Restored (A Caleo Selection)

32 ~ A Miracle So Stunning

I don't know what woke me.

Maybe it was Piper moving. Maybe it was a heavy footfall from above. Whatever the case, something dragged me from the depths of slumber at close to 1:00 in the morning. I pulled hair out of my face and rolled over, trying to hold on to sleepiness.

When thirty minutes ticked by and all I could think about was that explosion -- that horrible burst of heat and light and destruction -- I threw off the covers and sat up, scanning the room for something to do. Seeing the balcony doors at the far end, I quietly stood and opened them.

The night was clear, clouded only by the slight fog remaining from the day's battle. I wondered how it would go down in history. The beginning of the Illéan Civil War? The Battle of the Palace? Leo's Massacre?

I particularly hated that last one.

I could see the outline of guards patrolling the outside edges of the fence, nodding at one another silently. All of Angeles seemed to be still in mourning for her prince.

But no, I could see a light in a window here and there. A couple cars drove down the main road. A dog barked, and a train rumbled through the station, passing through the capital.

Life would go on in this world, no matter what tragic events my family brought on our heads. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to help them, to give them peace and security. I'd lost Leo, and with him I'd lost the chance to change this country for the better.

All along, some small part of me had been longing to become queen, despite the risks. In some degree, I wanted to make up for my role in all this by improving the lives of the Illéan people.

The realization hit me hard, and I leaned back against the balcony's marble wall. I must have been a sight, a lone girl clad in a soft white nightgown standing on that balcony. For a brief moment, I considered jumping. I was four stories up, and if I dove headfirst, surely death would be brief.

But I quickly put the idea behind me. Leo had given his life so I could have mine, and I would honor that.

I let myself think of him for a few moments. I let myself remember his dark eyes and his little smile and his warm hugs. I had prayed never to fall again, but for the first time, I realized I didn't regret this painful love. For a short time, he'd been mine.

People said it was better to love and lose than never love at all. I had long ago decided they were wrong. My other 'loves' had been fleeting glimpses of a world I couldn't have had, and they'd granted me nothing but hardship. But where Leo was concerned, I was glad to have known him, even knowing the end of our time together.

Would the closing of his book merely be the finish of a chapter for mine? Or would I never truly live again the way I had before?

Studying the mound of debris signifying the sight of his death, I rested my head against the wall. I was a girl made of questions, and he'd taken many of the answers.

Festus had been cobbled and ugly in life, but his parts were almost beautiful in their chaos now. Nobody had bothered to sort through his pieces yet. A bent and burned wing stuck out from the top of the pile, and I could see a claw still intact on the right.

Then, at the edge of the wreckage, something moved.

At first, I thought it must be an animal scrounging to find anything useful. A raccoon, perhaps, or a possum. I hadn't seen one of those in a decade.

Then the clear outline of a hand wormed its way between the scraps of metal.

Clutching my nightgown, I told myself I was hallucinating. This was a desperate attempt of my visual cortex to convince me to be happy again. This wasn't real.