Page 116 of Scars and Burns

I look down at her. She’s not lucid. Her color is fading.

She is fading.

Her eyes are droopy. While her head is going limp.

A lump begins to form in my throat. I can’t swallow. I can’t breathe.

My Goddess mark is burning. A pain I’ve never felt. All the burning and searing torture I endured from my Father doesn’t compare.

Not to this.

“No,” I say, barely able to get the words out, “don’t you dare stop fighting.”

Taking her into my arms. She can’t stop fighting.

Not now.

Not ever.

“You have fought everyday in your life to get to this point. To be with me. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen the turmoil inside of you. Seen the darkness in your soul. I can help you find release.”

My own soul is being ripped apart into a million pieces.

Seeing the light begin to fade from her eyes.

No, she will not add another star to the night sky. She will be no one else’s light someday.

Only mine.

And I will not allow her to dwindle.

Forbidding it from going out.

Whispering, I make this promise to her, “You are a rare star whose light cannot be matched. You are my light. My ember. My estrella.”

Her body goes completely limp and her eyes close.

Her breath dies.

No.

I wrap her in my arms even tighter. Rocking us back and forth.

This can’t be.

I’m inhaling deeply. Trying to remain calm. Evening out my breathes the best I can. Tears threatening to escape me. I haven’t cried in years. Not since my Mother died. Even through all my Father’s torture and mutilation, I never once deigned him that weakness.

Then something untold happens.

My Goddess marks begin to glow.

I look down at my chest. Watching it appear on the surface of my skin. Glowing brighter than the moon, brighter than the stars.

It begins to pulse in sync with my heart.

Then I look at Dinalia’s. Slowly and faintly at first then I see a spark of light. Flickering like the tip of a flame. Fluttering like the wings of a butterfly. Her glow begins to increase faster, stronger, brighter, and fuller.

They then glow brilliantly bright. Filling the room immensely. Putting the great fire that burns in the hearth to shame.

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