My Life Is Your Undoing |WMMAP|

9. A New Path

Consciousness returns to me slowly, like water trickling out of the faucet even after the tap has been closed.

Murmuring voices reach me, and I peel back my eyelids painstakingly.

"Oh, Athy!"

I squeak as I inhale a whiff of lavender and peppermint before I'm being tightly hugged by my mother. Her hand caresses my hair lovingly, and I don't even realize I'm crying until she wipes away my tears.

I thought... I thought I died.

I thought I resented being Athanasia until the moment of my death – until the pang in my heart reminded me of the fact that I would never get to see Diana or Lily ever again.

And I thought about how tragic that would be, to just leave them behind and head to the afterlife on my own.

And there, hovering on the brink of life and death, I realized that perhaps I didn't hate this life as much as I thought I had.

And the thought that I would never get to find out if that was true deeply saddened me.

"Mama... Mama!" I wail as big, fat, pearl-like tears roll down my cheeks. She catches each drop for me, her sanguine eyes brimming with tears of her own.

"Thank heavens you're fine... my Athy, my sweetheart..." she sobs, brushing my hair tenderly.

She presses her forehead against mine.

"As'chev orn Viel," she whispers. "Siers hon't denya'ir virluge."

"What does that mean, Mama?"

"A phrase in Siodonna," she reveals. "It means 'a life without you, that which I can't live'."

Her words cause even more tears to stream my cheeks.

"Waaah!" I cry.

"There, there, princess. If you keep crying, you'll ruin your adorable face," Lily says, sounding like she's choking back tears herself.

I sniffle, but my tears crawl to a stop. My nose feels stuffy and blocked, and my eyes are undoubtedly red and swollen, but Lily smiles affectionately at me and says, "Now I can finally see your pretty face." She bobs my nose.

I crawl into Diana's lap, noticing belatedly that we're in my room, and she picks me up.

"Mama, what happened after Athy fell into the water?" I ask. I have to know.

Diana's expression hardens. I suppress a shiver. When she wants to, she can look surprisingly like my father.

"Claude refused to budge an inch, so I jumped into the water to save you."

I blink, realizing that she has changed out of the floral, bell-sleeve dress she was wearing earlier.

"When the weight of my dress started pulling me under, that was when Claude finally deigned to lift a finger, using his magic to help us," Diana continues, her voice trembling with barely restrained fury as she recounts the tale.

"And then what happened?" I ask, almost afraid to know.

"You were unconscious in my arms, and Felix and all the other attendants were thrown into a frenzy. Claude didn't care. He strolled up to me and commented that I should have taught you how to swim."

"And then?" I probe. There has to be more.

"I slapped him," she says simply.

I feel the color draining from my face. I mean yes, he deserved that slap, and yes, I do want to slap him myself, but – he's Claude, for heaven's sake! The ruthless psychopath! The blade that always drips with scarlet blood! One with shining, merciless, jeweled blue eyes!