Witch Rising (Witch Song #2.5)

Chapter 1

Perched on the edge of her bed, Lilette stared into the darkness beyond the porthole. Starlight pricked the night sky before falling across the water, where it was stretched and shattered into gleaming bits. Though she was only eight, she knew how impossibly broken that starlight must feel.

Her mother smacked her lips. "Found one." Lellan waved the hairbrush through the air like a standard for troops to rally behind. Lilette's father didn't answer. He hadn't said much since yesterday—the day when everything had changed.

Hiking up her dress, her mother maneuvered herself onto the bed behind Lilette. At first, the brush found only snags, but it wasn't long before it slipped through her pale hair like songs through wind. Her mother began humming a lullaby—Lilette's favorite, about a boy and a river and a dancing frog, though her mother always changed it to a girl and a dancing frog for her and her older sister.

Lilette's chest tightened. She never thought she'd miss her cranky older sister so much. Sash had been away at school when they'd left, but she would be waiting for them at home.

Through Lilette's tattered nightdress, the soft vibrations of her mother's gentle humming and the stroke of the brush made it nearly impossible to stay awake. Still, Lilette tried not to drift off, for when she slept the nightmares came, and she had to relive the choking smoke, the screams, and the endless running. But with each sway of the ship, she tipped closer and closer to the warm blankets. She cast a glare at the pillow before her eyelids closed, and she flopped onto the soft bed.

A shout made her eyes shoot back open. She braced her weight on her skinny arms, her heart banging like little fists against her ribcage. "Mama?"

With a frustrated growl, her mother paused, the brush hovering over Lilette's hair. "Jex, what is it?"

Her father was already on his feet, grabbing his sword belt. 

Rushing footsteps and barked orders were followed by the unmistakable ring of clashing swords. Lilette knew that sound. The sound of battle. It had haunted her since their escape.

Lilette's mother dropped the brush and slid out the long knife she'd tucked under the bed. "It can't be the emperor. There's no way he could catch up to my witch wind."

Lilette sat frozen in terror. Her father buckled his sword belt around his waist. Just before he reached the door, it slammed against the opposite wall so hard the Guardian opening it had to hold out his hand to keep from being impaled by the recoiling doorknob. Blood was running down Griz's weathered face. "We've been betrayed."

"Who?" Lilette's father asked.

The Guardian tossed him a spear. "They're already in the passageway."

Her mother gripped her dress. "It isn't possible. They couldn't have caught up to us. It isn't possible." But Lilette's father was already gone, swallowed by the clang of steel and the shouts of men.

With the door open, the sounds came in unimpeded and thrust Lilette into a waking nightmare. Ash had fallen from the sky like dirty feathers, making it impossible to breathe. She couldn't breathe. Couldn't . . . breathe . . .

Her mother was suddenly before her, her turquoise eyes mirroring Lilette's as the memory of smoke circled in. "Breathe, Lilette. Breathe!"

She stared into her mother's eyes and sucked in a breath. Her parents had tried to shield her from what was happening, but young as she was, she'd known they were running for their lives—and killing those who'd tried to stop them. They'd promised her she was safe now. They had lied.

Her mother nodded encouragingly. "Good. Stay here." She moved to the doorway. The fear of being left behind—left alone—unstuck Lilette from the bed. She darted to her mother's side and grasped her hand, trying to shield herself behind the safety of her mother's body. She was relieved when her mother didn't insist she go back.