"We weren't meant to be good. We were meant to survive."
Zerlinda has had a sword hanging over her head ever since her father's disappearance.
With her cowardly mother good as dead, Zerlinda is forced to accept a bargain with Hades, the God of Deat...
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It was late night by the time Adalia saw a figure emerge from the darkness. She sat by the window-side, squinting so to better see her sister throw a look of suspicion over her shoulder before opening up the door.
Their mother, previously pacing around the room, looked as pale as a ghost when she crossed eyes with Zerlinda. For a moment, neither of them said anything, the silence between them as taut as a rope.
Zerlinda was the first to break it.
"We have to go," she said, walking to the coin jar awaiting on thecounter. But it was already empty.
Zerlinda turned around, a look of alarm in her eyes slowly morphing intothreat. But Kayesha didn't falter, looking back at her with a gaze of stone.
"We've been waiting for you," Adalia immediately cut in, before the tension between them could burn the entire room down. And it wasn't a lie — they had been waiting, but Adalia had begged for her to. Hour after hour, the decision weighed her down like a stone, but she couldn't bring herself to reverse it. Because Zerlinda was alive. Despite not having any tangible evidence but the deep-rooted feeling in her gut, she'd known this. And she'd been right, for Zerlinda was alive and standing there.
Kayesha tossed her cloak at Zerlinda with a glare. "We're headed to Darilia. Get whatever you need. We leave in 10 minutes."
Zerlinda caught the cloak mid-throw.
"We're leaving. But it won't be to Darilia." She countered. Kayesha raised an eyebrow. "Pardon me?" She asked, arms crossed over her chest.
"The King's men are after me. An hour-long walk won't stop them from throwing all of us behind bars." Zerlinda explained, but Kayesha's eyes narrowed.
"And where do you suggest we go, then?"
"I know someone. She agreed to help us board a ship to Khaleris." Adalia's eyes went wide. Before she could come between her and their mother, Kayesha snapped.
"You've gone insane! You know what they did to your father there. We wouldn't live a day in that country!" Adalia flinched, not only at the tone of her voice, but at the image those words brought to mind. Of the slave market run throughout the country. That wasn't to say Nerissa was any better. No, the two countries had traded spices, minerals and slaves under a torn flag of peace for centuries.
Whatever leash had held Zerlinda down these last few years came undone then and there. "You wouldn't know insane if it struck you in the face! If we don't go now, we are going to die. Why do you not understand that?"
"Mom." Adalia tried to cut in, her voice so small and quiet underneath their sharp words.The candle on the table flickered. Kayesha didn't hear her, but how could she have? She might never have shown such anger, but the fury in her eyes now told no lies.
"And what the hell do you know? I've lived far longer, and seen more than you could ever hope to." She took a step forward. Something in Zerlinda's gaze faltered.
"Do not try to question my word ever again." She spoke the words lowly, but they were undoubtedly a command.
And just when Adalia thought the situation would die down, Zerlinda took a step forward.
"And what if I do?" She challenged.
The fire in Kayesha's eyes seemed to take genuine life then. Adalia's heart skipped a beat as those eyes began glowing blue. She threw a look at Zerlinda, but her sister was wholly unphased, as if she couldn't see it.
But, that couldn't be possible. Could it?
"Zerlinda-" She gasped at the sight of her sister when she turned around.
At the blue spark lighting up Zerlinda's own eyes.
Before long, that spark twisted into something different, darker despite the sudden glow in her eyes, just the same as Kayesha's.
"You being older doesn't mean shit. We'd all have died when dad did if it weren't for me. And you did nothing — nothing — to stop it!"
Silence fell over the entire house. They'd reached their breaking point.
Kayesha took in a breath.The window panels flew open, inviting in an icy wind. The candle on the table was snuffed out without a fighting chance. Her hair, tied back moments before, came unbound from the wind curling through it. It whipped violently in the air like a halo. Her fingers twitched. Her hands rolled into fists. That blue light in her eyes seemed to brighten, like a streak of lightning.
If Zerlinda hadn't seen it before, she saw the look in her mother's eyes now. Threat. Anger. Vengeance. They recoiled in her eyes like a storm. There was genuine fear in Zerlinda's gaze. Zerlinda was never scared, but the frantic look in her eyes when she finally met Adalia's gaze told her to do something.
But what? What did she suddenly think she'd be able to do, now of all times?
"Mom?" Adalia tried again, reaching out for her hand. When she finally touched her, all she found was cold. Skin cold as the dead. Kayesha moved out of her grasp.
The wind coursing around her picked up the candlestick and threw it at her like a weapon. Adalia stumbled back, but it wasn't enough to dodge the object racing at her. Her back was against the wall before long.
She felt a wetness drip down the side of her face before the pain of the blow could register.
Blood.
Zerlinda was at her side within moments, wiping the blood away with trembling hands. Adalia also found herself trembling. This wasn't real. It wasn't. Any minute, she'd wake up from this nightmare to a world of endless pain, but she'd welcome it over this.
Gods, she'd pick anything over this. Over her own mother having momentarily transformed into a monster and hurt her. Zerlinda, she would have seen coming. But not her mother. Never her mother. Not the woman who held her on her thirteenth birthday as she sobbed for the father who'd abandoned her. Not the woman who'd thrown away her entire life to watch over her when she fell deathly ill. Not the one person who'd held her hand while she lied on her death-bed, waiting for the merciful death which never, ever came.
Gods, anyone but her mother. Anyone.
Watery tears rolled down her face. She hadn't even realized she'd been crying. With a trembling hand, she wiped them away. The wind had faded. Her mother stood there still, but all the light and anger had faded from her face. She watched with wide eyes, trailing to the bloody candlestick a few feet away.
Kayesha crumbled to her knees. She looked so much like Zerlinda with her hair down. She crawled to Adalia's side, also crying.
"Adalia, I'm so sorry — " She touched her again with those ice cold hands. Adalia flinched away.
"Don't fucking touch me." The words left her mouth before she could even think them through. She regretted them immediately. She wanted nothing more than for her mother to hold her like she always did, and tell her things would be okay.
Gods, when had this become her life? She cried more, but not from the pulsing pain at her head. Something in Kayesha's gaze broke, but she backed away all the same.
Zerlinda applied pressure to the wound, her handkerchief bloody.
"Zerlinda?" Kayesha spoke, her voice so fragile. Zerlinda ignored her, continuing in her tending of the wound.
"We'll go. To Khaleris." She said. Still, Zerlinda didn't so much as look at her. The same taut silence came over them like a blanket over a wound.
If only blankets did anything to heal wounds.
"If you think you'll get any gratitude from me for seeing reality, you won't. Not tonight."
