Page 136 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

Sacrifice? “What are you talking about?”

Her gaze went to the little form on the cold ground covered by snow. “I thought I would lose you. For three days I saw my child get one breath closer to death, since then I bound myself to you. I could not find the strength in me to leave you.” She turned to me, her warm hand caressing my cheek. “You were always so strong. I need you to be strong again.” She turned her gaze to Kilian and a chill spread through my spine. “I need you to thank Visha for me.”

I broke away from her touch, shaking my head.

Her smile quivered. “I visited her a while ago, asking to bring you and Kilian to me.”

“Why would you do that?”

“I need you to be happy, my snowflake. For that to happen you have to let me go.” She turned to Kilian again. “And he can help me make you happy.”

“No. He cannot help you. He will not help you.” I shook my head. “He took you from me once, he will not do it again.” I turned to him. “You will do nothing. You hear me? You will do nothing!”

“You will help me won’t you, son?” my mother asked, pleadingly. “Please. There is nothing left for me to wish in this realm for anymore besides this. Let me join my family in the skies. Let my daughter be rid of old memories.”

“Are you certain he asked?”

No. No. No.

Heavy tears slid down her eyes. “More than ever.”

My magic erupted, leaving the boundary of the seal, but nothing happened. I knew gales of it were seeping out of me, but nothing was happening. “You won’t. You won’t. Please, please,” I begged Kilian. I hated the weakness in my voice, the way my words softened. “Please.”

His silver gaze dropped to the ground, away from mine, before meeting my mother’s and a sob ripped out of my throat. He was going to ruin me again. He was going to take her from me again. “Please.”

Suddenly a crafter’s halo formed below my feet, runes began surrounding it one by one. Seal. Trap. Hold. Forbid. Visha. I was going to kill her. “Visha!” My knuckles bled where they met the shield, the thin layer of air staining with blood. “Visha!”

My mother cried, her eyes never leaving mine. “This is the right thing to do, my snowflake.”

No. No. No.

The craft had frozen me in place, my whole body weighing the size of a boulder. “Do this and I swear it to you, I will make all you love hurt and bleed!” I shouted, panting for air, drumming against the invisible shield holding me back.

But he didn’t hear me. No one heard me.

One last time she turned to me, her beautiful face filled with love and bliss. Was she that happy to leave me? Was she that happy to be rid of me? “Be…happy.”

When she touched Kilian’s hand, a vortex of black wind swirled around her and suddenly all that was left of her were specks of golden dust that floated toward the skies.

I screamed. I screamed so hard the world blackened. I screamed so hard I felt the guards of my seal open and then…then I fell and fell in what looked like a pit of nihility.

It was so dark, and I was blind in it, but my body was no longer falling and solid ground dug onto my knees. Sobs tore through my lungs, but I couldn’t hear them. I knew I was crying when I felt the sting of a burn in my throat and wetness pool down my cheeks. I knew I was shaking because the earth below me constantly slipped from my palms and my grip had weakened.

Come back to me. Come back to me. The words repeated over and over till it echoed in the hollow of my head. They repeated till bright cracked across my sight and my fingers finally dug in stone. One by one, the blurred figures took shape, concern marring their features, particularly his. The male sat affront me had death painted on his pale face, as if he had seen it and been afraid of it. His palms rested on the ground besides mine, fingers intertwined with mine, but not touching me.

“Snow?” He tried to touch me, but I crawled back.

“I hate you.” The coarse sounds came out as harsh as they sounded, they burned my chest more than my throat. “I hate you. I hate you!” The scream bounced back in an echo.

Yet he didn’t waver. No, he was solid stone and ice.

More tears spilled from me. I realised something I’d refused to accept before. That I was finally grieving. These cries hurt. I had not grieved my mother. I’d shed tears of anger and burning revenge, not that of sorrow. It made me cry harder, the selfishness in me. The inhuman in me that had not grieved her own mother. It would not stop—pain of loss poured like a stream out of me. And my sobs turned to raspy screams. I’d forever lost her now. He’d now taken her away from me forever.

“Snow,” he called again with worry, reaching for me.

“Don’t!” I bellowed and then my vision blurred red. Not figuratively. I felt the thicker liquid pour over my cheeks and wet my palms and the ground crimson. My lungs seized breathing and I panted. My mind overflowed with emotion I had never felt before.

Another kneeled beside me, hands resting on my shoulders. I leaned onto the touch, recognising the comfort of my friend. Suddenly I could breathe, but it was not me—it was him. Then he did something he had never done before, he wrapped me in his arms and let me in a little piece of him that he gave no one—proximity. “Remember when you first came to me,” Cai said calmly, in a way he only knew how to be calm. “Alaric promised me a good chunk of gold if I could bring you out of your room.” He laughed at the memory. “I tried for weeks. You wouldn’t even speak to me let alone follow me outside. And one day, I took a long trip to the baker’s before coming to you because I knew it would be just another useless attempt and being late would not be an issue. Whether it was night or day, you refused to speak or come out. The first time you even acknowledged me was that day. No, actually, you acknowledged the cake.”