Chapter 68
Jenyfer and Lamorna sat facing each other, like they used to as children when they played together. Eyes wet, Jenyfer held out her hands, her heart breaking as her sister took them. Lamorna’s palms were wet. Her skin, her hair, her clothes. Water beaded on her eyelashes. She smelt like the sea.
‘I’ll be alright,’ she said.
‘I don’t want this,’ Jenyfer whispered, sniffing. ‘I wanted to get to know you, as you are now.’
A shadow passed over Lamorna’s face briefly. ‘I’m broken, Jen. I’m not sure who I am anymore. I’m not okay, but maybe here, in this place, I can heal. I can get to know myself.’
Jenyfer nodded.
‘Be happy. You deserve that,’ her sister said in a tone that did not belong to Lamorna. Water continued to drip from the ends of her hair.
Jenyfer shook her head. ‘So do you. I don’t want to leave you here alone.’
Lamorna smiled. ‘Maybe that isn’t such a bad thing.
I’ve never been alone. The One God, Ereshki, was always with me in some way.
It might be nice to be… by myself.’ She gently pulled her hands free and got to her feet.
A puddle of water coated the ground where she had been sitting.
Jenyfer stood also, not taking her eyes from her sister’s face.
‘Tell Aunt Tamora… tell her I love her and that I’m thankful for the things she tried to teach me. Tell her I’m sorry I didn’t listen.’
Jenyfer nodded. Her bottom lip quivered. She would be strong, like she’d always been. It had been her Lamorna had come to when they were children. It had been Jenyfer who had patched up skinned knees or put lavender on a bee sting when their aunt was tending to the sick.
It had been the two of them mostly. Jenyfer had forgotten that, amongst her fear and the One God. She’d forgotten that Lamorna was as scared as she was, only her sister had chosen to play the game, negotiate the world in the way that made sense to her.
Jenyfer had been so caught up in herself that she’d failed to see Lamorna had been drowning, too.
‘This is my choice. My life. My decision, Jenyfer,’ Lamorna said. ‘I have nothing to live for, but you do.’ Her gaze slid to Ordes’ face and stayed there. ‘If I ever find out you’ve hurt her, even a little bit, I’ll find some way to punish you. And it will hurt.’
‘I believe it,’ Ordes said.
Jenyfer wiped her wet cheeks.
Merlin cleared his throat. ‘If we’re going to leave, it has to be now. This realm is small and wasn’t meant to hold so many people.’
Jenyfer turned to Lamorna, alarmed. ‘I…’
Lamorna threw her arms around her sister’s neck, pulling Jenyfer close to her. Jenyfer could not remember the last time Lamorna had hugged her so tightly, but now they clung to one another. Ordes put his hand on Jenyfer’s shoulder and she stepped away. The air around them began to shimmer.
‘We need to go,’ Ordes said.
Jenyfer could feel this realm fraying. Everything shuddered. ‘Merlin,’ she said. ‘Whatever Lamorna needs, get it for her before you leave.’
‘I will.’
A blinding light suddenly dazzled Jenyfer’s eyes. She shielded them with her hand as Ordes slid his arm around her.
‘This might be rough,’ he warned.
She didn’t care.
Jenyfer kept her eyes on her sister’s face as the world dissolved.