Page 5 of Under the Lion Star

I sprang to my feet, taking swift but unsteady steps toward my house. The hinges didn’t fight me as I ripped the door open.

At some point, my mother had been cut down, the rope still around her neck but curled over the floorboards. She lay motionless, and I had never been acutely aware of a person’s breathing until I was in the presence of someone without it.

My lower lip trembled, and my knees felt weak once more. Unable to stave off the tremors that moved through my limbs, I sank to the floor and crawled slowly toward Mom.

Her body was cold when I pressed myself against her. The arm she would instinctively lift to make room for my cuddling remained limp at her side. Finally, the tears fell unimpeded, but I did my best to make as little noise as possible.

“Mom,” my plea was brittle. “Mom.”

Her head jostled as I shook her, a part of me still waiting for her to come to. Perhaps she was just sick—suffering from some seasonal malady that could account for her coloring and temperature. She would groan, and then we could take her to the hospital in Galvord. Maybe Aunt Stella could whip up a tincture for her, and everything would return to normal in a few days.

“Mom, please,” my voice broke, the hoarse whisper marred with a choked sob. “Please, get up. Please.”

Her eyes remained fixed on the ceiling, the blood vessels spilling into the white without any hint of the soft glow they normally held.

“Get up,” I hissed, shoving her.

The tear in the tunic shifted as her body moved, baring the skin along her waist and stomach. The flesh was discolored, gray almost, but marked with several dark rings. An oval shape, inside of which was a coil of something.

A snake in an egg, I thought to myself.

I ran my fingers over each, wondering what they were. Perhaps the symptom of a parasite that Aunt Stella could rid her of, and she’d wake up. She’d come back to me.

“Wake up!” I whisper-shouted, not wanting my sisters to overhear.

She needed to wake up before they saw her like this.

“Get up,” I shoved at her over and over again. “Get up, Mom. Get up!”

I curled against her side, pressing my eyes closed and fighting off the reality that my mom was dead. Her smell lingered, which offered some comfort but not enough to counteract the lack of warmth I usually felt when she held me. My body shook with silent sobs, pleading with every God I could think of so that one might bring her back. Offering my very soul to them in exchange for my mother’s life.

She couldn’t be gone.

For all the times I had insisted to her that I was nearly an adult, I suddenly realized how much more time I needed with her. I couldn’t do this without her.

“What the fuck are you doing in here?” A rough voice asked as I was lifted against a broad chest.

The sudden warmth of a live body served only to solidify the fact that my mom was gone.

I looked up to find a man in soldier’s colors. His dark gray hair nearly matched the steel plates that encased his body. It curled over his forehead, setting off his eyes that were silver like mine. He looked from me to my mother’s corpse and frowned, the crease between his brows showing his concern.

“You shouldn’t see this,” he said softly, carrying me out the backdoor.

With a gentleness that juxtaposed his large, armored frame, he set me down on the top of the back steps and then pressed himself into the space next to me. His elbows rested on his knees as he leaned his forehead into his palms. After taking a deep breath, he turned to face me.

“Is that your mom?” His voice was laced with melancholy.

“Yeah,” I sniffled, swiping at my tears with the back of my hand.

“I’m so sorry,” he offered genuinely. “Do you have family you can stay with somewhere? I could get you a room at an inn.”

“My aunt and grandma,” I started but had to stop speaking to swallow down the scream that was desperate to break free. “My sisters and I can stay with one of them.”

“Where are you sisters now?” He turned a little toward me.

“I made them wait down the road,” I covered my face with my hands. “How do I tell them our mom is dead?”

I barely managed to get the words out before descending into a fit of sobs. The soldier placed his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side and resting his cheek on the top of my head.

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