Memory
“Dad!”
Tears poured from my eyes, falling like rain against my blouse as I fisted my hands tight enough to draw blood.
“Y-You can’t! There are others! I’ll speak to Kaiden! He’ll let you—”
“Enough!” his voice bellowed throughout the small kitchen. “It is my duty!”
My cries grew more violent, shaking my chest as it threatened to crack open as fiercely as my heart began to break. “Dad… They are gods! Rosina— You’ve seen what they can do! Those beasts! You’ll die! I can’t lose you, I can’t—”
He interrupted my words once more as he pulled me into his chest, trying his best to soothe my sobs. “I know, sweet child. I know. That is why you must stay with Lord Kaiden. He has already promised to keep you safe.”
Kaiden. We’d barely spoken after he forced me to leave his study. And now, with a war looming over our small world, threatening the peace, I was going to lose the last family I had left.
“Don’t leave me, please,” I begged him. “You’ve given them your life. If not for their stupid descendants, Mother never would have—”
“Quiet!” he hissed, placing a hand over my mouth as my eyes widened in shock.
“You will not speak about them in such a way, do you understand? They are… Fear infects our neighbors… our leaders… If they so much as suspect you to be a rebel…” He shook his head and yanked my head to his chest, his breath shuddering.
“I’ll be okay. I’ll come home to you. I’ll come home. ”
He repeated those words over and over again until he convinced himself that they were true. Or at least until we pretended enough for the both of us to stop our own tears.