That Heart Which Sings by Elyse B. Wright

Author:Elyse B. Wright [Wright, Elyse B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B0D4LYB9WT
Goodreads: 213678943
Published: 2024-05-18T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22:

Enough

The smell of rotting flesh. Water dripping from blue stalactites.

A woman not quite mortal nor monster appeared from the cavern’s entrance, her eyes alight. She dragged her sickly, pale body onto solid ground, her ribs thin and peeking through her skin.

“Rani!” she cried, her voice rattling inside her chest from weakness. “Rani, I’ve found it!”

Rani startled awake, her eyes narrowing in confusion as they began to focus.

“What have you found?” she asked, a touch of nervousness coating her tongue. She hadn’t heard her mother sound so lifelike since…well, since her life.

“The cure,” Nitara’s shivering voice whispered incredulously, reaching out to grasp her daughter’s hands. Her navy blue tail swished with life beneath the waters, the scales peeking out from where her waist was above the pool. “We can be human again!”

Rani slipped fully into consciousness, her sleep ebbing away in an instant. Her mother’s gaunt face and half-lidded white eyes stared back.

“What?” Rani uttered.

“Oh, gods, we are saved!” Nitara professed happily, beaming with joy. She released Rani’s hands and slid back into the water. Rani dove nervously after her, pursuing Nitara’s slithering blue form. Her lungs cracked into place, and her words became shrieks.

“Maa, please!” Rani cried, whipping her tail through the water to push herself toward her mother. “What are you on about? What cure?”

“You’ll see. I’m going to meet him now!” Nitara replied, turning her direction to the surface.

Rani trailed her mother everywhere she went, pleading with her to stop and explain. They pulled themselves onto the nearest harbor, Rani flinching as her mother’s tail split in two. It seemed so agonizing for a woman so frail, but Nitara didn’t seem to mind this time. She only let out a small pained hiss and continued traversing the foggy cusp of town, winding and twisting through the alleys. Rani pursued, chasing after her mother in hopes of catching up.

“Maa, stop!” Rani cried, reaching out to grasp the hem of her mother’s sharara. Just before her painted fingertips grasped the fabric, Nitara ducked into a doorway. Her mother remained always just out of reach.

“In here,” Nitara beckoned, vanishing into a shadowy hall.

The room was dimly lit. When Rani slid into the light, a man was already standing at the center of the room, his hawk-like eyes soaring toward her. His brows knitted together as he studied her, and Rani felt the need to slink back into the shadows. He had a lingering smile that followed long after he looked back at Nitara, and Rani felt shivers roll down her arms.

“You brought another?” he asked suspiciously, his leathery voice creaking like an old chair. Nitara nodded.

“No,” Rani stared firmly. The sound bounced off the walls as the man’s beady eyes met hers again. His gaze made her feel stupid for speaking up. She hesitated, then spoke again. “I refuse.”

“Rani,” her mother warned. Rani looked at her, her mother’s face filled with disappointment and fear. “This is what’s best. This nice man is going to give us legs and human hearts once again.

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