As a child, I remembered being comforted not just by the simple words of the song, but by my mother’s soft voice and her gentle touch as she ran her fingers through my hair.
Those memories flooded me, breaking through the walls I hadn’t even realized I’d built around them. I’d forgotten the joy of being alive. It’d forgotten how much I used to be loved. Instead, I’d wasted an entire century on bitterness, anger, and petty self-loathing.
My voice grew stronger with confidence, rising to the ceiling, reaching beyond these walls, and blending with the rush of the waves. Words and music flowed through me with the swell of magic and love:
“By ocean and wind, my promise in song,
You will never face the darkness alone.”
The last notes of the chorus rang through the room, resonating between the glass walls like inside a bell. I felt drained but oddly elated, like I had accomplished something profound, giving it my all.
Silence vibrated through the palace, demanding to be broken again, wishing for its own death through song all over again.
“Kye...” her voice called softly from beyond the screen. “It was beautiful.”
She sounded weary and vulnerable but no longer broken. And that made it all worth it.
“Thank you,” I exhaled, lowering to the floor.
My limbs felt too weak to move, as if the tension that kept me up had drained along with the last notes of the song.
A long sigh came from behind the screen, then she called again, “Kye?”
“Hm?” I lay on my side, resting my head on my arm.
I didn’t think I could make it to bed right now. My muscles felt oddly liquid, my body light but immobile. What point was there in going to bed anyway when the bed was just as hard as the floor?
“Let me go home, please,” she said suddenly.
Her voice wasn’t pleading, but she sounded raw and unguarded, as if revealing her heart’s deepest desire to me.
Her request caught me off guard. Had I not made it clear to her before?
“You’ll never get back to the home you have left, my darling,” I replied softly, still holding on to the tenderness brought on by the song.
“You said there was a chance—”
“The chance is as slim as finding a lost grain of sand in the ocean. You’ll die, Maren, and I would never know when or how it happened. Besides,” I reminded, “you’re not mine to release.”
She drew in a shaky breath, and I feared she’d start crying again. But she kept quiet, breathing so softly, I could barely hear it.
Her silence bothered me more than any insults would. I waited for her to say anything. A curse. A huff. A snappy retort. I’d take anything. But I got only the same heavy, suffocating silence in response, and I couldn’t come up with anything better to break it with but echoing the line from the lullaby I’d just sang.
“I’ll keep you safe,” I said and added in my mind,“’til the day I’m gone.”
Because really, what else did I have to do with the rest of my life? At least while Maren stayed in my palace, I had a purpose.
I would keep her safe.
Chapter 7
Maren
Iwoke up with my throat sore and my eyes puffy from all the crying. But I had slept well enough to feel rested and energized.
Despite all the turmoil of last night, I managed to fall asleep after Kye had calmed me with his singing. And what a song that had been...
I lay quietly in my bed, with my eyes closed, reliving the echo of his voice in my head.
