Burn With Me (Legend of the Sun Whisperers) (9 page)

“That little girl is all I have left, do you understand that? Everyone I’
ve ever cared about is
dead
. Do you know how that feels?”

Draco brought his hand up between them and grabbed the hand with the offending finger, his thumb lightly massaging her palm. Though Maddelyn didn
’t want it to, the gesture had a calming effect. “Actually, things were so chaotic with the attack on my world, I don’t know if any others of my people have survived. I don’t even know if my planet is still there.”

Maddelyn felt some of the anger and frustration dissipate with his words. And his continued soothing touch.
“You might be the only Sun Whisperer left?”

Draco tilted his head, his blond locks brushing his collar.
“CAIT has been unable to establish contact with any other survivors, or even verify that the planet is still there.”

“But how can a planet disappear? Wouldn’
t CAIT be able to locate debris if it had been blown up or something?”

Draco dropped her hand and took a deep breath.
“Now you see why I am so concerned about getting my ship back to full operating capacity. I need to go back and see what has happened to my own world, and my people.”

A sigh of defeat left Maddelyn
’s lips. “Of all the worlds for you to crash on, why did it have to be this one?”

Draco shrugged and gave a boyish grin.
“Serra seems to think that I’m an angel that she wished into existence for you.”

Maddelyn couldn
’t help but smile. That sounded like Serra. Still capable of the innocence and wonder of childhood, despite all the horror that her little eyes had seen.

Silence stretched between them, making the small space feel eerily quiet.

And that’s when Maddelyn’s heart stopped.

Silence.

There was too much silence
.

Chapter Five

Maddelyn shoved a stunned Draco aside as she stumbled over to Serra’s bed, pure terror slashing at her gut.

Please, no.  Not yet.  I
’m not ready
.

Her heart hammered as she knelt down beside the silent child.
“Serra, sweetie. Wake up.”

A hand wracked with tremors brushed aside a blond curl from Serra
’s forehead. Her niece didn’t stir.

“
I need you to wake up, Serra.” Maddelyn’s voice shook almost as much as her hand as she struggled to remain in control. Serra’s chest was still, the familiar sound of her raspy breathing absent from the room. Maddelyn caressed the child’s cheek lightly.

She was still warm to the touch
.

“
Please, Serra. I need you to open your eyes for me. Wake up.” Maddelyn’s voice cracked with a sob as she pleaded for her niece to open her blue eyes. Those same blue eyes had sparkled as her brother Jared teased her growing up—a trait he’d passed on to his daughter.

A warm presence beside her brought Maddelyn back to the present. Draco kneeled beside her, a finger searched Serra
’s neck for a pulse. He cast a stricken glance Maddelyn’s way, confirming what her heart already knew.

No pulse
.

Maddelyn fell backward to a sitting position, the room going blurry. At first, she thought it was because she was going to faint. But when she touched her face and found her cheeks wet with tears, she realized she was crying.

Draco swiftly tore the covers off of Serra and brought his ear to her heart. Then he rose up on his knees and clasped his hands, palms out, and placed them over her chest. His arms stiffened and he used his weight to repeatedly press downward.

At first, Maddelyn was confused by what he was doing. But when he paused for a moment and placed his mouth over Serra
’s to cause her chest to rise and fall with his breath, Maddelyn understood.

He is trying to save her
.

Minutes ticked by as Maddelyn watched Draco struggle to save her niece. The image had played itself out before her so many times before. People trying with extreme desperation to save the ones they loved.  But in the end, death always won the battle.

Maddelyn was acutely aware of Draco’s exertion as he continued his lifesaving efforts.  His breathing was labored, a faint glisten of sweat on his brow. How long would he try? Would it even make a difference? Could he save her niece?

Draco lowered his ear to Serra
’s chest once again. For a split second, Maddelyn allowed hope to wiggle into the cracks of her shattered heart. Surely this was the reason Draco had appeared in her life. He was meant to save them!

But when he glanced over at Maddelyn, the sadness in his amber eyes reached out and kicked her in the gut.
“I’m sorry. She’s gone.” His shoulders collapsed in defeat.

A guttural moan escaped Maddelyn
’s throat, so full of anguish, she was unsure it had come from her own mouth at all. She lurched forward and grasped Serra’s shoulders, shaking the little girl.

“
She’s just sleeping, that’s all! Playing a little game, aren’t you, sweetheart? She just needs to wake up, doesn’t she?”

Draco
’s eyes widened in pity and surprise. Maddelyn must have sounded deranged. She had just watched Draco try to save her niece, had witnessed him offering his own breath to make her live again, yet she couldn’t accept that her last surviving family member was gone.

Maddelyn
’s heart raced wildly as she continued to shake Serra’s shoulders. It had to be a prank. Serra had just been awake, been talking to the both of them. Only moments ago Maddelyn had tucked her in and wished her good night.
She can’t be dead
.

A warm hand lighted on Maddelyn
’s shoulder. “She’s gone, Maddelyn. Her little body couldn’t fight anymore. She’s at peace, now.”

His words were meant to comfort, but burned her heart like acid instead.
“Peace? What do you know of her being at peace? She wouldn’t be gone if you hadn’t dragged us out earlier!”

Draco winced outwardly at her harsh outburst. A small spot of rationality in her brain warned her that she was blaming him for something that wasn
’t his fault, but the grief in her heart was more in control. She wanted him to hurt as much as she was. She wanted the universe to know how cruel it was to watch someone you loved die. Someone innocent, that deserved better.

Why have I been tortured with seeing all my family members die one by one? Why?

