6. Chapter 6
Chapter six
The newly discovered trapdoor, as well as the carefully crafted tunnel beneath, were hidden once again. Lux straightened upon releasing the rug.
Her aunt stood busy at the table, laying out the bags of belongings and sacks of goods she’d dragged with her. Lux wondered how far she’d carried it all. Her curiosity as to where and what her aunt had been doing all these years rose with every item drawn out, but Riselda was an iron lockbox. By this point, Lux wasn’t sure there was a key.
Riselda caught her eye on more than one occasion, but she’d only smiled. Food, coins, and clothing gave way to corked vials and pots with fused lids. A long, bone knife was drawn next, followed by a coal-black axe Lux couldn’t believe hadn’t torn the worn bag to bits.
“Saints above, Riselda. Were you lost to the wilderness for a time?” Lux threaded the words with good-natured humor, curating her language, but truly, she wanted to know what need for an axe could her aunt have had.
Riselda smiled, patting the weapon fondly. “You’d be surprised.” Then flicking her gaze to Lux, she frowned. “You look exhausted, with the biggest purple circles under your eyes. I’ve kept you up. Take the bedroom, I’ll sleep in the chair tonight. We will figure everything else out in the morning.”
“If you’re sure…”
“Of course, Lucena. Good night.”
Turning her back on Lux, Riselda inspected a vial beneath the lamplight. It was a polite dismissal as far as dismissals went, and it left Lux feeling her true age for the first time in years. She wasn’t sure she liked it.
An intense guilt clawed at her. Had she not fallen asleep to this exact wish now materialized before her? Dreamt of family? Of anyone to care for her at all? She should be sobbing with joy, relieved to no longer trudge through this life alone.
Lux worked away the frown shadowing her face. With a final sweeping glance over her aunt’s bent form, she left the room. Her bones ached, and she yawned. She was exhausted.
Swinging the door to her bedroom inward, she turned up the lamp on the bedside table, sending the darkness skittering from her side. The room was small. Enough for a bed, a small writing desk, and her wardrobe.
She shucked her skirt, thinking on how two people would live in such a cramped space. Unless Riselda expected her to leave? She couldn’t necessarily blame her. Though it didn’t stop the sharpness from entering her chest at the thought of never waking again in the place she’d called home for nearly a decade. Sharp despair—and grinding frustration. The vague responses she’d received from her aunt bothered her endlessly. Did Lux, as her niece and only living family, not deserve answers? Riselda might be resourceful, but she was not Ghadra’s Navigator. She could never have managed the marshes and come out its other side alive without that brilliance; it was a warning made fact by the bodies lost and rarely found. Not to mention the dire consequences of entering the forest on its opposite end—those bodies were never recovered.
Ghadra was sequestered from the remainder of Malgorm. A land of chaos and crime her parents always said. Be grateful you were born to be where you are . And she had been. Until they’d left her here alone.
Lux glanced to the now-closed door, watching the shadows of her aunt’s movements play across the floor through the space beneath. She’d not been touched in years; she’d not allowed it. Yet, here Riselda came, wrapping her up, and all Lux had felt was cold. Could she be any more damaged? She stepped before her wardrobe, swinging it open to stare at her clothing. Nothing but black. She stood on her toes and tentatively reached to the furthest corner. Her fingers collided with the little velvet bag, and she dragged it forth.
Glancing again to the door, Lux dumped the contents into her hand. She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to look upon it tonight of all nights, what with her aunt being in the very next room, but she ignored the jab of warning. Instead, she watched the lifeblood glimmer against her skin.
She hadn’t hesitated that day in the Dark Market, cradling the mesmerizing liquid within her small palms. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen, and she always loved shimmery things. Her mother had known this, dressing her in only the brightest colors.
She had twirled in her favorite sunshine-yellow dress, excited in her find, when a hand rested on her bobbed head of loose curls. Shocked at the touch, she’d looked up into indigo eyes regarding her sternly.
“How did you get here, Lucena?”
The tale of chasing the mangy cat hadn’t seemed worthy. Lux had shrugged her shoulders, slipping the vial in her pocket, and Riselda’s eyes had softened at the gesture. “Let’s go find your parents.”
Lux let the memory fade, rolling the glass between her fingers. How easy it would be to unstop it, let it coat her tongue, and live another lifetime. She brought it closer, and watched as it twinkled like starlight.
Whose body were you stolen from?
The thought jarred her from a dangerous frame of mind. Lives were not meant to be used this way, and this drained lifeblood before her was an abomination. She should dump it through the cracks of the old wooden floor, not fantasize over what it tasted like.
She did neither. Tossing it back into the velvet bag, she pushed it far into the depths of the wardrobe. And, because she was no longer alone, she shoved a pile of underthings in front of it for good measure.
She wasn’t ready to part with it yet.
Stripping from her clothing, Lux burrowed into the mound of blankets atop her bed. Instantaneous, the weight of sleep pressed upon her, and she eagerly sank beneath it.
To Death, she begged, Have mercy on me tonight.