As the trees flew by, Cade stared out of the window in absolute awe of the place he’d called home all his life. He’d never been in such a vehicle before; it was as if the whole of the western sector was moving in slow motion before his eyes.
Though he kept to himself most of the time, when he did visit the town, the hustle and bustle of the place had always been discomfiting to him; but seeing how the trees stood still, undisturbed even by the night’s wind, brought him a great deal of peace.
That was what struck him as odd. The peace. The calm. The numbness. Surely a death sentence should evoke something fearful or desperate in person.
But nothing.
He didn’t regret it either. The only thing that brought him close to feeling was the memory of Lia’s anguished face as her figure retreated into the horizon. Will she be okay? Will she be angry? Will she look after Cassian?
Subconsciously, Cade’s hand came up to fiddle with the ring hanging from the chain around his neck. Thinking about his brother and why he had stepped forward for him, Cade was reminded of the words he’d sworn ten years ago.
“Mom, I’m sorry,” Cade repeated over and over again, tears streaming down his face.
His mother looked up at him warmly, her face thin and pale, nothing like it used to be. “It’s okay, my boy. It’s okay.”
Cade shook his head. “No, it’s not. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I…I tried.” His voice broke off on the last word.
All he could do was let the tears roll down his face while he clutched his baby brother to his chest. His baby brother who would never even get to open his eyes. With his free hand, he aggressively swiped away his tears, conscious of the fact that his father was only in the next room. Crying wasn’t acceptable and Cade wasn’t looking to learn that lesson again.
His mother shifted on the bed in front of him and grasped his hand shakily.
“Listen to me, it was not meant to be. There was nothing you could’ve done except be with me, and you were. I’ve never been more proud of you. But you promise me right now, promise me that you will look after your brother,” she implored him. “You know how your father can be and Cassian will need you.”
Understanding washed over Cade. His baby brother wasn’t the only person he would lose tonight. “Mom…no…”
“Cade,” she cut him off firmly. “Promise me,” she said, each breath taking more effort than the last.
Eliza Alden was nothing if not selfless. Even on her deathbed, her husband in the next room pretending as if he didn’t hear her cries, she wasn’t thinking of herself. Even when he refused to have a midwife come to her aid out of shame that she would birth him a dead son, she was more concerned for the fate of her living children. If she could do that, then Cade could give her this one last thing. He took a shaky breath.
“I promise,” Cade said in a surprisingly steady voice.
At her nod of appreciation, he held her hand, listening to her shallow breaths, and waited until the room went silent.
As Cade felt his world begin to crumble around him, he didn’t leave her side. Not even hours later when the men came to ‘deal with them’, as his father told him.
Cade was sitting out in the dirt, numbly watching her burial when someone settled onto the ground beside him. He didn’t need to turn, he already knew who it was. The silence dragged out before she finally spoke.
“Thank you,” Lia said softly.
Cade kept looking ahead as the men began to fill the hole.
“For what?”
Lia sniffled. “For sharing her with me. For letting her be my mother, too.”
He wanted to respond but a lump formed in his throat.
“Here.”
He finally turned to Lia to see her hand outstretched, a small ring in her palm.
“Why?” he asked, not understanding.
“It was hers,” Lia whispered. “She gave it to me years ago.” She sighed before righting her tone. “Most nights she’d sneak food into the school so I could eat, but I think Drake caught on to what she was doing and the meals stopped coming. The next day though, she handed it to me after class and told me to sell it and use the money.” Her thumb rubbed the band. “I didn’t have the heart to.” Cade took the ring out of her palm, feeling it between his fingers. “It’s a beautiful ring. I have no idea where she got it but I think you should have it.”
Cade inspected the ring closer. The thin silver band was encrusted with clean-cut diamonds. Nothing like the jewelry one would find in his sector. His mother had probably found it. Maybe she’d stolen it. As Cade turned it over in his palm, something on the inside caught his attention.
An engraving. “My Liz”.
Liz? As in Eliza? His father would never have gotten her such an expensive gift. As quickly as the possible explanations came to mind, Cade pushed them away. No matter how she’d gotten it or who’d given it to her, she was gone now. Nothing could mar what he thought of her and all he could do was hold on to who she was to him.
A mother. A friend. A teacher. A protector.
