Witch Fire: A Fantasy Young Adult Series (The Order of the Cursed Book 2) by Lisa Morrow

Author:Lisa Morrow [Morrow, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-01-07T16:00:00+00:00

9

Rose

I rubbed the tender flesh of my wrist, clearly visible in the early morning light. The mark had been burned deep. It meant nothing. And everything. A simple knot with an eye in the center, and yet, it was a physical symbol that I belonged to them. I was one of them.

Even though I’d awoken early to a mouth-watering breakfast, bathed, and changed into a simple dress made of a ridiculously soft cotton, my whole body hummed with a deep aching. But the ache in my body was nothing in comparison to the aching in my heart. Hidden beneath my pillow, I’d discovered the barrette of The Goddess of the Harvest that Sirena had worn.

I had no idea how it got there, but as I secured my hair back that morning, I nestled it in the back. Even though it was tiny, I sensed its presence with every step I took.

Meisha led me across the glass bridge, showing no evidence it had been broken by Clarissa’s blade. It glinted in the light of the morning sun as we crossed it without a word. Meisha’s hand often drifted to her side, and I wondered how she continued moving with the vicious burn hurting so badly.

The burn I’d given her.

A brown cape covered her silky black dress. Her bare feet crunched through the snow as if she was impervious to the chill. She inched carefully around each of the red flowers growing through the snow, while I followed. Knowing my friend was one of these same flowers made me wonder whose daughter, mother, sister, or friend we stepped around. And where my friend, Sirena, lay among the roses.

Tears gathered in my eyes, but I blinked them away.

“You are very quiet this morning,” Meisha observed.

I shrugged, taking a second to gather myself. “What’s there to say?”

“Perhaps to ask questions. Like what your new role is as a Protector.”

“It seems obvious,” I shot back, trying to hide my grief behind anger. “You steal girls from their homes and rob them of their lives, in one way or another.”

She gave me a sad smile. “All this is true. But the question is why?”

“Is there any answer that could justify it?”

Cocking her head in her inhumane way, she answered, “Justify it? No. But there is still a why.” She hesitated. “Queen Guadias is the ruler of the most powerful kingdom in the world, but she is hated by many.”

I snorted. “She taxes her people to death for wars to expand her kingdom, when her people starve in the streets.”

“Yes, and her actions have created a great many enemies.” Meisha’s words held an edge of satisfaction. “The Northerns attack the border to the north daily. Pirates attack any ships from our allies to the East. And the West… we shall have an all-out war with them any day.”

“I knew her kingdom hated her. I didn’t realize the whole world did.”

With the queen’s men always listening, the people of Duggery rarely discussed politics of any kind, just in case it might end in a blackened eye… or worse.

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