She still saw his face in her nightmares, trying to claw his way into her mind. Should she have sent him off like she did? Would her family hate her now for making that snap choice? Amalia had only done what she thought was best for them, she didn't want to see them go through that pain all over again. She had watched them suffer and hadn't been able to do anything for them, and that had killed her. And who was to say that their father wouldn't wander off again? No matter what he said, the pale girl wasn't even sure if she believed him. According to Athena that wasn't the first time that he had wandered away, which made her less and less inclined to trust him. Plus who came back after all that and thought that everything was going to go back to normal? That was crazy talk.
Amalia tossed and turned in her family's den, and then finally with a sigh she carefully stood up, trying not to disturb the sleeping bodies around her. She smiled softly at them, bent down to give her wife a kiss and then slowly picked her way out into the open night air. She moved away from the den until the steam from the hot springs billowed around her. She made her way up to a raised mound of earth and flopped to her belly, her red head resting on her legs. Blue eyes were drawn skyward as she watched the stars shine above her, tears gathering in her gaze. Was she truly doing the right thing for them?
