Luminous

19 - Aria on the Moonlit Moor

"No, I didnae steal it. I destroyed it." She answered Arinel's glare with an insolent shrug,

"I dun have the Song with me. The whole town knows I can't carry a tune any more than me sow can carry a truffle and dun swallow. Sorry, me mother ain't getting her Song back even after I rot."

Meya turned away and resumed sawing. Arinel's narrowed eyes remained on her, so she willed her face to stay blank.

"Are you sure? There are rumors." The Lady argued airily. Behind her lips, Meya gritted her teeth.

"Every rainy night, sharp ears would catch a Song drifting from deep within the forest. A Song couldn't just sing itself. You couldn't have buried it somewhere then expect it to come to life, could you?"

Meya shrugged, unperturbed,

"Could be one of me two big sisters. They're born before I bungled me mother's voice." She kept the conversation going to mask the sound of her sawing, " 'Tis them training in the forest, mayhaps."

Meya strived to remain deadpan, but she laughed herself hoarse inside. Anyone who knew Marin and Morel at all wouldn't buy one blob of that swine dung. Ironically though, they'd be pacified if Friar Tumney said they were probably imagining things amid the howling wind and pelting rain.

"Is that so?" Arinel mused. Meya snapped out of her gleeful reverie.

"Marin, locked indoors all hours of the day? Morel, never once stepping away from the hearth? Venture into the forest on a stormy night?"

The casual revelation struck Meya dumb like a bolt out of the blue. She jolted so hard that she almost cut herself with the little knife. Lady Arinel—the lady of Crosset, sitting there analyzing Meya's sisters? It wasn't possible. It just couldn't be.

Meya turned slowly back towards her lady, eyes wide and fearful. How long had they been watching her family? And for what?

"How come you know so much about me sisters?" She hissed, "The Hilds are nobody. Why d'you even care?"

"The Hilds aren't nobody. Your father happens to be married to Alanna Clariden of Noxx, who owned one of the most beautiful voices in Latakia," said Arinel coldly,

"Father told me before she lost her voice, we held the May Fest out on the hills—that many people came from all over Latakia to hear her sing."

"Look what's left now. We barely needed the town square for all the young people we have. Of course, we keep an eye on Alanna's daughters to see if any of them showed signs of inheriting her Song. Especially you, Meya."

Arinel pinned her with her sharp blue eyes. Meya glowered at the ground. Shame burned hot on her cheeks as her heart drummed, every throb painful as the next.

That Song was nothing but misery. A curse. From the very beginning.

"Why else do you think Father spared your life when you tainted our wheat?" Arinel whispered through gritted teeth with thinly veiled resentment,

"Father meant to make Alanna his mistress, but she begged for freedom in exchange for her singing for him whenever he so wished, and he gave in."

Meya stared, speechless. Arinel lost her aloof cool with every syllable, her breath coming in short, choppy huffs as she unleased a fiery tirade,

"That's just how much he enjoyed her Song. And for seventeen years, he hasn't heard it. And now that he's dying, the only person who could give him what he misses most—is sitting right here—before me—ready to die with it out of sheer spite!"

Silence fell, ringing with her outburst. Meya blinked in disbelief as Arinel panted, their eyes locked, icy blue against blazing emerald. Catching herself, Arinel broke away in shame.