The Burning of Sana Lightbourne

Chapter 1

Another friend lost.

Another beautiful little soul taken too soon.

And it was all her fault.

Sana cradled a folded rag to her chest as she looked behind her, ensuring no one saw her duck into the overgrown brush at the edge of her family's sprawling sandstone estate.

She followed a shaded pebbled path that wound through patches of green cacti and big leafy trees with twisted trunks and branches until she came to the stone ruins in the center of the small patch of forest.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you," she whispered to the folded cloth as she walked under the crumbling arch with 'Sune Sanctuary' carved into the sun-beaten stone. "But you can rest in peace here, I promise."

Kneeling down in the warm sun-baked sand beside a small shrine of rocks and pink flowering succulents, Sana dug a small hole and unfolded the rag to place the lifeless butterfly inside.

"I hope you're in a better place now," she whispered, petting its vibrant blue and black wings.

"Far away from here where you can fly free and you're safe from people who don't understand you," she said, filling the hole before leaning forward and pressing her head against the tiny grave as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"If you see my mother, tell her I miss her and I'm sorry. "

"Sana!"

Her heart clenched as she looked over her shoulder at Uma running through the brush with her brown skirts swishing around her legs as she tugged twigs out of her bouncy black curls.

"Uma, what's going on?" Sana said, brushing the sand off her apron as she stood.

"Lord Kai has returned," Uma said, resting her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. "He and your father want to see you in the study."

Sana's eyes grew wide and her heart clenched in panic. "Me?"

"Yes, come," Uma said, holding her hand out to her. "They said it was urgent and you know you're not supposed to be out here."

"I know but...but why do they want to see me?" Sana said, taking Uma's hand. "Have I done something wrong?"

She was always doing something wrong. She couldn't breathe without her father or her siblings chiding her for existing. She was a disgrace to the Lightbourne family for her lack of abilities. Neither Kai nor her father ever requested an audience with her.

Why would they want to speak to her now?

"No, my dear. You haven't done anything wrong," Uma said, tugging her toward the house. "I don't know why they want to meet with you, but they seemed in good spirits. So, it must be something good."

"I doubt it," Sana murmured. Uma was ever the optimist. She was her only friend and although her family didn't care for her, at least she had Uma to talk to.

"Go on," Uma said, brushing the dirt off Sana's shoulders and tucking a loose curl behind her ear. "You'll be fine."

Sana took a deep breath. "Thanks," she said, knocking lightly on the polished mahogany doors of her father's study. "May I come in?"

"Enter." Her father's deep voice called and sent a shiver down Sana's spine.

She pushed the door open and stepped inside keeping her gaze on the floor. Servants weren't permitted to look the Lord of the House or any of his children in the eyes.

"Kneel." Her father commanded. "Your brother and I have something to discuss with you."

Sana knelt before her father and brother, sitting in two high-back chairs, and squeezed her hands in her lap while she waited to be spoken to.

"Raise your head, Sana." Her brother, Kai, sighed in annoyance. "You may look at us."

"Y-yes, of course. I'm sorry." She would've preferred to keep her gaze on her lap instead of looking at the disapproving looks in her brother and father's eyes and the reminder that she was a blemish to their glorious name.

An unusual grin curled over her father's lips, and the joy on his face made Sana's skin crawl. He never smiled at her and as much as she wished for him to look at her as if he cared, in this instance, that smile was utterly unnerving. "You have finally become useful to this family."

"I have?"

"Yes," her brother said, dragging a hand through his short, dark red hair. "As the next head of Lightbourne House, I have arranged for you to marry Lord Rhyel of House Darcanos in exchange for an alliance."

Sana gulped as her hands shook in her lap.

She was to marry Lord Rhyel? She'd heard rumors of the Lord of the northern House.

He was a cold and fearsome ruler. He'd been betrothed to women from smaller Houses in the past and cast them out, back to their families for merely looking at him for too long.

"W-why me?"

Her father's joyful brown-eyed gaze turned sour as he slammed his hand on the arm of his chair.

"Because I'm tired of looking at you!" He roared and she winced from the malice in his tone.

"I would've cast you out a long time ago if it wasn't for–nevermind.

" He huffed. "You're going because getting rid of you is valuable to our House. "

"Y-yes of... of course," Sana said, hanging her head. "I'm sorry."

"Father, let me handle this," Kai said, leaning forward in his chair. "I've arranged a decent marriage for you and if Lord Rhyel casts you out, you will have no home to return to. So, you better obey him as if your life depends on it."

Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. "I understand."

"Good," Kai said, tossing a scroll tied with a black ribbon to her. "Take this with you as our agreement of your marriage."

"Thank you for this opportunity, brother," Sana said, picking up the scroll.

"Pack your things. A carriage will take you to Darcanos in the morning."

"Yes, father," Sana whispered.

"You may leave."

Sana nodded as she stood from the floor and left the study with tears rolling down her cheeks. She knew meeting with her brother and father wasn't going to be anything good.

And how could she marry Lord Rhyel? She knew nothing of the north or anything beyond the walls of her home.

"Oh Sana, you should be happy," her sister, Aneera giggled as she sashayed down the hall with her skirts of blue and purple swaying around her feet. "You get to marry a Lord."

"Yes." Lyra, her other sister, laughed, brushing her long curly red hair over her shoulder. "I hope he doesn't kill you when he finds out you're useless."

"Oh no. Surely he'll torture you before he kills you," Aneera said, grasping Sana's chin and the disgust in her violet eyes sent a chill down Sana's spine. "That's what you deserve for being a stain on our good name."

"Miss Lyra, Miss Aneera, your dinner has been prepared for you on the terrace as you requested," Uma said, bowing to them.

"Thank you, maid," Aneera said, slipping her arm through Lyra's. "Goodbye, Sana. We won't miss you."

Sana curled her hands into fists, digging her nails into her skin, fighting the tears threatening to roll down her cheeks while her sisters giggled down the hall like two cackling birds.

"I'm so sorry," Uma said, wrapping her arm around Sana's shoulders as she guided her to the servants quarters at the far end of the house. "At least...at least you'll get away from this place."

"But I'll never see you again," Sana murmured with her lip trembling.

"No, but that's okay," Uma said, hugging her tight. "This is your chance for a better life and that's a good thing."

How could it be a good thing to be married off to someone she didn't know? To a place she knew nothing about?

Her younger sisters were right. She was a stain and a disgrace to the Lightbourne name. She wasn't one of them. She had no magic, no shifting abilities. All she had was their likeness. Red hair, brown skin and violet eyes.

She was a hollow husk where greatness should have been, but she wasn't blessed with any gifts.

Lord Rhyel surely wouldn't want her.

No one did.