Distant Fires of Heaven (The Malevolent Sacrifices #1)

Herons and Thorns

Rosemary, it's me. It's dad. We're here for you baby girl. Me and mom. Stephen and Effy are here too. Everything is going to be alright.
His voice echoed in the back of Rose's mind.
Jace, come down and eat. Octavian was nice enough to make us dinner.
She heard her father draw a deep sigh.
Could you just bring up a plate? Please Clary. I can't leave her like this. She looks like she is in so much pain.
She could feel hands touching her cheek. They felt warm and comforting.
I guess I could. But Brother Enoch said she'll be incoherent for another few days the most. She'll be alright if you just step away for a moment.
The touch she felt against her cheek fell away, and she internally begged for it to come back. She wanted the comfort.
Jace, you haven't showered since we've come back. Not to mention you haven't received much sleep either. I'll have Stephen stay here with her, or Effy or Mason. She won't be by herself.
The voices of her parents drifted, and Rose could feel her brain relaxing, and she fell into a deep sleep.

"Stephen! Stephen don't run so fast!" Rose yelled at her older brother as he ran around the backyard of Herondale manor.
Rose stopped running, out of breath so quickly.
Her little 4 year old hands covered in dirt, and her pink dress was stained with grass.
Stephen came back to her. "Are you okay, Rosie?" He asked kindly. He is only a year older than her, but it felt like he seemed older. Just by the way he took care of his little sister, he acted older. Way older than 5. Except when he was with other boys he knew, he acted 5.
Rosemary nodded. "I just don't like it when you run away. I'm afraid you won't come back, or I won't find you." She whimpered. "You're the only one I can play with. Lexa doesn't like to play, and Effy is to little. She breaks the heads off of my dolls."
Stephen put his arm around her, it rested on her shoulders. "I will run slow for you Rosie." He smiled cheekily, his dimples exemplified.
"Do you think daddy could take us to the party where the giant glass swords are?" Rosie asked him.
Stephen gasped excitedly. "We should ask! I want to build a toy sword with Si Si! And play kill the dragon with Mason and Will!" Stephen jumped with excitement.
Si Si is his nickname for Simon, Rosemary knew him as Mommy's parabatai. The two of them were already down at the summer festival, running the booth to build fake swords for the children.
Stephen and Rosemary ran inside, colliding into Jace as soon as they found him. He carried little 3 year old Effy. Her red hair in pig tails, her cheeks red. Her blue eyes sparkled at the sight of her older siblings.
"Roo! Stephie!" She clapped her hands and giggled.
"Daddy!" Stephen said excitedly. "Can you take us to the party!"
Rosemary nodded and stared up into Jace's face, putting her best puppy face on. He couldn't resist her puppy face. "Please Daddy!" She begged.
Jace smiled. "I guess so. Go get Lexa and meet me by the door."
Stephen shrieked with happiness then took off with Rosemary running as fast as she could to keep up with him.
Lexa was sitting in her bedroom, coloring in her coloring book when Stephen and Rosemary told her where they were going.
Lexa jumped out of her hair with so much energy, she knocked over her container of pencils and they spilt everywhere.
When Jace and the kids reached the festival, he told Stephen and Rosemary to stay together. Lexa didn't like crowds, so she stood by Jace and played with Effy. Well, mostly stood there while Effy ran around her legs. Lexa didn't like to play.
Rosemary followed her brother to the swords booth, where Clary and Simon were working with other children to build fake swords.
Rosemary seen her mother kneeling down by a boy no younger than Effy, sitting at the table putting his sword together. He had messy blonde hair, blue eyes the color of the ocean. His mom had knelt down on his other side, telling him where to place things.
"Okay Andrew, this goes here." She said and pointed where he should stick it.
He was a determined 3 year old. Much different than Effy, who was nothing but crazy.
"Look Stephen, there's mommy." Rosemary said to Stephen and the two of them walked over to her.
"Emma he is just so adorable." Clary said and messed with his hair. "He's such a mix between you and Julian, I can't tell who he looks like more!" She laughed throwing her red hair back behind her shoulder.
The blonde woman, Emma as what Clary called her, laughed too. "Calvin is the same way. He has Julian's hair and my eyes, but he is still a big mix between the two of us. Juliet on the other hand, she looks nothing like me. She's all Julian." Emma's eyes shined talking about her children.
"Where are those 3 anyways?" Clary asked.
"Well Juliet didn't want to make swords, and Calvin is clinging to Julian's hip. Literally he wont let go of him. So Julian took her to make a flower crown with Isabelle." Emma smiled.
By this point Stephen and Rosemary made it over to their mother. "Mommy!" Stephen squealed and hugged her from behind.
Clary gasped and laughed pulling her son into her arms. "Hey there Steph. Did you come to build a sword?"
He nodded excitedly. "I want to built a sword with a blue handle thingy. Then find Mason and Will and play kill the dragon with them." He grinned. "I always kill it first because I'm the quickest." He said proudly.
Rosemary lingered behind him. Emma looked at her then. "Is this your little Rosemary?" She asked Clary. Clary looked at her daughter. Her smile was real and so loving.
