But eventually, she stopped responding at all.
It began shortly after my father died. The healers said his sudden death, combined with the stress and change of the last years of our lives, pushed her over the edge. She succumbed to the weight and it fractured her mind, which in turn made her body break down. She took in just enough food and water to stay alive, some part of her still cognizant of her bodily needs, but not aware enough to so much as know who Rissa and I were anymore.
Watching her fade away like this…it was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do.
The window at my back was cracked an inch, letting in the midnight air. I could hear the crackle of the leaves in the wind, the rustling of twigs and grass as small animals crept along the ground outside the windowsill. The crisp scent of pine and spruce filtered through. It reminded me of nights spent laying under the stars with my sister and our parents. Of simpler times. Not easier, necessarily, for we’d always faced hardships, but at least we’d beentogether.
Memories speared through me like a knife, making me grip my mother’s fingers tighter. Her and Father dancing in the kitchen of our cottage, her apron and rosy cheeks streaked with flour, my father sweeping her into his dirt-smudged arms. Rissa’s fingers twisted in her blonde curls as she sat in our mother’s lap, her bright eyes entranced in the fairytale our father read by the fire. The first time Rissa fully shifted, when my father and I watched her little red tail trailing my mother’s large, wolven body through the trees by the house, pure joy in their high-pitched barks.
My lips curved upward.
Then, the images changed.
Rissa sneaking into the house with large black and purple splotches covering her arms. The feel of rough leather beneath my fingers as I scoured my father’s Grimoire. Deep red blood drip, drip, dripping onto dried herbs, salt and copper blending with sweet earth.
Pain. So much pain. It was everywhere—my back, my bones, my skin.
Magic has a price.
My father, collapsed on the?—
“You’re up late, little brother.”
My neck snapped to the doorway, where Rissa stood with her arms crossed over her chest. “Couldn’t sleep,” I said with a grunt.
“Me either.” She padded to the chair on the other side of Mother’s bed and sat. “How is she?”
We asked each other the same question every time, and the answer never changed. “Same as usual,” I responded dully.
“Do you want to go get some fresh air?” she asked after a moment.
I nodded. I knew what that meant; she wanted to visit the clearing a little ways from our cottage. One we would often go to as a family because of how secluded and peaceful it was. For a family of Shifters and Alchemists, we felt most at home and connected to our magic out in the wild freedom of nature. When the worries of our world became too large, my sister and I found solace under those stars in the middle of the forest.
We made our way to the familiar clearing. Rissa laid down a blanket she’d grabbed on the way out and sat, leaning back to gaze up at the night sky. Her long hair brushed the top of the grass as she closed her eyes and breathed in.
I settled in next to her. The cool breeze raked against my skin, whistling through the trees. “Did she make it through the trial?” I asked.
“Yes. Fifth place, Lark said. We knew her detour here would set her back.”
“I’m sure she was thrilled about that.” Rose seemed like the kind of person who didn’t take defeat well.
“Well, we don’t need her towin. Just get close to Gayl.” She twisted to look at me. “You sure made an impression on her earlier. Although, probably not the first woman to try and attack you on sight.”
“Hilarious.”
“What happened with her, anyway? Things felt…heated.”
I scowled. “That’s what happens when you keep mission critical information from me and I find out by someone breaking into my cottage in the middle of the day.”
She shot me a look. “Yes, and I wonder why I didn’t tell you everything, considering you took it so well.”
“Whydidyou keep it from me? All of it?” I asked, then sped ahead when it looked as if she was about to interrupt. “And none of that about fewer people needing to know the details. I’m your brother, Rissa. You always tell me everything.”
She sighed and faced the sky again. “I guess I wanted to protect you. To keep you as far away from this mission as possible. Iknowwhat being around Gayl does to you—you’ve always held onto that anger and vengeance. Not that I haven’t, but it’s just…different.” She shrugged. “I thought the more you knew and the closer you were to the details, the more likely you’d jump in and try to play the hero.”
“Why do people keep calling me that?” I muttered under my breath.
With a scoff, she said, “Please, Leo. You can’t help but come to the rescue. It’s practically in your blood. How many people did you beat up as a teenager because they so much aslookedat me weirdly? And all those fugitives you save on your patrols. You’re a protector, brother. That’s not a bad thing.”
