EMBER’S POV

Silas is quiet for a long beat.

“…As you wish, sister.”

The scale flares. The cold, buzzing light reaches across the table and sinks into her.

And I have to sit there, choking on my own tears, and watch my mother die without her heart ever stopping.

I watch the light pull it out of her. I watch the deep, ancient grief drain out of her features drop by drop.

I watch the tension that has lived in her jaw for years smooth out into nothing.

I watch her weep for a thing she is no longer allowed to remember, until the tears on her face are just...