A bit of background: Aderyn has been turned into a blue bird and her family doesn’t know. She has flown back home to bring her mother a present and is hiding in her mother’s room behind the dressing screen. Her mother remains in a near comatose state most of the time now. Aderyn witnesses a heartachingly beautiful scene between her parents. (Please keep in mind this has NOT been edited yet & is subject to slightly change when the book is finished with edits.)
An hour later, Aderyn reached her mother’s room. The door was slightly ajar, and voices drifted into the corridor. Aderyn peeked through the opening and when no one was looking, she slipped inside and scurried to hide behind the dressing screen her mother rarely used these days. She almost never left her bed.
Her heart ached when she recognized her father’s feeble voice. He was telling her mother all the ways he loved her and what she meant to him. If only Aderyn could be loved in such a way. Her mother hadn’t known them for years except for a rare moment here and there. It never lasted long. The devotion her father held for her mother was overpowering. He loved her mother the way Elohim loved his children. A pure, never-ending love. The teachings of Elohim told men to love their wives and care for them. Her father was unfailing, even though he should be in bed too.
Aderyn peeked around the screen and felt like an intruder again at the intimate scene. Her father was holding her mother’s hand while pressing gentle kisses to the nearly translucent skin. He leaned over his wife and reverently kissed her forehead, then each of her cheeks, followed by a kiss on the tip of her nose and finally a gently brush against her lips. It was in the same order he had playfully kissed her mother when Aderyn was a little girl playing outside with her parents laughing nearby.
The urge to cry welled up and Aderyn feared she may never stop crying once she returned to her human form.
As her father turned to leave the room, Aderyn saw him swipe at a tear sliding down his gaunt cheek. He exited the room and the door quietly clicked behind him. She would have to find a way out of her mother’s room now.
