Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
I woke with a start. The memory of Maaier’s confession was like a song on repeat in my mind. He was Death. Dorian was right all along. He killed with a touch but why wouldn’t he kill me? Was it because I was sworn to him in some twisted way like a prophecy? This was all too much. I had tossed and turned all night before creeping into bed next to Dorian. Just to feel the warmth of another once more. She was still curled into a ball beside me, as if cradling something to her chest. Her breathing heavy in the cool air. The moon hung low in the sky. The sun slowly rising from its bed. The dark of the night slowly lightening.
Creeping away from Dorian, I padded gently downstairs to the main hall.
The lantern in my hands flickering through the halls. The doors to the piano room were already open. I stilled. Feeling the strange presence of another. The air became frigid. I stepped over the threshold. Not a soul in sight. Not one that I could see anyway. But I couldn’t shake the feeling I was being watched. The feeling of their stare burning through my shoulder blades. I stilled my nerves. Convincing myself that all was well and that I was under no threat although I knew I was. Maaier wasn’t here to save me now. But I supposed if I were to die, he would be the one to take me back, would he not? Or would he have to take my soul over and find a new love? God this whole matter was confusing.
I made it to the piano alive despite my sense that something terrible was about to happen. My intuition was stronger than ever. Sitting on the bench before the grand old instrument, fingers wary as they reached for an ivory key. The G note sounded like a gunshot. The sound booming through the empty room. A sound of brisk movement sounded beyond the door but receded. I narrowed my gaze. Scanning the expanse of the dimly lit room for any abnormality only to come up short. I was alone again.
I faced the ivory keys again. The early moonlight hidden through the curtains. Although it was now snowing. I wasn’t sure the moon light could guide me back to him. Wherever he was now. I stood firm. Telling myself no one was around. I pressed the same key. Only lightly this time. The sound somehow quieted before another flash of white pulsed before my eyes. The pain seared as the light pushed its way in.
“Theodore, you need to find her!” Grandmother’s voice urged. Her posture was rigid. The tension roiled off her stooped form, decades of grief weighing her down.
“I have tried Sophia!” Father’s voice sounded from down the hall. I sat at the piano. Watching the two as they entered the room. Father lingering in the doorway as Grandmother made her way to the window behind me.
“She wouldn’t just leave. She will be back soon.” He nearly pleaded, urging the stubborn woman to see sense. Grandmother narrowed her gaze. She was younger here, only a few strands of white marred the dark expanse of her hair.
“You don’t understand. You never have and you never will.” She seethed. Her fists clenched beside her, utter terror radiating from her. The look in her light eyes was near wild with fear. I lifted my hand to hold hers. Only to find it fruitless, my palm falling straight through her fist.
“It is just an old tale to scare you into behaving.” My father scoffed. I hadn’t seen this side of him in a long while even before he had left. A man so enraged and narrow minded. He was always so calm and gentle until the day mother passed. Was this the day it all changed?
“It is not. Death favours a Florian! He always has,” She snarled as she turned to face him. Her finger pointed at his chest as he approached her. “I have lost almost all I love. Death has taken them. My daughter, my sisters, my mother. Everyone. I will be damned if I let anyone take Vespera from me. Now you will go find her mother. And bring her home. I will keep Vespera safe here.”
“I am her father-”
“You are nothing but a stain on the Florian name if you do not find your wife.”
If looks could kill, Father would be six feet underground. He huffed before leaving, his footsteps heavy as he stormed to the door. Grandmother stood firm until the door slammed behind him. A single tear rolled down her cheek. Followed by another. They fell until she could bear their weight no longer, instead falling to the ground with them. Her knees landed with a heavy thud as she bowed to the floor. Praying for her daughter not to be taken, begging for her safe return. Pleading for them to take her instead. But she knew in her bones that her daughter was gone. She wailed to the floor. Her fists beating against the marble.
I stood in my ghostly form. Hovering beside her before kneeling. I ached to touch her. To hold her close but she did not move. Her back heaving with her body as her grief poured from her.
I looked up from her back. Noticing another pale hand holding her on the opposite side. Slowly I tracked my arms up the torn and damp white dress. Landing on a scar in the middle of her partially exposed chest. Her eyes met mine.
