Chapter 24: The Ash Solstice: Book 1 - The Sun Curdled

Lady CassandraEstimated 8 hours after the Ash EventLady Cassandra wanders through the Cathedral. She passes families holding one another. Watchmen speaking in hushed voices beside wounded comrades. Children wrapped in blankets, whispering I love you before sleep finally claims them.Eventually, her steps stop near the front of the Cathedral, at her family’s pew. Not in the front row, but close enough to be seen. Close enough to matter.She lowers herself onto the worn wood. At her feet... something small.A lion. Its stitched face is lopsided, its mane uneven where tiny hands had loved it too much. His namesake. She picks it up. Presses it against her face. It still smells faintly of her little boy. They had forgotten it during the morning’s sermon. He had been utterly heartbroken. She had promised she would ask the guards to fetch it...And while the guards looked for it, she had told him they could stop by Uncle Ansel’s stall for one of his favourite berry pastries.It happened so fast. One moment she was talking to a guard. Only a moment...When she looked back... Leo was gone.Slowly, she slips a small knife from her sleeve. Its steel rests against her wrist.Cold.Not as cold as the darkness beyond the Cathedral doors...but cold enough to raise goosebumps.She closes her eyes.No. Her hand falls away.Once more, she buries her face against the little lion. Then she tucks it carefully inside the folds of her torn festival gown.She stands. Straightens her shoulders. Lifts her chin.And walks with renewed purpose toward Captain Varis Lang.