The tears flowed down her face freely now, the wet trails burning her cheeks. With still shaking hands, Maddelyn pulled Serra’s limp body backwards, cradling the tiny frame of her niece in her lap like a baby.

Draco moved to help her, but Maddelyn flashed him a warning glance that stilled him.  She hugged Serra to her chest and rocked their bodies together, smoothing the blond curls away from the child
’s face.

Maddelyn should have been more prepared for this moment. Everyone who had contracted this sickness had eventually died.
Everyone
. Friends. Family members. Lovers. But losing little Serra was the worst kind of pain for her heart to bear. Not only was she the last blood relative Maddelyn had, Serra was the last connection Maddelyn had to her heart. The one tiny space that had not been hardened by war, sickness, and death. The death of Serra was a hole in Maddelyn’s chest that ached, a descending blackness that she was unsure she would come back from at all.

Maddelyn hummed as she rocked her niece, resting her cheek on top of the head of blond curls. Time had no meaning as it passed. Back and forth. Back and forth. Though she still sobbed, no more tears ran down her face. It was as if her body didn
’t have the capacity to make anymore, even if the sadness had no end itself. 

After a time, Draco gently touched Maddelyn
’s arm and she froze. She blinked at him rapidly, her eyes trying to focus. Her brain seemed to be having issues processing information.

“Maddelyn, it’
s almost dawn.”

Maddelyn furrowed her brow as confusion swept over her at his words.
What did dawn have to do with anything?

“We need to take care of Serra, Maddelyn. And we need to do it before dawn. Otherwise, we will be seen.” His hand moved to the child’
s cheek, one finger traveling over it gently.

Maddelyn stared, her mind a blank as a darkened numbness to spread over her. It flooded through her body, cold and sharp, and disconnected her from everything. It was like watching a movie of herself, yet being aware that she was the one who should be experiencing the events.

What did he say? That they needed to take care of Serra?

She licked her lips, her mind racing to allow her to form the words she needed.
“Serra is dead,” she croaked. Her voice was flat, emotionless. It sounded alien to her ears.

“Yes.  And we need to take care of her resting place.”

Maddelyn licked her lips again, her mouth still dry. “Serra is dead.”

Draco cupped her chin in his hands and looked intently into her eyes. The concern that shimmered in the golden depths faintly registered through her fog.
“Yes, Serra is dead. And we need to bury her. Do you understand?”

Maddelyn
’s head nodded, though her mind felt unaware of the action. She spoke in that voice that sounded, but didn’t feel like, her own. “Behind the house is a place. Her parents are there.”

Draco reached out towards Maddelyn. She cocked her head, confused, then realized he was asking her to pass him Serra
’s body. Reluctantly, Maddelyn relinquished the hold she had on the little girl and clambered to unsteady feet.

She watched as Draco wrapped Serra in a sheet from her bed, swaddling her lifeless form like one does an infant. For an instant, a pang of despair smacked her in the stomach and she doubled over in pain, gasping for breath. Draco started toward her, but she held her hand out to stop him as the black numbness took control once more. With labored breathing, she straightened and motioned sharply with her head for him to follow her.

Outside, the wind assaulted her body like usual, but Maddelyn had no awareness of any pain it caused. She trudged around the small wooden building that had been her home for almost three years, vaguely sensing Draco behind her.

They walked in silence, Maddelyn trapped inside her own private hell as she led the way to her family
’s resting pace. The pungent scent of decay travelled toward them on the wind, a harsh reminder of the death and destruction brought on by the Raknorg. As the burial site came into view, she heard a sharp intake of breath from behind her.  Typically, the sight of the hundreds of graves had the same effect on her, but through her disconnected state, all she could do was stare in a sort of vague interest. So many dead were buried here by those that cared enough to do so. Thousands more bodies lay in the mass graves near the mining facility of those who had no one to care, dumped there by the Raknorg soldiers as if no more important than trash. After the Raknorg were long gone, there would be no way of knowing or remembering those poor souls. At least here the dead had names.

Maddelyn
’s feet carried her on automatic pilot to the location of where her family rested.  She used to visit the graves so often, she could find them in her sleep. Only as Serra’s health declined had she stayed away from her family’s resting place, wanting what time Serra had left to be spent without the shadow of her family’s deaths as a reminder of Serra’s certain fate.

She knelt in the dirt beside the mounds and stared at the small piece of wood that leaned to the right, imbedded deeply in the ground. The names of her family were scrawled in black on the board. Her brother and his wife
—Jared and Lana Sowers. Her parents—William and Jessica Sowers. And now, Serra’s name was due to be added to running tab of her family’s demise.

Draco placed Serra on the ground beside Maddelyn as he searched for a shovel. One was kept nearby, as death had visited the planet so often these past years. He dug in silence as Maddelyn watched, the wind swirling his golden hair all around his face.

He did sort of look like an angel.

Maybe Serra was right
…

Once the hole was deep enough, Draco stepped over to where Maddelyn still kneeled on the ground.

Shouldn’t my knees hurt?

Her eyes traveled up the length of him. She squinted against the fierce wind, but could still make out the graveness of his expression.

It was time
.

Maddelyn leaned down and brushed her lips over Serra
’s now cold cheek before covering her face with the sheet one last time. No more childlike wonder. No more toothy grins. No more bedtime stories.

The world around Maddelyn darkened as Draco scooped Serra
’s body in his arms and placed her gently in her final resting place. As he shoveled layers of dirt back into the hole, the surrounding world retracted even more. Everything closed in around Maddelyn, like falling into an inky cave. The sound of the wind even receded into the darkness.