My chest aches as I roll away from Jasce and squelch the urge to sob in frustration.
“You miss your family,” he says, his voice surprisingly compassionate. “Tell me about them.”
I remain quiet for a while, thinking of them, remembering them, remembering the way we stayed up until the moon hovered in the night sky. Always talking and laughing.
“Asha is twenty-three, and she’s fierce and protective. Emerin and Tahira are seventeen and fifteen, but they are already so strong.”
“Are you fierce and strong?” he asks.
“No. I’m timid. I prefer books over people. Gardening over parties. Not that I’m invited to parties. Grandfather makes me hide when he entertains.”And now he’s gone.
What will Bakva look like now that he’s dead?
“So, it is your sisters that you want to return to? Not a man?”
“Yes.”
“What about your mother and father? Are they alive?”
Mother’s face skims my vison as I speak. “My mother has not been the same ever since she consumed a vile flower. And my father…” I take a deep breath and continue. “My father left us a long time ago.”
I try to shut out the memory, but it rushes in like a midday storm. The agony of Mother’s cries. The horror on Asha’s face. The anger on Grandfather’s.
I had sat alone in my chair, waiting for Father to come and read to me, but he never came.
“How old were you when he left?”
“Eleven.”
“I’m sorry.”
Bitterness claws at my heart as I speak in a flat voice. “Don’t be sorry. I have forgotten him.” It was purposeful in the beginning—forgetting him. Over time, it became easier and easier.
“He hurt you,” Jasce says, his words a statement and not a question, as if he understands my pain.
Yes, but I cannot talk about him.
Desperately needing a change, I shift the subject. “Tell me about The Widow Maker.”
Jasce brow lifts. “Why do you want to know about him?”
“Because of Ellery. What’s his real name?”
Jasce shrugs.
“Surely, The Widow Maker isn’t his real name?”
“He grew up in a village that was raided when he was a child. His parents were slaughtered, and he was too young to remember his name. When he became a warrior, they called him The Widow Maker.”
“Who bound him to Ellery?”
“I did.”
My mouth falls open. “Why?”
“Because we need her silver magic to stifle fires after battle.”
“So, you took her and bound her to The Widow Maker?”