"Yes, isn't she gorgeous?" Clary squealed.
Emma gasped. "Oh my gosh her eyes are so beautiful! They're not a bright green they're so soft, with like, is that a flex of gold?" She cooed.
Rosemary flushed a deep red. She held her hands behind her back.
Clary ushered Rosemary over. "Don't be shy Rosie. Emma is a friend of mine and daddy's."
Rosemary walked over and smiled softly at Emma, and waved.
"You know, Juliet is over there making a flower crown. Do you want to make one too?" Emma asked and pointed at the stall down the street.
Rosemary watched Stephen sit at a table and start on his sword. She admitted to herself that she didn't really want to make a sword at all. Maybe she could have fun making a flower crown.
"Yes." She said shyly.
"I can take her over when Andrew is done Clary, if that's okay?" Emma asked.
Clary nodded. "It's perfectly okay. Is that okay Rosie?"
Rosemary nodded. "It's okay." Then blushed again when Emma smiled softly at her.
Andrew finished his sword, then Emma lifted him onto one side of her body and offered a hand to Rosemary.
Clary said Rosemary could trust Emma, so she took Emma's hand and let Emma lead her towards the booth where Rosemary could make a flower crown of her own.
"You have a beautiful name, Rosemary." Emma said to her.
"Thank you. My daddy picked it." She smiled and blushed again.
"Do you mind if I call you Rosie too?" Emma asked.
"I don't mind. I like my nickname." Rosemary felt Emma squeeze her hand gently, a sign of compassion. Rosemary noticed the silver band around her finger. It was an odd ring, with thorns looping around the metal.
The two of them reached the tent, and walked over to the table occupied by 4 people.
One of them was a little boy with brown hair, sitting on the lap of a tall man with brown hair too. There was a little girl next to him, working away at pressing flowers into her crown.
Rosemary recognized Isabelle helping the little girl, her dark black hair pulled back into a high ponytail.
Isabelle glanced up and smiled widely. "Well if it isn't my sweet little Rosie. Did you come to make a flower crown too?" She said sweetly. Rosemary let go of Emma's hand and walked around the table to hug Isabelle.
"Rosie why don't you sit next to Juliet? Juliet doesn't mind, right?" Isabelle asked and offered Rosie the chair.
Rosemary looked up at the girl Isabelle referred to. She had curly brown hair, currently tied up into two pig tails. Her blue eyes were astonishing to see, she had the same colored eyes as the tall man at the table, and as the boy in Emma's arms.
"I don't mind at all." She said softly and patted the seat next to her.
Rosie climbed onto the chair, struggling as 4 year olds do. Juliet reached her hand out, and Rosie took it and let Juliet help her up.
"Thank you." Rosie smiled.
"You're welcome." Juliet said and then handed her a blank headband.
"Now Rosie, I'll put the hot glue on the flowers for you. You get to stick them on. Just don't burn yourself. Be super super careful." Isabelle smiled at her. Rosie nodded.
"Super super careful." Juliet cautioned her. "I burnt myself two times." She said holding up two fingers.
Rosie gasped. "Two? Oh my gosh I'm going to burn myself like 1,000 times!" Then the two girls laughed.
"What do you think of mine so far?" Juliet asked and showed her crown off.
It was decorated all sorts of colors. Red roses, yellow daffodils, blue violets, of course Rosemary didn't know any of those flowers at all.
"Woah, that is so so pretty. Like so pretty." Rosie said.
"You should use these." Juliet said pointing to the lilies on the table.
Rosie nodded and picked one up, and let Isabelle glue it before Rosie placed it on her headband.
The two girls made their crowns together, told each other jokes and laughed when Juliet's little brother shoved a daisy into his mouth.
The tall man gasped and pried open the boy's mouth. "Calvin Tiberius Blackthorn! Spit that out right now!" The tall man said and then the boy spit it out and laughed.
Juliet laughed. "Daddy there is a petal stuck to his shirt."
Juliet looked over at Rosie. "That's my daddy , Julian. And my two little brothers are Andrew and Calvin. They're twins." She said to her. "This is my mommy, Emma."
"I met your mommy. She's nice." Rosie smiled at Emma once more, Emma smiled at her back.
Rosie turned to look at Julian. "You're really tall." She said, Julian laughed.
"I know." He smiled at her.
Rosie smiled back. The two girls put their flower crowns on their heads, with Isabelle's help of course.
The two girls spent the rest of the day together, getting butterfly wings painted on their faces, dancing to the live music played by the orchestra there. Juliet really interested in the bulky looking thing that Rosie has never seen before.
They ran around playing with the other kids, and Rosemary didn't have to worry about keeping up, because Juliet didn't run fast like Stephen did.
The two girls giggled with each other, tried new foods together. Neither of them liked the stuffed crab.
By the end of the day, Rosemary was all tired out from running around with Juliet. When the Blackthorns brought her back to Clary, Rosemary was sad to say goodbye to Juliet.
She hugged her goodbye, a little to long, and Clary had noticed how much the two girls really liked each other. So she asked the Blackthorns to come for dinner, and then Juliet got to spend the night with Rosemary, and they were constantly being told to go to bed, that it's 1 am and no 4 year olds should be up this late.
It was one of Rosemary's first true memories. Meeting Juliet, and becoming her best friend.