My mother blinked. As if not sure who she was seeing. A figure appeared behind me. I could feel their presence. Like a god commanding power. The scent of cedar and saffron filled my nose. I didn't have to look at him to know Maaier stood with his arm outstretched. His hand ready to take hers. Mother blinked between us. A single no falling from her trembling lips. The depth of her situation sinking in. She pleaded softly for him to let her stay, to allow her this one sympathy.
“It is your time, Adele,” Maaier said gently, a tone scarcely heard with his voice.
“No please. Maaier please.” She begged, her voice raw. The sound like a knife to the heart. A voice I craved more than anything before. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Grandmother was still sobbing on the floor oblivious to what was happening around her.
“Maaier, please. Don’t do this. I wasn’t ready.” She begged the man before her.
“I know,” He responded, his voice void of emotion. Years of death honed into his mannerisms.
“Maaier, please no. I’ll do anything, don’t take me from her.” Her gaze darted to me before flashing back to him. Could she see me? Or could she feel me as I felt her in the present time?
“Sweet girl, I am sorry but I can not change your fate. You chose your colour.”
“But it’s not my time.” Her voice grew small.
“I’m afraid it is.”
“I can’t go. I won’t go without her.” She tilted her head sadly. Looking at Maaier with the weight of a thousand deaths on her shoulders. As if her soul was so burdened by death that she could handle no more.
“I will take care of her.” Maaier stepped forward beside me. “I promise you that much.”
“No. She can’t cross without me.” Mother pleaded. Her tears ran down her already damp cheeks. Her hair sticking to her forehead in inky strands. Just as it had when they pulled her body from the river.
Without warning Mother stood. Her gaze on Maaier.
“When Vespera is ready. I will cross paths with her then. Not a moment before.” Her voice was soft yet firm. Commanding.
“As you wish, Lady Florian. But I shall return.” With a final word Maaier dissipated just as he had leaving me in the bathtub, in a mass of heavy dark shadows. Mother held herself tightly. Her arms wrapped around her legs.
The doors flew open once more. Mother untangled herself as I watched myself rush into the room. Grief poured from me. I remembered this all too well. Watching them pull my mother’s lifeless body from the river. I had run off in search of Grandmother. Running from Father and into the manor. My young heart was broken and shattered in my chest. It was as if the pain from my mother's scar had embedded itself in my skin. I watched in wait as a younger me burst through the door. Torn apart by loss. Holding onto my skirts as if they were the only thing holding me up, barreling into Grandmother’s arms. My mother watched with more tears flooding her cheeks. Her body heaving with her shattered sobs as she watched her daughter and mother mourn her. But little did they know she was still here. She wasn’t leaving. She never would. Not until I go with her. But how could I take her with me if I joined Maaier? She would never find peace. She would be stuck here in the halls watching as we all aged and grew and she stayed the same. Not ageing. No longer growing.
She moved forward clutching her hands to her chest, crawling over to where her loves sat huddled together. Her arms reached out to hold them only to have them fall through. She watched in desperation as they cried for her. But she could do nothing.
I faded back to the present. Catching myself just as I fell back on the bench. I looked to where the vision occurred. No marks lined the floor. No tears stained into the ground. A reflection that with time, grief fades. It never truly disappears for it will live under the surface even though we have wiped the remains clean.
Lifting my hands to scrub my face, I wiped the wetness from my cheeks.
“I visit this spot most often too, at night.” Grandmother’s voice broke through the silence.
Her stooped frame leaning against the door.
“She’s still here.” I admitted.
“I know. I feel her most in here. She used to paint in that corner almost every day.” She pointed to the only spare corner of the room. Right as you walk in. The same space mother used to line the floors with sheets and paint to her heart's content.
“She loved it in here,” I said as Grandmother approached.
“She loved having you in here with her more.” She smiled lightly before offering me her hand. I couldn't bring myself to smile. Instead nodding and taking her hand as she led me back to her room.
I lay beside her just as I did when I was a girl. Only now I couldn't get the sound of her wailing screams out of my head.