The Carnelian Way

25.1

Rina lifted her head, the ground swaying, and saw Fin had collapsed. She had the sense of ice-cold water draining through her.

Fin groaned. His hands came to his sides, and he pushed up.

"Where is she?" he asked, his words slow. Uncertain.

Rina shook her head. "I—I don't know," she said, even as she knew the answer.

He did too. It was clear in the way he clambered to his feet with unsteadied movements and peered over. In the ashen face he turned on her—the hate in his eyes.

"What the hell did you do?!"

"No..." Rina said to herself. "No, she can't have." She began to rise and move to him, but he shoved past her.

"I swear," he hissed. "I swear if she's dead and you're still here when I come back..." He let the words trail off. His expression said it all. The pupils big and black, with only a thin line of purple. The feral twist of his lips.

He sprinted along the cliff face, disappearing down the track to the beach.

Rina stared after him. She squeezed her eyes and shook her head, one hand coming up to reach her throat. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. She repeated the words again and again in her mind, even as she remembered that thrill at the thought of Martha paying. The sound of a scream from down below broke her trance.

"Martha," she whispered. A cold seed bloomed in her stomach.

On unsteady legs, Rina approached the cliff edge. All she saw was a foot and a stray purple slipper in the sand.

Fin appeared moving backwards on his knees, dragging the body of his lover. Martha's head emerged, then her shoulders, her neck as loose as the broken neck of a bird. Her eyes closed, and her face peaceful. Fin halted to press his forehead against Martha's, and his body heaved.

A tear rolled down Rina's cheek, to her chin, and fell to the sand.

Fin went still. His head jerked up to look at her, his hate-filled eyes full of promise.

The cold within Rina's core spread until she was nothing but ice and death. Acid stung her mouth, and she bent over and vomited. When she was done, she wiped her mouth on her sleeve. Fin lay across Martha now, body shaking. She should go to him. Perhaps there was a small spark of life left—she might be able to—

No, go. It's not safe here! a voice in her mind said.

She shook the voice away. Fin and Mai had both called her a bringer of life—surely she could bring Martha back.

No! the voice said again as she turned to the path down the cliff. The edge of fear within it cut at her nape and made her pause, then twist behind her to the land skirting the edge of Nebia.

Run, the voice said. So she did.

Her feet kicked up dust, red in the sunset like blood.

Run.

She moved past cypress trees and date palms, through low shrubland, their thorns clawing at her. They knew what she'd done. They wouldn't let her forget.

So she ran. From the world, from Martha, from him—from herself.

The world darkened, lit by flashes of yellow that zipped through the air, and the dregs of the sun's rays wrung from dense clouds.

Sweat coated her skin when she slowed, the ground sloping downhill until it reached a depression below the western walls of the city. The sandstone walls barred her entry, and the wind picked up. She tasted dust. Blades of grass flickered light and dark below storm-churned clouds. They slithered in the evening wind, hissing as they brushed against each other. Murderer, they seemed to say.

The silhouette of an ancient olive tree on a rise materialised from the shadows, its wind-warped branches and leaves spun from silver. Fallen olives crushed beneath her shoes, sweet-smelling in the twilight air. Nearby, the trickle of a stream.

As the first drop of rain fell, she detected the dark-on-dark outline of a hollow at the base of the trunk and settled there, out of the wind and rain.

She cried.

The cool skin of a hand cupping her face woke her. She flinched.

Shh, it's me, my dear. I'm here. The voice began in the crystal under her skin, reverberating through her veins.

Letting her eyes unfocus, Rina found that shimmering golden thread and spoke down it. Hold me, she said.

Mai cradled her, wrapping her in the scent of roses.

Eventually, he lifted her and carried her through the starless night. Droplets fell on her face until she felt the weight of the city walls above her as he took a hidden tunnel beneath them, and then they were in the night air again, rain soaking through her clothes.

A door creaked open, and she was laid on a carriage seat, her head resting on his lap, the smell of polished leather and oil about them. The door slammed shut, and Mai banged twice on the roof. He stroked her hair as the carriage wheels clacked over cobblestones, circling up, up, up through the city streets. 

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A/N: Hi there, happy Sunday. I hope you enjoyed this part. The rest of the chapter will be put up later today. If you liked it, please consider voting!

💚 Jas oxox