28. The Sorrow #2
Though, perhaps a hint of pity was still there. After all, she thought, would she herself have been even the least bit kinder?
“Now,” Elizabeth said, her eyes meeting her son’s for a long moment, a silent conversation between them. He seemed hesitant. Elizabeth nodded slowly. “Show me what she can do.”
“Forgive me,” Siren said quietly. “My family is all I’ve ever had.”
Flora felt the cold of his hand on the back of her neck. She gasped, but the air she craved evaded her. The aching in her lungs and chest, it returned entirely. Like a hollow, insatiable hunger that no food could ever sate.
Her darkest thoughts poured in like a flood, suffocating her with each strained breath.
Sona, she had lost Sona. By even knowing her, she had killed Sona.
Before she could ever see her brother healthy again.
But why was this bothering her now? Why was everything bothering her now?
She ached for Lila’s strength, but far away, Lila despised her for disappearing without warning.
She yearned for Davy’s laugh, but Davy was gone.
Everyone was gone now, and never before had she felt so completely alone.
Flora gripped at her chest, each breath shallower than the last. Her knees felt weak, and they soon buckled beneath her, leaving her keeling at the edge of the water looking in.
Noec. She had lied to him. She had lied to him when she told him she would come home. She had lied to him by giving him hope that he wouldn’t suffer through life alone. Every day she had lied to him, every day that passed where she didn’t tell him how loved he was.
The stone grated her nails as she squeezed, the twisting in her stomach making her want to vomit. She screamed his name, and she sobbed with a heartbreak that wrapped her chest tighter and tighter. In the cold air, the tears were warm on her cheeks. Why? Why did she feel this way?
“Keep going,” Elizabeth instructed her son.
Flora tore at her stomach, gasping and heaving.
“Mother... I…” he choked.
“Have you forgotten everything they’ve done to us... Siren?”
Siren’s grip loosened beneath Flora’s hair.
“She... she’s like you, isn’t she?” he asked.
“Punished for existing?” Flora looked back, heaving as the piercing misery he forced upon her began to dull.
Siren’s hand trembled above her, tears trailing from his own wide eyes. He could feel every ounce of suffering.
“I know it hurts, Siren. But you must endure.”
“Mother…”
“Siren,” she bit. “Finish what you’ve started, or I’ll have you hold her hand as I tear her to ribbons.”
Siren flinched. Slowly, he crouched down beside Flora. Sad yellow eyes, shiny from tears and red from strain, met her eyes.
“No, please…” Flora begged. “Please, Siren.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “But you won’t feel it alone.” He placed his hand on her arm, gripping tighter now as she tried to pull away.
The pain was enough that she would have given anything to make it stop, she would have begged for death if only she could subdue her screaming.
Salty tears tickled the line of her jaw down to her chin. She heaved at her distorted reflection below, the image shattered by a droplet that slipped from the tip of her nose. From the droplet crept a blue luminescence, seeping like an infection of dye in clear water.
“Wonderful,” the woman said, her voice tinged with both awe and venom.
The blue from Flora’s tears stretched, branching and weaving through the pool.
Finally, it reached Elizabeth’s feet. She smiled, her eyes and teeth reflecting with the blue glow.
As the blue from Flora touched the blue cords on her own skin, Elizabeth laughed.
She laughed and laughed. “It’s working,” she delighted as the light beamed and swirled beneath her.
She beckoned to the unknown shadows behind Flora’s back, ordering, “Bring the body.”
The profound misery flattened, leaving Flora exhausted to the core. Siren pulled her up by the arm. At his touch, she felt anger, she felt fear, but more than anything, she felt guilt.
A white-eyed figure emerged on their left, with graying hair and white scars on his arms—the man who had been standing above them at the spring, shielding his eyes.
Something about his dreary face pricked Flora’s heart with sorrow.
The sightless drone carried the corpse of a brown-haired man, his eyes still open and as blue as the sea.
Davy. It was Davy.
Siren’s nails dug into her arm.
“Siren,” she whispered. “Please.”
“Will she survive this?” he said, ignoring her and looking to his mother.
“For her sake,” Elizabeth replied. “I hope not.”
Guilt—Flora felt guilt, pulsing through Siren’s fingers and into her.
“There are fates worse than death down there,” Elizabeth said. With a wry grin, she added, “And the Well is starving for a pretty new face.”
Guilt—Flora felt guilt, looking at the half-opened eyes of her brother, water seeping into his mouth as he was dropped with a splash at Elizabeth’s feet. His body was healed, but his eyes were vacant.
“Come, Florabelle,” Elizabeth beckoned. “Come into the water. I have a deal for you.”
Siren began to push her forward, one hand now on each shoulder.
“... please, please…” Flora begged, her voice strained and cracking as she tried to push back.
“Reach into the well,” Elizabeth instructed, “and retrieve my dear Azura. Under Her spell, I myself cannot fall into the Sorrow without being taken by it. But you—you can fetch him for me.” With a wry smile, Elizabeth added, “And if you do, I will let the people of Emyre rest easy.”
Flora’s breath shuddered. “I...”
Whatever she had to do, wasn’t that worth it? Was there really anything better than knowing her village, her Noec, was safe?
The vice of Siren’s grip vanished, and Flora stumbled forward.