Page 69 of Above (Darkness Reigns #1)
Nova
“When I become an elite and save my family, the first thing I’ll spend my new wealth on will be a paint studio for Celeste. No, scratch that, maybe I’ll fix up the house first. Either way, I’ll have time. All four of us will.”
O ne week after the attack on Castle Zade, funerals were held on the grounds.
Despite being eadi, my family was buried in the sacred lands on the far end of the property. Talon, who had healed well after a nearly fatal stab wound to the chest, was at my side as six shiny redwood coffins were lowered into the ground. Our parents and sisters, gone forever.
When they began the slow process of pouring dirt, Talon grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers together as he tugged me along.
“Core families follow the old traditions,” he whispered, a morose tone making his words drawl. “We take a handful of dirt and sprinkle it onto the coffins, saying a prayer to the stars that our loved ones are welcomed into the sky.”
Nodding, I bent down next to him and grabbed some of the loose, grainy dirt. It was hot against my skin, the sun beating down almost painfully, my black dress attracting the rays.
It was the same one I had thrown on just before finding them all. I didn’t have any others, so I was forced to scrub the blood from it and don it once more. Beneath the fabric, my skin itched.
We slowly went to each coffin, Talon throwing dirt for his parents and sister first. Then it was my turn.
Each grave had a stone just above where their heads would be. The dark grey block had been etched with their birthdays along with the day of their deaths. Someone had asked me the day before what I would like to add. All I could think was, “Unconditionally loved, never forgotten.”
It was pathetic.
Tossing the dirt was easier. I threw it gently in time with the sound of the stars’ giggles.
When the service was over, I burned my dress.
I hadn’t eaten. I knew that, but I just wasn’t hungry enough to get up.
At first I had been, but over time, the need ebbed.
Zura still brought me dinner, her eyes full of tears as she tried to speak to me.
But what could I say? Yes, her dad was gone, but she wasn’t alone.
Not like me. Zura had her mom and her brothers. She’d have them for centuries.
After a few minutes of staring at my catatonic state, Zura would nod and leave.
I lay in my parents’ bed most days, tucked beneath their blankets with Death by my side. Every morning and night when I fed her, she would walk to the door, meowing as if asking when they’d be home.
“They’re never coming back, Death. We’ve lost them forever.” She didn’t seem to understand, because she would continue, the sound becoming so infuriating that I had to take a vial of sleepless tonic.
In my dreams, the stars whispered, the words impossible to decipher, yet the haunting tone evident. When I awoke, it’d be to their only discernible words.
“Give us our chaos.”
After another week, any sympathy for me had faded quickly. Zura was sent to my home to retrieve me, reluctantly forcing me out of my bed and to the Star District, where I was to begin my work as an elite and my shadowing of General Altair, the father of my family’s murderer.
Things were fairly simple. I’d start my day with morning physical training, similar to both my grunt work and my days in the academy.
We began with a ten mile run, followed by time spent on the range doing field exercises to enhance our magical battle skills.
After lunch we’d break into our divisions, always readying for another conquest.
Since I was to be general, I was rarely awarded much time with the alchemists, because I was forced to follow General Altair. Zura had been trying to catch me, but I wasn’t in the mood to talk, so time away from my company wasn’t a bad thing.
Each council meeting was more and more hostile, the twenty family heads not liking me in the slightest. Other than Talon, of course, who had stepped up and took on the roll after the death of his father.
We were both being forced to move on, our grief not welcomed.
At night, I’d return to my family home, feed Death, clean her litter box, and sob with her in my arms until I fell asleep.
On the fourth day of my new schedule, I was cornered in the hallway outside the council chambers, the three cores looking at me with devastation in their eyes.
Only Dofrel spoke at first, his hands reaching out to me as if to pull me in for a hug, but then thinking better of it.
“Nova, how are you?”
“As if you care,” I deadpanned. Otarn scoffed, her eyes rolling as she crossed her arms.
“I do care, of course I do.” Dofrel’s voice was gentle, missing its snarky edge.
“No, you don’t. Because if you did, you’d know better than to come ask me after I was stuck in a room with your hateful fathers and forced to listen as they belittled and berated me. Even worse, brought these two. Altair’s little posse until the end, right?”
I shoved through them, not giving them time to formulate an argument. But Otarn was quick.
“We need your help finding Az,” she shouted, stopping me in my tracks. I didn’t turn, not willing to let them see my broken face. “He’s out there somewhere and he needs our help. You can sense him. Bring him home to us.”
“We believe he’s innocent,” Elders added, his voice deep and sure.
“Please, Curls?” Dofrel begged, his strained words infuriating me further.
How dare they ask me to help them? How dare they suggest that vile snake was innocent? How dare they!
“If any of you bother me again, I’ll kill you all.”