CHAPTER THREE
With aching feet and burning lungs, Ceres climbed the steep hill as swiftly as she could without spilling a drop of water from either bucket by her sides. Normally she would pause for a break, but her mother had threatened no breakfast unless she was back by sunrise—and no breakfast meant she wouldn’t eat until dinner. She didn’t mind the pain, anyway—it, at least, allowed her to take her mind off her father, and the miserable new state of things since he had left.
The sun was just now cresting the Alva Mountains in the distance, painting the scattered clouds above golden-pink, and soft wind sighed through the tall, yellow grass on either side of the road. Ceres drew the fresh morning air in through her nose and willed herself faster. Her mother wouldn’t find it an acceptab
