Redsand Canyon is not pain, it’s applause

Grief tasted like bile, clinging to the back of his throat, like the saliva that welled from beneath his tongue and clung to his teeth when he opened his mouth to take a shuddering breath.

He stood, stiff, a statue.

His father was right there but in that moment, Aquillius felt more like he had been fully set adrift. Unmoored, a boat in a typhoon. There was so much he wanted to say, words he couldn’t remember and couldn’t put to his feelings.

Nothing..nothing can be done?

It was selfish, and foolish to ask what had already been told. But he didn’t want to believe it.