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Book 1 - Prologue - Part 2
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Evera steps out of the house once she finishes her supper to get started on her evening chores. As she makes her way out to the stables, she can hear her father speaking to someone hushedly around the corner. He doesn’t sound thrilled, and whoever he speaks to almost sounds scared. Curious to know what they are talking about, she sneaks over to the side of the stable and presses her back to the wall, thankful for the cover of dusk as she strains to hear what they’re saying.
“I can’t do that. It will cost us everything. Why don’t you sell it so we can be done with this?” asks the man she doesn’t recognize. He says a few more things, though Evera can’t make out the exact words.
“No, we need to finish what we started. If you’re uncomfortable with what must be done, I will slit your throat and be done with it.”
Hearing her father speak in such a harsh tone makes her stomach turn. She has no idea what the conversation is about, but she knows it can’t be good. Her father has always been involved with things, but Evera always knows better than to ask questions, but something feels different. She cannot make out the rest of their conversation, but the tone in her father’s voice scares her.
Stepping away from the wall, she slips around the corner and heads into the stables to care for the horses. After filling their troughs, she prepares to clean them up when her father enters the room. “You’re behind,” he says. “You know you should be done here by now.”
“Sorry, Father. I got distracted.” Even though she knows better than to ask, the words leave her lips anyway. “Who were you talking to outside? You sounded angry.”
His face turns red with rage. “What were you doing listening to my conversation? How often do I need to tell you that you are a child and don’t get to involve yourself with adult matters? Your job is to clean the stables and set up the stall for the market.”
Evera takes a step back from her father, trying to calm the building wave of anxiety in her chest. “I wasn’t trying to listen, but it didn’t sound good. I want to know what you were talking about.”
As her father steps toward her, she takes a step back. “Are you questioning me, child? What happened is none of your business. You—”
“You threatened to kill a man!” she yells out. “If you didn’t want me to hear your conversation, you should have decided to speak elsewhere. I don’t know what you’ve been up to.”
At this point, Evera can practically feel the rage pouring off her father. “Evera, you know you have no business listening to my conversations. You don’t know the situation, so you don’t get to stand there and judge.”
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“You’re treating me this way because Mom died giving birth to me, and you never forgave me for it and blamed me for killing her. Now you’re just okay with hurting other people?”
“This is something you would never understand, and if you continue to argue with me, then I will have no choice but to punish you.” There is a look in her father’s eyes that mirrors the tone she heard in his voice when he threatened to slit the man’s throat.
A fit of anger is building inside her, and though she does her best to control it, she can no longer stand the way he treats her. “You’re going to punish me because I overheard you talking?” She shakes her head as she tries to piece together her thoughts.
Just as she opens her mouth to say something else, she feels the palm of her father’s hand connect with her cheek. The taste of copper fills her mouth as she stumbles back, her eyes wide with shock. Her father has always been angry, but this is the first time he’s ever struck her. Tears burn her eyes as she steps away from him before bolting back into the house.
She hears him call after her, but she ignores him as she rushes into her room, gathering all her things and shoving them into a burlap sack. Since she doesn’t own much, it doesn’t take her very long. Once finished, she tries to leave the house, but right as she reaches the door, she finds her father standing there. Her heart pounds against her chest as she stumbles back, watching his eyes lock onto the burlap sack. “Where do you think you’re going with that, child? Hand it over.”
Evera shakes her head, trying to swallow the fear inside her. “No,” she says, sounding much more confident than she felt. Without giving him a chance to respond, she ducks beneath his legs and jumps back to her feet before taking off through the village. Her heart is racing, but she refuses to look back. Heki is the only home she’s ever known, and though she is sad to be leaving, she can no longer handle being around her father.
Once she makes it out of the village, she bolts toward the forest on the outskirts of Heki. She runs as long as she can manage before finally collapsing against a tree. Tears fall from her eyes in heavy streams, and despite her best efforts to hold herself together, she breaks down into sobs.
***
Evera doesn’t remember falling asleep when she wakes up to the morning sun shining between the trees. It takes her a moment to remember what happened, and a wave of nausea takes over as the memories flood back. When she pulls herself to her feet, the smell of smoke fills her nose. She covers her face with her arm before realizing the smoke is coming from Heki.
Remembering her argument with her father, panic takes over, and her legs move independently as she races toward the village, only to fall to her knees once she bursts out of the trees. Having no idea what happened when she left, Evera stares at her home as fire consumes it. The stench in the air is horrid, and she vomits all over the ground beside her. Pulling herself back to her feet, Evera takes a deep breath to gather herself and walks toward the fire. Even though she had been angry with her father when she ran into the forest, she still cared for him and hoped he somehow made it out of Heki before it burned.