In thirty years Samil will die of old age, and Riven ten years later, and I will no longer be tied to the city by my affection for them, and Lydie’s husband will be dead as well. And in just over half a century Lydie and I will leave the palace. We will wander the world as I had always intended, but together instead of alone.
I am not yet ready to forgive her. As in the moments after I lost my eye, I cannot imagine the path that takes me to the future I see; cannot imagine a time when I can think of her without the gnawing bitterness and pain I feel now. But somehow I have broken the silence that I thought would linger until her death. I stand shocked for an instant, the new future hitting me in waves. Perhaps this time I changed my own mind, my own actions, instead of trying to change someone else’s. However it happened, I have seen her now, seen the glimpses of my sister she was hiding. I have seen her love for a man I have never met; seen even what love she still has for me, and someday, it turns out, that will be enough.
It takes all that I have, furious and grieving, not to walk away and leave her alone with her fear, but I have centuries of living with my sister yet to come. We have to start somewhere.
I turn back to where she sits, still straight-backed and proud, dreading what I will do to her, to her guards, to her husband when he comes.
“Your husband,” I say, this truth the only gift I can bring myself to give her. “You don’t have to worry—I will not have him killed.”
I turn away before she can answer and leave the dungeons, still weary, but with new purpose. I have a household to run, and a city to rule, and a chessboard to buy for my sister’s next birthday.
Copyright © 2014 Rachel Halpern
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Rachel Halpern is a graduate of Grinnell College and the Alpha Writer’s Workshop, currently working on an MFA in creative writing through the University of Southern Maine. Her stories have appeared in venues such as Daily Science Fiction. She was co-editor-in-chief of Grinnell College Press for three years and is currently the editor-in-chief of Inscription Magazine, an online magazine of science fiction and fantasy for teens. Visit her online at rachelhalpern.com.
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COVER ART
“Pillars,” by Tomas Honz
Tomas Honz is a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, who believes in the traditional approach to art. To him, painting is a science that is necessary to acquire in order to make an art of it. He has years of experience in the entertainment industry as a concept illustrator, but his desire to create his own work, as well as a serious trauma–one of those things that make you reconsider your whole life–led him to leave that career, to open his eyes and soul to the fascinating world around him and shift his attention to traditional painting. View his work at tomashonz.com.
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
ISSN: 1946-1076
Published by Firkin Press,
a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Literary Organization
Compilation Copyright © 2014 Firkin Press
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