Issa’s breath froze in her lungs as her eyes fixed on the two white-haired corpses on the floor. Blood pooled in a gruesome puddle beneath the silent, still bodies. Age-gnarled hands reached for each other, fingers interlaced. Her grandparents entwined even in death.
Strength fled Issa’s limbs and she collapsed, her knees striking the ground with jarring force. Yet she felt no pain, only the cold numbness of horror seeping into her limbs. She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. The shouts, screams, and turmoil of destruction faded around her. Her anger at the looters and rioters dissipated in the face of horror.
No! Her mind refused to accept the evidence of her eyes. No, no, no!
They couldn’t be dead, not her Saba and Savta. She blinked hard, trying to erase the sight before her. It had to be a mistake.
Yet when her eyes opened, the bodies remained. The two figures on the floor would never rise or draw breath.
Fists of iron crushed Issa’s chest; her lungs struggled in vain to draw breath. A wild cry of pain, raw and ragged, burst from her throat.
“NO!”
Her mind flashed to her late night visit. Aleema had been sitting at the table—now a mess of splinters in the small kitchen—her tone comforting, encouraging, yet edged with the cold steel of determination. Her grandmother’s words had been the only thing that stopped her from quitting her training to become a Keeper’s Blade. The love and reassurance in Savta’s dark eyes had restored Issa’s willpower.
Acid swirled in her stomach at the memory of her last words to Saba. Angry, harsh words, tinged with resentment. She’d hated that her grandfather, Nytano, hadn’t seen her acceptance into the Keeper’s Blades as a triumph. Yet at that moment, she felt only guilt for lashing out at the man who had done nothing but show her affection and care her entire life. Those couldn’t be the last words she’d ever say to him.
Tears flowed now, fast and hot, burning their way down Issa’s cheeks and blurring her vision. She clawed her way forward, her limbs heavy and numb.
The Long Keeper, god of death, had claimed her mother and father shortly after her birth. How was it fair that he’d taken her grandparents, too? What had she done, what sin had she committed, to earn such anguish?
Blood splashed beneath her hands and knees as she crawled toward the white-haired corpses. One agonizing heartbeat at a time, closer to the bodies of the only people that had ever loved her.
Hands trembling, Issa reached for the woman first. A fresh wave of horror washed over Issa as her fingers touched her Savta’s shoulder. Her grandmother’s skin hadn’t yet cooled. She’d been dead for an hour, maybe two. If only Issa had hurried, she might have been here in time to save them.
It took every shred of strength to turn the body over.
Seeing her Savta’s lifeless face would be the hardest thing she’d ever have to do—perhaps the grief and pain would kill her, sending her to the Long Keeper’s arms to join her family. At that moment, with her world crumbling before her, she welcomed it. Better kill me than—
She sucked in a breath, the thought dying half-formed.
The face that stared up at her bore the lines and wrinkles of age but didn’t belong to her grandmother.
With frantic, desperate movements, she scrambled toward the old man and turned him over. A sob burst from Issa’s throat and she nearly collapsed atop the body. The slack, pale features lacked the strength of her grandfather’s jaw, nose, and brow.
She wept freely, her shoulders shaking, but relief surged through her horror and drove back the numbness. A fraction of sorrow remained—the corpses belonged to Issumo and Poltana, their next-door neighbors, kindly people that had been like Issa’s aunt and uncle—but relief bathed her like a cool breeze, brought tears to her eyes.
A single thought pounded through her brain over and over. My grandparents are alive!
She could suddenly breathe, the grip on her chest loosening. Her limbs moved slowly but warmth and strength returned with every thundering beat of her heart. Sanity reasserted itself as she repeated the blessed words.
My grandparents are alive!
