Grounding the Storm ✓

Chapter 10

I've never felt so numb. The world stops and then starts again. One second, I can hear. The next, there's a dull throb in my skull and the sound of the ax plays over and over again in my head.

My father's head rolls onto the marble, blood spurting from his now limp body as it falls onto the floor. My throat aches from screaming; turned to sobbing as the guard finally loses his grip on me and I fall to the floor, knees slamming against the smooth surface. The blood is spreading fast and I scream for my father, the gentle man who raised me to be strong, to be gentle, to be kind, and to be brave. I don't blame him for not understanding my power. I don't blame him for wanting more than a bowl of stew as every meal.

I don't blame him.

Through my blurred vision, I witness the king smiling down at the puddle of blood. But the princes aren't conveying the same expression, not even Renit as he stares down with wide eyes at my father's severed head. Silas swallows the lump in his throat and forces himself to look away.

I don't know what to do. The entirety of me is lost and with no power to awaken, the rage builds and builds until I'm choking on it and there's nowhere else for me to go but down.

I think my worst fears are already imagined but then; the guard pulls my mother forward. My throat is so hoarse I barely have enough left in me to plead. "No, take me instead," I croak. "Please, not her." The guard doesn't bother lifting me off the ground as I slouch there, on my knees, watching as they push down my mother into her husband's puddle of blood.

Tears roll down her beautiful face as she takes in the sight of him up close, without his head. I can't imagine the heartbreak she feels, the pain for a man whose life was already too short. And now...gone too young.

"Don't kill her," Celestine sobs. The guard grips onto her waist and tugs her back. She's not strong enough to fight back. "Please don't kill my mother."

The king doesn't look at her, nor at me. I meet Silas's eye, pleading for anyone to stop this. Burden flashes on his face, in every part of him as he leans forward and clenches onto the armrests.

The throne room is quiet. "Father, I think that's enough killing for today. Perhaps we can postpone this for another time," Silas says quietly.

The king waves him off with a hand. "Shut your mouth, boy. This is what a king must do to restore balance in his land. They stole what did not belong to them. Therefore, they must pay with their lives."

"But father—"

"Silence!" The king roars.

Silas squeezes his eyes shut and sits back in his throne. There's nothing he can do. Nothing or no one can overcome the power of the king, not even his own son. I want to thank him for trying but my heart is shattering into little pieces as my mother turns back to us, her blood, and attempts to smile.

"I love you both," she whispers through the tears. One drips from her chin. "Make him pay for what he's done." When she turns back to the king, there's nothing kind on her face. A warrior born.

"Mother, please," I say through the sobs. She doesn't turn back around.

My mother, my beautiful mother, squares her shoulder and takes a deep breath. Throughout my entire life, she's been the ground I stand on, the solid foundation needed to make me feel secure. She has been everything, from the moment she gave birth to me to the last hug she gave me in the carriage—reassurance.

She is the stone holding this entire family together. Her necklace presses against my chest, the last thing I have of her, and I watch, helplessly as the guard swings the ax again and with the brutal slice of metal cutting through flesh and bone, my mother's head topples to the floor—same as her body.