Stunned, I flew my hands to my neck as if to put back what she took from me. My own mother. I searched the space where seconds before she'd stood. Bitter tears scorched the backs of my eyes. How could she kill me, her own daughter?

Battles raged around me, but I couldn't process who was where as I bled out. Crimson rivers leaked between my fingers and down my wrists where they gathered in a pool before plunking steadily to the carpet, marking the brief time I had ...