The Whispers of Petals

Chapter 45

"I'm going to hurry the afternoon along," murmured Lady Varali. With a dancer's grace, she waved her free hand in a rowing motion and pulled Esmera through time with her.

Esmera watched numbly as the scene in front of her changed. The blue bled out of the midday sky, and sunset flooded in to take its place. The warm, soft shades of the darkening sky would've been beautiful on any other day, but it was nothing but tragic as it dominated the heavens behind the halved family sitting on the couch.

Lady Varali's arms fell back to her sides. With dread pooling in her stomach, Esmera followed her gaze to Givan as he turned to his mother.

"Why is this happening, Omm?"

Yandriya rested her cheek against his curly head. "I don't know, Givan. I don't know who these people are and what they want from us."

She lowered her gaze to baby Esmera, who had fallen asleep in her arms with her tiny hand in her mouth. Tears brightened her eyes, and she squeezed them shut to hide them from the yaoguai who would enjoy her dismay, from the son who looked to her for guidance.

"What should I choose?" It was nearing sundown, and Givan's voice buckled beneath the weight of his decision.

Yandriya's words were crusted with tears when she answered. "Whatever you feel is right, my son. Trust your judgment."

Givan frowned up at her. "What do you feel is right, Omm?"

Yandriya sighed. "Your baba is gone." She snubbed a sob with her hand the same way Esmera swiped at her eyes at the memory of her father's cruel, quick, senseless death. "Your brothers are lost too, and there's nothing that can be done about that. However, this man is giving you a chance to save yourself and your sister. I would want you to take it, but it is your choice." She looked at her son as he leaned on her shoulder, such an earnest look on his childish face.

It broke Esmera's heart as it must've broken her mother's before her because fresh tears rose into her eyes.

Maybe the Finnaazes had been blessed with power, the favour of a god, and a wedding agreement with the Milatanuran Royal Family, but they had also been cursed.

Such a dilemma as what Givan faced should never be for a child to endure.

"You are the one with Finnaaz blood." Yandriya croaked, her voice betraying the tears she held back. "Only you can destroy the army, and possibly your sister if she was older."

Givan traced a finger over Esmera's tiny knuckles where her fist was clenched against her chest. He pinched her round cheek lightly before touching a gentle kiss to it. She stirred in sleep but didn't wake.

It was a peace she hadn't known since and would never again, not after everything she had seen today in search of an answer she wasn't even sure she'd be receiving.

Esmera could see where Yandriya was coming from. She would probably prefer to see half of her children survive this ordeal rather than none of them, but she couldn't shake the unsettling fear that this didn't end the way her mother had hoped it would.

That was why her heart sank when Givan said, "The. I'll do it. For you and me and Esmera, Omm."

Yandriya squeezed her eyes closed as she pressed a fierce kiss against Givan's head, and Esmera wondered whether she had the same sense of unease that she did.

As if someone had been eavesdropping on the other side of the door, a knock sounded on it as Givan pulled his shoulders up in determination, just a moment after he had made his decision.

One of the yao guards opened it. Ruagu stood in the doorway, beaming like a rescuer instead of a murderer, a captor. Esmera has never seen his face in this light, or else she might've noticed the fine scars carved into his skin, discordant lines over his face that was otherwise harmonious despite its cruelty.