#˗ˏˋ ☪ ———— wants .

[astrakofe]

@draconisa said, ‘  we  actually  have  the  chance  of  saving  the  lives  of  billions  of  people .  ’

" look, " holden pinches the bridge of his nose. he hadn't even had his morning coffee yet and already he was on the brink of an argument over something beyond his control. well, it could be in his control but that was a conversation better served for the rest of his crew because they'd all been through a shitshow and deserved input on what to do with their time.

that hand drags down over his mouth, down his chin, and lands on one of his hips. coveralls are hanging from the waist because, sometimes, they feel a little constrained wearing all the time. all that's showing is the black tee he'd been wearing under the scratchy fabric. the sleeves of his coveralls sway with his pacing. several steps to the left. several steps to the right. start all over.

" i get it. trust me. ever since all this shit started that's been every decision we make. save lives or not. " he was tired. holden was fucking tired but he also couldn't turn his back on all those people no matter what else was happening.

" but we can't go into this blind. you got a plan? or is it just run in there gung ho and save lives? cause i've been that cowboy and it gets people hurt. killed. if you want us to do this thing then we need a plan to present to everyone. "

[chaosburning]

a smile comes easily to his lips. " i'm sure he'd love to hear that. " maybe he would. maybe the rest of the club would after all the denying alexis did on a constant basis. tig seemed to be the worst, reading into actions that were just between friends. right? or had he really been so blind to what was right in front of him?

jordan sitting in his lap clearly screamed that he'd been an idiot this entire time. the way all his blood instantly rushed between his legs was another indicator he'd been fighting just a little too hard over a certain set of emotions. part of him had a hard time believing anyone would look at him that way. another part always tried to rationalize that someone good and wholesome from the diner couldn't possibly want any part of the life he led. it was violent and messy at the worst times. at the best of times? it was family; loving and whole.

although, lex was starting to forget what that felt like.

at some point, both his cut and t-shirt fell to the wayside. a kiss presses to the center of jordan's chest followed by a graze of teeth over one of her bra cups.

" probably? fuck. i'm sorry. " is a whisper chased by another deep kiss. " i don't want to stop but with everything that just happened i don't.... " lex leans forward to kiss the middle of jordan's forehead. " want you to get hurt again. "

his hands on her thighs have jordan letting out a warm chuckle in his ear, rocking her hips again to see if she could elicit the same response. she knew she was playing a dangerous game if she wanted to take things slower, but it felt so good, and he was canting his head to the side, encouraging her.

"too bad. tell jax i said you're occupied." oh, if only it could be so easy to pull him away when he needed a break, but she knew that samcro would come calling and lex would go with her doing nothing but wishing him well cause that's who he was and she had no desire to change that.

"although i suppose i could find something to do in that big bed all by my lonesome..." calloused fingertips meet warm, smooth skin as his hands drag her t-shirt up with their movement and for a moment, she thinks she should just give in, let him push the fabric over her head and let them come together the way they both clearly want, but it also occurs to her that she might have to be the voice of reason between them.

"do you want me to stop?" great, cause that sounded really confident there. "we should stop, right?"

[cherubmm]

🍎☪⇢ ˗ˏˋ INJURIES ࿐ྂ

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ━━━━FEATURING: PASSIVE.nightmare

⊱.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ━━━━CONTENT WARNING: Yandere in general. Soft yandere. Unhealthy attachment. Obsessive Thoughts. Delusional mindset. Abandonment issue implied. Self-harm(?). Violence mention. Gashlight hinted. Vague whether the relationship is platonic or romantic (up to the reader's interpretation). Not-proofread. OOC. Reader was referred to as a 'prince' once

⊱.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ━━━━PROMPT BY : cherbmm

𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: Deciding to use my own prompt instead from now on since i just realize that majority of my writing doesn't even align with the actual prompt.

Nightmare sat silently beneath the towering Tree of Feelings, his body aching from head to toe. The sharp pain in his ankle told him it might be damaged. His dark, torn clothes clung to him, barely holding together after another beating he'd endured. Scars lined his form from head to toe, and fractured bones peeked through disheveled fabric from rough handling. His gaze remained low, a dull, pained expression clouding his usual soft demeanor.

Then came your voice, sharp but full of concern, breaking through his haze. "Seriously, what's gotten into you?" you muttered, frowning as you knelt beside him, your hands working deftly to patch him up.

A rough bandaid was pressed against his cheekbone, causing nightmare to flinch as a small whimper escaping his lips. Your touch, although gentle compared to what he’d endured earlier, still sent little jolts of pain through his body. You were frustrated, he could tell, and you weren’t holding back.

