Don’t be fooled by that smile,he growled. It has likely encouraged others to leap off a cliff.
I sighed.If it saves an Empire, then we might just have to jump.
2
Tez
I was on my fucking knees, in some weird alien-realm alley, cradling my grandmother.
As she wrapped a blood-soaked hand around mine, warmth drained from her into my thick cloak. She’d revealed what I actually was, which should’ve blown my mind, but I didn’t care.
I got one foot beneath me, intending to lift her.
“No, Nokoneuh,” she whispered. “Leave me here, with the feathers.”
My son.The word in the old language sent pain piercing through my heart. She’d always called me her son, cared for me like her son, and berated me like a son, even though I was one generation removed from it.
“I’m not leaving you here,” I said. “We have to get you to a Watcher.”
Her hand squeezed again. “Would you not die for me?”
It was as though a fist closed around my throat. “You know I would.”
“Then let me do this for you. It is the only way to keep you safe.”
“No!” I choked.
A bead of blood trailed from the corner of her mouth. “Do not grieve for me,” she said. “Most of me died with your grandfather. Your mother took another piece of me when she went.” Her hand squeezed hard. “I have endured, for you. But it is time to set you free. And you must do the same for me.”
Her voice had grown so weak I could barely hear her. “Don’t go,” I pleaded.
Her lips wrestled into a smile. “I have taught you everything I know. It is time for my tiger to prowl alone.” Her eyes pierced straight through to my soul. “Be true to yourheart, Tezcacoatyl. If you betray that, survival is pointless.”
Feathered Serpent.She’d said it was what I was, but I didn’t care. She coughed, and then she couldn’t seem to draw breath. Her eyes flickered?—
And just like that, my choices were reduced to none.
As the life left her, it was like someone sank a blade clear through me. I couldn’t breathe. The thing inside me crashed around as I cradled her to my chest, and I had to wrestle it back. She was dead, because I couldn’t control the monster. But the pain demanded release, so with a stranglehold on what lay within, I flung back my head, and screamed my agony to the heavens above.
The outcry was a deep thing of the soul, but despite being determinedly human, heads that had been poking out of the windows above ducked back inside. And Nemi dropped to hover in front of me.
She wasn’t alone. A rustling from above drew my eyes up—every horizontal windowsill or rooftop, for as far as I could see, had a feathered form sitting upon it. They all regarded me solemnly.
Nemi twittered at me. As if to say,you are still alive, and free, because of her.
I wanted to shred something. But it would change nothing. My grandmother was dead. I couldn’t change that.
And if I stayed here, her sacrifice would be in vain.
I stood and began to gather the feathers. I wasn’t careful. My fingers bled as I let them drop from my hands to land around her. It was as though my heart leaked out from me to rest with her.
Then, with an aching void within me, and Nemi a muttering hummingbird presence on my shoulder…
I turned and walked away.
I left the only person I’d ever truly cared about lying dead in an alley.
Every step I took was harder than the one before. I wanted to gather her up and carry her away. To bury her with respect.
