~*~
Had he seen death before? He couldn't remember. He couldn't remember if his heart had ever acted that way before, if it had ever clenched tightly enough that he feared it would burst. Shatter.
Shatter into a thousand stars like those mirrors had.
Like that boy.
He didn't know if he'd ever grieved as deeply as he had for that little boy who had taken a permanent leave of absence from the Marquee... or if he'd ever seen such suffering with his own eyes.
If he'd ever heard a Silent Girl scream so loudly that it shattered his eardrums.
Shattered them like that boy.
He knew he'd never seen a cold-hearted, blue-eyed witch who collected and enslaved souls collapse- falling to her knees.
He'd never seen a shallow, vain man who had left his family hold his daughter so tightly, doing his best to soothe her as she cried.
As her dress turned black and grey, and the rest of the Circus Everlasting followed.
The tents. The trees. The grassy turf. The sky.
White stars winked out and the moon was the only light.
He knew he'd never seen a girl become a wraith. Never seen such defeat in such already empty eyes. Never seen a girl rise from the smouldering embers and scattered ashes of her brother, who she'd fought to free for fifty years, and stare the sobbing Witch of the Circus Everlasting down.
And he'd never heard a voice so clear as when Whisper said into his mind, now me.
Now me.
Or such pain as he did when Rosalind shook her head.
~*~
YOU ARE READING
Circus of Silence
FantasyThe Witch's circus is in town, and you've got the best seat in the house! We only come around once in your pitiful, mortal lifespan. We've got feral beasts and feral children, knife-eaters and fire-feasters. We have fortunes guaranteed to come...
