Sing Me Your Scars (Apex Voices Book 3) by Damien Angelica Walters Page B

calm their infant daughter. A
choice he never regretted.
    And if he had he not made that choice… He closed his eyes. He’d
heard whispers that even the old magicians who’d lost their magic to disease or
dementia had disappeared.
    How he had escaped notice, he didn’t know.
    §
    “I don’t want to eat, Papa.”
    Andrius set the bowl down and smoothed her hair back from her
forehead. “But you must. You need your strength.”
    She shook her head. “I will eat it later.”
    “But the rabbit might eat it first.”
    “The rabbit?”
    “Yes, the rabbit.”
    He cupped his hands together, blew into them, and opened his
palms to reveal a tiny brown rabbit, its nose wiggling, its ears twitching. He
placed the rabbit on the bed. It hopped once, twice, three times, and Laurita
giggled and clapped her hands.
    “Can we keep him?”
    “Only for a little while,” he whispered.
    He guided the rabbit over to
Laurita’s bowl. It dipped its head in.
    “No, rabbit, that’s my food.”
    “Okay, you eat it then.”
    She took several spoonfuls, watching the rabbit jump around on
her bed. When the soup was gone, the rabbit turned translucent, shimmering at
the edges. Then it disappeared.
    “Can you bring it back?”
    “No, it’s too dangerous. I will tell you a story instead.
    “Once upon a time, the Grand Duke Gediminas went on a hunting
trip and made camp atop a high mountain. That night, he dreamt of an iron wolf
on the mountain. The wolf howled and howled and howled and sounded like
hundreds of wolves.
    “When he woke, he told the
priest of his dream. The priest said it meant that Gediminas was to build a
city on the mountain. The city would be as strong as iron and stand tall for
hundreds of years.
    “Gediminas had his castle built, and it still stands today, here
in Vilnius.”
    He held out his hand. On his
palm rested a miniature version of the circular castle, the striped flag of
Lithuania flying strong and proud.
    “I think you would build a better castle, Papa. A bigger,
stronger one to keep everyone safe.”
    Andrius bent over the bed to adjust the blankets. “Everything
will work out fine, little one. I’m sure of it.”
    He hoped his voice sounded convincing.
    §
    Andrius was sleeping in a chair in the front room when
footsteps thudded in the hall. Coarse voices spoke in Russian. He sprang up
from the chair and ran into Laurita’s bedroom. She was sleeping soundly. He
closed her bedroom door, his mouth dry, his palms sweaty.
    His hands twisted. Maybe the soldiers would not check the rest of
the apartment. He stood up straight, took a deep breath, and waited three feet
away from the door.
    Someone shouted. A soldier
laughed. A woman screamed. He covered his mouth with his hand and cast a gaze
toward Laurita’s door.
    Please let her sleep through it
, he thought.
    More footsteps. Closer now.
    Prašau, prašau.
    He dropped his hands at his
side. He would not let them see that he was afraid. A thump. Another laugh. A
sob. A child’s cries.
    Prašau.
    Then the footsteps led away.
Away
. His shoulders sagged.
He could not hold in his tears.
    “Ačiū Dievo,” he whispered.
    They were safe. This time.
    “Papa?”
    He rushed into the bedroom.
    “I heard voices.”
    “It was just the neighbors. That’s all. Go back to sleep now.
Everything is fine.”
    “Okay.”
    He sagged against the doorframe. No more magic. It was too
dangerous. And what good was it? All the magic in the world couldn’t make her
well again.
    §
    A soft knock sounded at the door just after the sun rose.
Andrius opened it a crack, saw Daina standing in the hall, and ushered her in.
    “They took Gedrius and his whole family,” she whispered. “But I
saw one of them visit Raimondas’s apartment after they took them away.”
    “Raimondas? No, he wouldn’t do something like that. He wouldn’t.
He is a good man.”
    “He is a scared man, like all of us, and scared men do foolish
things sometimes.” She touched his arm. “You must be