Vengeance Must Be Had
“There she is.”
TheFinallyRafaela didn’t also say was nevertheless loud in the judgmental arch of her brows and the severe tilt of her mouth.
Thickolandulesmoke wreathed her private parlor, enclosing the settee where Alonso and I sat in a cloud-like haze that smelled of flowered meadows.Her eyes, sharpened by the olandule, pierced me as she inhaled deeply through the mouthpiece of her pipe—a rare-and-pricelessspikemade from an unborn serpunta.The little body of the snake-like changeling served as an unsurpassed filter for the potent olandule herb.
“It’s good to seeour daughtersitting here with us once more.”Rafaela blew out a stream of smoke.“Weakness is?—”
My memory was quick to fill in several possibilities:Weakness is not an option,weakness is for losers,weakness is the worst kind of defeat.
“—a worse fate than a final death.”
Alonso squeezed my knee with an empathetic wince before telling her, “Aw, Rafi, stop spinning her spit.She just lost her brother.”
Rafi’s eyes narrowed on him.“Wejust lost a son, when we believed we’d already lost a daughter.You don’t see me breaking, do you?”She exhaled smoke through both nostrils like a dragon.When she ran the tip of her tongue along a fang, the resemblance became acute.
“That’s ’cause you’re not capable of breaking.”I only realized I was going to speak once I heard the words outside of me.
I had escaped the sea.But I hadn’t escaped Teo’s death.
I felt as if there were still an entire ocean of water crushing my body.
Rafaela smiled—as much as she ever smiled, anyway.“That’s right, Soravelle.And I thought you’d learned your lesson.Breaking is dangerous, not just to yourself, but to those you love.To those who depend upon you for their safety.”
“How could I ever forget?”I heard myself as if from far, far away.
“One should never forget failing a sister.”
I got the impression she was talking about her sister and not mine, but the jab still stung.
“She didn’t fail Teo,” Alonso said.
Rafaela said nothing.
“Where is he?”I asked with renewed urgency.
“He’s … dead,” Alonso uttered slowly, as if suddenly concerned the trauma had left me slow of mind.
I grunted impatiently.“Where’s his body?How are you so sure he’s dead?Did they take his head?His heart?His blood?”I swallowed around a painfully tight throat.“Who killed him?And where can I find them now?”
Alonso squeezed my knee again.“Take it easy, slowly.You only just found out about Teo?—”
“I didn’t.”
“What?”
“I already knew.”
Alonso and Rafaela shared a look.
“How did you already know?”Alonso asked, again slowly.
“Because he and I aretwins.”When that didn’t seem to sufficiently convey the magnitude of our connection to each other, I added simply, “He’s my Teo.”
I leaned back onto the settee and tilted my head up.Overhead, illuminated by a dozen lumoons, a fresco depicted a bloody battle.Dark creatures with fangs, leathery wings, and clinging shadows attacked light creatures with white feathered wings and a warm glow.Preserved by a spell, the fresco was as crisp now as it was the first time I saw it, forever telling a story as ancient as the dragons.
“I knew he was dead,” I finally said.“I just hoped I was wrong.”I jerked my head up.“And you’re absolutely certain he’s dead?”
