Destiny's Blood by Marie Bilodeau (superbooks4u txt) 📕

remnants of ancient plants acted as silent unmoving sentinels around the few unkempt stony trails. There were no flowers in bloom.

Layela strained her ears and listened, the stillness around her making her nervous. No animal or insect noise reached her. The air lay heavily around her, and she wished she could breathe in some fresh air and feel light again, instead of the heaviness in her chest.

I should turn back, Layela thought, but her feet continued moving, curiosity urging her on. Surely there must be something worth seeing, a hidden treasure of some sort, in this wasteland.

She wondered why the courtyard was in such disrepair. The plants themselves seemed to have given up their will to live.

Layela was about to turn around and try to find Josmere elsewhere when a sound caught her ears. It was so faint that, anywhere else, she was certain she wouldn’t have heard it; here, where no other noise seemed to circulate, it resonated.

Slowly, she walked toward it. She wished she had a weapon with her. Even a knife would be better than bare hands.

She rounded a corner and up the trail could see a bench underneath one of the trees. On the bench sat Josmere, singing faintly as she dug her feet into the earth in front of her. Layela slowly walked toward her, feeling like an intruder.

“Rise gentle flower,” Josmere sang so softly, the melody broken by small hiccups, or maybe sobs. “Rise with the rain…”

She recognized the melody as one of her favourites, one that she always sang to the plants Yoma stole for her. When Yoma and Josmere stole for their food, Layela had sat, sang and waited to escape. She’d always joked to Josmere that the song would help the plants grow. The truth was that she was never able to stand the silence, and so had always felt the need to fill it with sound. Her own voice, untrained as it might be, was better than nothing.

The words were barely audible as Layela approached Josmere. Each note lingered for just a second longer than necessary, adding a mournful air Layela never knew the song could possess.

With her long green hair freed from restraint and her legs muddied, Josmere accented the dishevelled courtyard. Layela felt out of place, but she continued to approach.

Josmere did not look up once from her burrowing feet.

Layela sat down beside her, not touching her or saying anything. Now that she was closer, she could she Josmere’s feet were cracked and bleeding green into the earth. Josmere kept singing, holding the last mournful note prisoner before letting it vanish in the silence around them.

Layela looked at Josmere sideways, wishing she could see her face through her veil of hair.

The Berganda stopped moving her feet, the blood forming a puddle before being absorbed into the earth. Slowly she pulled her feet up and leaned back against the tree, her knees to her chin as she hugged her legs to her chest. She seemed heedless of the blood and earth slowly hardening on her feet.

Josmere sat without speaking and Layela felt at a loss for words. She had no idea what was happening, but could feel the weight of it throughout the entire courtyard. The air seemed heavier than it had earlier.

They both sat in silence, Layela poised on the seat, Josmere leaning back, her eyes lost somewhere far away.

Sunlight was breaking into the courtyard before Layela moved again, her own question about her visions made insignificant by her friend’s blood. Gently she reached up and pushed one of the many stray pieces of hair out of Josmere’s face. The green eyes flickered for a moment with something different.

She swore she could see a faint smile on her friend’s lips.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Josmere said, the noise making Layela jump. She had almost forgotten what sound felt like.

“Me too,” Layela said, not really sure she meant it, understanding nothing except that her friend was in pain, and she could do nothing to relieve it. Josmere’s eyes lost their smile, and she closed them, her breathing stretching and becoming regular.

Layela stood and gently touched Josmere’s cheek. She slept as soundly as the gardens around her.

Layela wished she could clutch her friend’s burden, mix it with her own darkness, and throw it up towards the spidery branches of the tree.

But she couldn’t.

Instead she turned and headed for the corridor of the mansion, intent on finding some of the other answers they needed while Josmere recuperated. She looked back only once to see the shadow of Josmere, still against the tree.

Had she not known she was there, she never would have seen her. For the first time since she had met Josmere, Layela wondered what it truly meant to be Berganda.

CHAPTER 16

Did you ever notice, Romero, that the two legends that spread across all races are those of the Three Fates and the First Star?” Seela murmured.

Romero offered her his hand to help her step from the fast, military-designed ship, obviously not meant for a lady’s keep. She gratefully accepted, placing her slender hand in his broad one, the two gloves varying shades of the same brown.

“I had never put much thought into it, to be honest, Ms. Berganda.” Seela smiled at him, letting her hand linger in his for a moment longer than necessary before walking ahead. It was rare she felt like a woman, and she liked it. She made sure his efforts were rewarded with frequent smiles.

“And that only the races born from the First Star hold a strong ethereal connection?” she continued, brushing aside his ignorance. He had intelligence, but lacked curiosity and was subservient.

What a shame, she thought as she looked at his broad shoulders and piercing orange eyes. He could have been so much more than another man’s go-to boy. With her help, he still could be.

Romero grunted. “The Kilita believe every race used to have ether, but only the ones who require it to survive still have it.”

Seela raised an eyebrow. “Really? Interesting.