No. Stop.
I inhale and exhale, desperately searching for my calm.
I am light.
I was made in light.
Mother’s face blinds me. Sadness sparks in her eyes as she stares at me and shakes her head.“I’m so disappointed in you, Sol.”
I blink, and she fades.
Her scorn doesn’t. It remains like a stain on my heart.
“Why am I like this?” I cry out, needing to yell those words at her.
Maybe she wasn’t even my mother.
* * *
Iglance up as Hector opens the door and steps into the washroom. He takes one look at me and hurries to where I stand.
“Sol.” Gently, he brushes my hair from my cheeks. “How can I help?”
I throw my arms around him, needing him.
He pulls me until I’m sitting on his lap. “Will you not talk about what happened?”
I shake my head.
“All right. We will not discuss it.”
He reaches for my hand, and I stiffen and hide it against my body. His eyes widen as he grabs it. “What in Hades has happened to your fingers?”
“I don’t know.” My words come out hoarse, broken.
He runs his fingers against those black tips. “When did this happen?”
“Today.” Embarrassment floods my cheeks, and I try to yank away, but he refuses to let go.
A muscle jerks in his jaw. “I’m taking you to the Seer.”
The Seer?
The gods help me! I cannot talk to the Seer. Not when I failed to find a different way.
“I don’t want to speak to her.”
He shifts me from his lap and stands. “Let’s go.”
I swallow as he helps me rise next to him. “Hector, I really don’t want to speak to her today.”
Or any day.
Maybe she’ll laugh at me and tell me the black-tipped fingers are all my fault.
Tenderly, Hector frames my face with his hands. “I will not stand by while you’re upset, and your fingers are turning black.”
“It’s only one hand,” I say in a weak attempt to get him to not take me to the Seer.
