Adventuresome

Chapter 14

Lilliana allowed Dominick to support her as they walked. She barely paid any attention to the direction they were going in. Instead she replayed in her mind what had just happened. Over and ver she watched Tancred murder her father. Over and over she tried to find a way to save him.

There was no way. No possible way that Father had died. Maybe she had been mistaken? Maybe that man had just looked like her father. Or maybe he was still alive. Maybe he had just been faking his death. If so, they should go back. They should go and get him before those soldiers took his body away.

But then she remembered how his body had fallen in the flames. Remembered his clothes catching fire and spreading to his very flesh. Even if he had been faking his death, his body had been burned. She could think of no way he could have faked that.

Dominick jostled her and released his hold on her. He pointed imperiously at a ladder to the ground. Pulling her skirts out of the way, Lilliana climbed down obediently. Maura, or rather, Perrin, followed after and Dominick brought up the rear.

At the bottom, Lilliana turned and faced home. She looked back at Dominick, confused. The plan had been to go to a senate member's house, Senator Yula and her husband had supplies and a way out of the city.

The front door flew open and Mother stepped out. The tears Lilliana had thought dried up returned and she flew into her mother's arms. She clung to her mother for a long time, neither noticing nor caring that Perrin and Dominick were standing just behind her. She heard Dominick's deep voice say something softly and Mother gently pulled her into the house. The door closed and soon enough Lilliana found herself seated by the fire, Mother still close at hand.

"I couldn't--couldn't stop them." She said, her voice trembling. "I couldn't save him. Either of them."

Mother looked surprised. "Either of them? Either of who?"

"Lord Tibol and...and Father."

"Oh my dear Ana, Lord Tibol too?"

She managed to nod, screwing up her face to try and stop the tears. She rubbed her eyes until they stung. She knew there was little time to cry, but while she had held in the tears when Lord Tibol was killed, she could not do so after what she had seen done to Father.

Taking a deep breath, she looked around for the first time.

"Where...?"

"They're in the other room, Ana. They wanted to give us some privacy."

Mother's face was also streaked with tears. Mother was crying. That, more than even seeing what Tancred had done, proved that Father was dead. This was no trick, so faked death. Mother never cried, Lilliana could not remember any other time she had seen her mother upset like this. It could only mean one thing, Father was truly dead.

The last bit of hope Lilliana had of seeing Father alive disappeared.

They sat by the fire together. Lilliana shuddered to remember the ring of fire around Father. But slowly, the tears faded and the fire washed a warmth over her skin. She resisted the endless loop of what she could have done differently. She resisted the endless wishing for a different outcome, or at least a chance to say goodbye. She resisted the endless agony of wanting to see him alive once more.

There would be time for proper mourning.

Swallowing hard, Lilliana straightened her back. She would not let Father have died in vain. It was time they got out of the city.

"Mother, I have to get out of the city. Me and my companions. I don't think it's safe for us here." She took her mother's hand. "You should come with us, it might not be safe for you here either. If these men went after Father..." she let her words trail off, unable to bring herself to imagine Tancred and his soldiers attacking Mother.