The Queen of Blood Read Free Page A

terrible sounds, but they were more distant now.
    At last—at very long last—it was quiet.
    Daleina pried open her eyes. Her eyelids felt gummy, as if they’d been glued together. In the corner of the room, she saw her family. Her father was slumped against the wall, breathing heavily. Her mother was pressing a cloth hard on his arm. The cloth was soaked red. Arin was curled in a ball underneath one of the chairs. Tears had stained her cheeks so they looked slick. “Daddy?” Daleina asked.
    â€œDid they hurt you, Ingara?” Daddy asked, pausing between each word to suck in air. “Daleina? Arin?” He winced as he tried to sit, and he clutched his side.
    â€œThey’re all right, and you aren’t dead, and I want to keep us all that way. Tell me how badly you’re hurt,” Mama commanded.
    â€œI’ll be fine.” He puffed.
    â€œLiar.”
    Daleina rose shakily to her feet. She looked at the door. A crack ran, jagged, through it. Her legs felt as trembly as a newborn deer’s as she walked toward the door. She pressed her face to the crack, trying to see through, and saw a sliver: sunlight and green but that was all.
    She pressed her ear to the door, listening.
    She didn’t hear screaming anymore. Or anything. Just silence. Horrible silence that was somehow worse than all the noise. Stepping back, Daleina stared at the door.
    Daddy’s breathing was the loudest sound.
    â€œYou need a healer,” Mama said to Daddy.
    â€œDon’t,” he said.
    â€œIt’s quiet,” Mama said, standing. Daleina thought she’d never seen her mother look like that, so fierce and frightened at the same time, and in that instant, she decided she wanted to be exactly like Mama when she grew up. “Whatever the spirits were doing, they’re done.”
    Grabbing her wrist, he stopped her. “Or they’re waiting for us to feel safe.”
    Mama removed his hand. “I’ll never feel safe again.” She took a rolling pin in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other, the long knife that she always kept sharp enough for meat. “Open it, Daleina, slowly.”
    Taking a breath, Daleina slid the bolt and cracked the door open. She braced herself, ready to shove it shut with all the strength in her ten-year-old body, but nothing pushed against the door. She inched it open more and peeked outside.
    What she saw didn’t make sense.
    Widening the door, she stared out and tried to understand. All she saw was trees, just the unclaimed forest, thick with trunks. No bridges. No houses. Leaning out, she looked up—all the higher branches had been shorn off the tree. Only their house was still attached. She looked down, down, straight down to the forest floor. A mass of broken boards lay tangled on the forest floor. She saw a chair and a table, upturned. Clothes were strewn between the branches, like ribbons leftover from a birthday party.
    â€œAre they out there?” Arin asked, still under the table.
    â€œNo,” Daleina said. Her mouth felt dry, as if she hadn’t swallowed water in a very long time. “No one’s out there.”
    â€œWhat do you mean, ‘no one’s out there’?” Mama asked, nudging Daleina aside so she could fit in the doorway. Side by side, they looked out at the pristine forest, above the wreckage. Sunset was coming, and the shadows stretched long between the trees. The wind was still, and nothing moved. No spirits. No animals. No people.
    Nothing .
    â€œFetch the healing kit.”
    Daleina didn’t move.
    â€œNow.”
    Hurrying, Daleina ran to the cabinet over the sink. She pulled out a basket filled with bandages, tonics, and dried roots and herbs. Sunlight slid through the cracks in the closed window over the sink, as if it were a beautiful, ordinary day outside. Daleina didn’t want to open the window.
    â€œMama?” Arin asked. “What are we going to