Willow glanced up with a supremely confused expression. “Why not?”
Talise took a deep breath. She attempted to use the same comforting voice Marmie had always used. One that would teach without scolding. One that would empower change without attaching guilt to it. “If people are stealing food, that means they’re hungry. You have to take care of yourself, but if you have the means to help other people, you should.”
Now the child placed her hands on her hips while one eyebrow raised on her forehead. “Then why would I need to know how to shape rocks to defend myself? If I’m not going to fight people who try to steal from us, who else is there to fight?”
A sharp pain struck through the tips of Talise’s fingers. The icy chill in the air had something to do with it, but so did the conversation. Would smiling help? It didn’t matter anyway because Talise couldn’t possibly smile at a moment like this.
The war brewed hotter every day. With all the atrocities citizens in the Storm had to endure, it made sense how unaware they were of the war. They were already so broken. So downtrodden. How could Talise possibly explain to them about the war?
How could she ask them to fight when they had already endured so much?
She could only mutter a vague response. “It’s good to be prepared for anything. Just in case.” The child deserved more of an explanation, so did the entire city, but not today. They still had time before things got too serious. They didn’t need to know every detail about the war yet.
Shrugging, Willow skipped across the graveyard until she stopped in front of a short gravestone with crumbling rock. The name read Violet Okada.
A big smile grew on the child’s face before she touched the stone. “This is my mother’s grave.”
The air tensed around them, but with a joyful sort of pain. Willow reached out for a small mark to the left of the engraved name. “She died giving birth to me, but my father made a mark for me on her grave. Once I got old enough, he helped me make it deeper with a chisel so it would be my own.”
Though her voice carried sadness, it held pride as well. She touched the mark while taking in a deep breath. “Father says first generation Storm citizens never survive long. His family has been in the Storm for four generations, but my mother came here when she was eighteen. Father tried not to fall in love with her because he knew she would die, but he says he couldn’t help it. He doesn’t regret it though because at least now he has me.”
Talise nodded, trying and failing to keep tears from her eyes. The grave boasted five marks.
Willow touched each of them in turn. “This is my father’s mark. This one came from my father’s sister and this one came from his brother. This one is from my mother’s sister and this one is mine.”
Her fingers lingered over the mark while her mouth twitched with a smile that also held a frown.
It didn’t surprise Talise that none of the marks came from grandparents. People rarely lived that long in the Storm. When the child stepped away, Talise moved forward and brushed her own finger over the child’s mark.
“You did a fine job making it deeper. Your mother deserves all the honor it conveys.”
Willow stood taller at the sound of those words.
After stepping away from the gravestone, Talise’s eyes wandered over to the one next to it. The stone crumbled at the sides with a lightly engraved name on the front. Only one mark adorned that gravestone.
From her side, Willow let out a snort. “I know what you’re thinking, but trust me, he deserved it. That man was so mean. He and his sister came here when I was younger, and he was awful to everyone. Nobody liked him. Only his sister marked his grave, and honestly, I don’t even know if he deserved the one mark.”
Talise didn’t care about the cruelty of the words. She probably should have been more sympathetic to the man who was probably only mean because his life had been ruined. But in that moment, she didn’t care. All she could think about was how the one mark on the gravestone dishonored the man’s life. And Willow only confirmed the same notion. One mark meant the life had been lesser.
Now her heart crushed in on itself because the pain of knowing Marmie’s grave still stood bare was too much. Talise stepped back, eager to escape the graveyard. How could she travel to other graveyards to search for Marmie’s grave if her heart would be shattered every time?
As she stumbled over the frosty ground, Willow sidled up to her. The child’s head tilted to the side. “So, when a man commits a terrible crime, his children are punished for it and sent to the Storm, right?”
Talise nodded. For someone who had been born in the Storm, it made sense that Willow would have questions about how the system worked. She had never experienced it.
Now Willow scrunched up her face. “But my father just taught me that people can disinherit their children. If a man truly loved his children, wouldn’t he just disinherit them after committing the crime? Then his children wouldn’t have to be sent to the Storm because they wouldn’t be his children anymore.”
The horror that twisted over Talise’s features probably did a lot to answer the question because Willow immediately wilted in shame. Talise tried to form a more pleasant expression on her face. “Family is everything in Kamdaria. There is no greater dishonor than being disinherited. And just because someone can disinherit their children doesn’t mean they ever would.”
Her own father came to mind. Talise imagined a future that was not completely implausible. In that future, she stormed the palace and fought against her father to steal the crown from him. Though Emperor Flarius could have stopped her by disinheriting her, he wouldn’t. Even someone as corrupt as him would never do such a thing. As certain as Talise was that Marmie’s grave wasn’t in that graveyard, Talise knew her father would rather kill her than disinherit her.
Willow nodded thoughtfully. “I guess that makes sense.” She glanced over her shoulder at the graves. “I’m sorry we didn’t find the grave you were looking for.”
Not wanting to give away the relationship she had with Marmie, Talise tried to shrug. “It’s okay. I knew it was unlikely.”
But how could she possibly keep looking for the grave when it hurt so much? Could she truly deal with that much disappointment? Over and over again?
Maybe once the war ended. Maybe once she had time to spend days and days on end just searching through graveyards. Someday she’d find Marmie’s grave. Someday she’d mark it.
She just had to accept it wouldn’t be soon.
As Talise and the child headed back toward the city, she could only think of how she would begin training with the amulet tomorrow. Even worse, the training would be with the two people in all of Kamdaria that she had no desire at all to see. River, whose lust for revenge was tangible… and Claye, who had betrayed her deeper than anyone.
Talise couldn’t decide what would be worse: fearing for her life with the frightening River around or having to spend time with Claye.
FOUR
TALISE GAVE STRICT INSTRUCTIONS TO HER FRIENDS to stay in the city when she went to train with River and Claye. They didn’t like the idea, but they had been there when Talise made the arrangement with Lucian. They knew the negotiations required her to arrive alone. If she didn’t, her access to the amulet would be ripped away.