike.
I accepted the darkness.
And the darkness came.
When I awoke, my head pounding, it took all of three seconds to recall what had come to fruition.
Perennia was gone.
The tears began before I could pry my bleary eyes open. Everything felt wrong. My hands were heavy. The air smelled like damp soil.
“Glisette!” the harsh whisper cut through the hums of insects. I turned to my right and found Navara tied to a tree a few paces away.
“What’s happened?” I mumbled, barely managing to evict the words through the thick taste of grief in my throat.
“We have to escape, now, while he’s gathering firewood.”
“What?” I asked, the word muddled by the dryness in my mouth.
“Use magic to cut our ropes. Then we can go back to the palace to kill the queen and save my father!”
I tried to blink the fog of confusion away. Everything felt wrong. Perennia couldn’t be gone.
“We don’t have long!” Navara pleaded.
I took stock of my surroundings. A dappled gray rouncey stood tethered to a nearby tree, and a hazy memory returned to me of jostling along its back. A ring of stones encircled a neatly arranged pile of firewood nearby.
Dew soaked the seat of my tunic dress and the tan breeches I’d donned to meet my mystery caller. Aches and bruises throbbed throughout my body, most acutely at the back of my head. My hands were bundled uselessly in my lap and my back rested against a mossy tree. I felt an odd weightlessness, a tickle of air around my neck where a cool metal chain should have rested.
My elicrin stone was gone.
“Do the magic! Hurry! I hear him coming!” Navara whispered.
“It’s gone,” I said. “My elicrin stone.”
“Gone? You mean she took it before she sent us out here to die?” Navara cursed in Perispi. “Of course she did. We’re