Page 20 of House of the Raven
I killed him.
7
VALERIA
“Saints and feathers! The little prince shifted and flew out the window. Find him!”
Esteban Colmos - King’s Esquire - 10 DV
Iwas eight years old. My dress expanded around me as I twirled and twirled.
“Look, Mother, I’m a bell.”
She smiled that beautiful smile I was always trying to coax out of her. It lit up my world.
“Indeed, you are, my little pixie.” Mother paused, a pair of pliers in hand, mid-twist of a wire. She was making me a bracelet.
“You’re going to fall and bonk your head,” Amira said from her desk. She was working on her letters and was annoyed that I wasn’t letting her concentrate.
I wobbled on my feet as my ears started ringing, and my heart sped up.
Abruptly, a thrum rippled through the air and dropped me to my knees. My head and the entire room spun. Mother set down the pliers, eyes snapping toward the door.
“What is it, Mother?” Amira abandoned her quill and ran to Mother’s side.
I squeezed my eyes, willing the dizziness to go away. My heart hammered against my chest. It had never done that. I thought I was dying.
“Something… something is wrong.” Shakily and with Amira’s help, Mother rose to her feet and tottered toward the door, which she opened with a shaky hand.
The thrumming sound grew louder. I covered my ears with both hands. Mother turned her head to one side, wincing.
Brow furrowed in confusion, Amira stared from Mother to me and back again. She couldn’t hear what Mother and I heard.
“Girls, stay here,” Mother ordered, leaving the waiting room and closing the door behind her.
Even as my ears and heart pounded, I rushed to the door.
“She said to stay here.” Amira tried to grab my arm, but I pulled away and followed Mother.
My sister came after me, but I was faster and slipped into the throne room, the source of the thrumming. Mother was on the floor, and Father was kneeling in front of her, trying to wake her up.
“Mother,” Amira cried out when she crossed the threshold. She ran toward Father, nearly knocking me down.
Father glanced up, eyes red and wide. “Amira, get out of here! Take your sister.”
Fear deepening on his features, his attention snapped toward an obscure figure standing in the middle of the room. A yellow light glowed all around the shape, creating a thumping contour, which moved in tandem with the thrumming in my ears.
Amira, obedient as always, grabbed me by the waist and started dragging me away. I kicked and screamed for Mother, and Amira only managed to move me a few steps before I slipped from her grip and threw myself near Mother’s feet. I stared into her blank eyes, willing them to glance my way. They did not move.
“Mother,” I sobbed, my small hand touching her ankle.
The light from the figure grew brighter, the thrumming intensifying by a similar degree.
Father pushed my shoulder. “Listen for once, Valeria. Go!”
I fell on my bottom as he took a step over Mother and blocked the ominous figure from view.
“You will pay for this,” Father bellowed, his voice a mixture of rage and agony.