"You’re gonna get yourself killed if you keep this up, nightmare," you grumbled, continuing to work. Your fingers were slightly rough as you cleaned a particularly nasty gash on his arm. "If I find out who did this—" you trailed off, your voice dropping to a near growl, "I swear I’ll make them eat more than a dirt."

The threats were half-hearted, yet there was an unmistakable edge to them that made him feel... safe, in a strange way. "I... I just—" he began, his meek voice barely rising above the rustling leaves, but you cut him off with another sharp retort.

As your hands continued their work, wrapping bandages around his arms with deliberate motions, Nightmare found himself staring off into the distance, His thoughts began to drift as you continued to aid on his injuries.

'Why do I keep doing this?' he thought bitterly, heart heavy with guilt and self-loathing. Those villagers… always hated him, fear him and don't want to do anything with him.

but you're different, you... stayed.

Nightmare clenched his fists. He hated making you worry, but at the same time, the thought of involving you terrified him. If those villagers ever found out you were close to him… stars, he couldn't bear the thought of you being hurt. They would do far worse to you, and that was a risk he wasn’t willing to take.

...So, he let them beat him. Let them take out their anger on him, use him as their punching bag. All so he could come back to you and see the way your brows furrowed in concern. All so you would patch him up, focus on him more.

A selfish part of him enjoyed it—not the pain directly—, enjoyed how much attention you gave him when he returned bruised and broken. He felt bad about it, but it wasn’t enough to make him stop. You were the only good thing in his life, and he would do whatever it took to keep you by his side.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t even realize how quiet he had become until a particularly rough tug on his arm made him flinch back into reality. You were wrapping a strip of silk tightly around his forearm to cover the broken bone beneath.

"Too many injuries," you grumbled, your eyes narrowing in frustration. "Damnit, nightmare— why are you not saying anything to me..?!"

The latter flinched once more, staying silent than necessary as his gaze stayed fixed on your face. You were frowning, lips twisted in frustration, your brows furrowed in anger. You looked absolutely furious, like you were ready to burn the entire village to the ground.

Nightmare blinked, momentarily disoriented as he focused on your face, taking in every detail. Despite the clear anger plastered across your features, you looked... beautiful. Ethereal, even. His eye lights flickered, a deep purple blush creeping across his cheekbones. His metamorphic heart began to pound, fast and hard. He couldn’t help but stare at you, utterly entranced

You looked like an angel to him— his very-own guardian angel.

'How could anyone be so beautiful?' His mind whispered before abruptly stopping as another wave of embarrassment washed over him. 'stop it. Stop thinking like that!' he scolded himself, He felt ashamed for even thinking this way, knowing you were only doing this because you cared for him as a friend. But that didn’t stop the thoughts from flooding in.

He quickly averted his gaze, his eyes darting to the grassy ground. Nightmare snapped his gaze away from you, staring down at the ground where his book lay open in the grass. It was an old story—one about a prince and a beast.

He hadn’t finished it yet, but the scene that stuck with him the most was the prince, leaning down to kiss the beast and break the curse, turning them into a beautiful princess.

His mind wandered again, and suddenly, he imagined you as the prince. And him? Well, he’d be the beast, of course. A cursed creature, waiting for someone to save him, waiting for you to...

...

Another layer purple flush dusted his cheekbones. It's a surprise you still haven't noticed it at this point (or maybe, you choose to ignore it). The thought made his entire face flush purple, his bones tingling with a strange warmth. 'What’s wrong with me?' He felt his soul twist in embarrassment, heat rising in his skull. 'This is so stupid, so embarrassing!'

“Hey, are you zoning out again?” You snapped your fingers in front of his face, pulling him back once more. Nightmare blinked rapidly, feeling the cold sweat trickling down his forehead.

“I-I’m sorry,” he mumbled. His voice was small, meek.

Ⓒ 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐛𝐦𝐦 ──── 10/15/24 Navigation | Masterlist

[divinemare]

-ˏˋ⋆ 𝔄 𝔠 𝔬 𝔲 𝔯 𝔱 𝔬 𝔣 𝔤 𝔬 𝔡 𝔰 𝔞 𝔫 𝔡 𝔪 𝔬 𝔫 𝔰 𝔱 𝔢 𝔯 𝔰 ⋆ˊˎ-

└──» ✎ 。 Azriel x Oc

part thirteen

part twelve

┊✧*｡ ✯┊☪︎⋆✧*｡ ┊

When she opened her eyes the world felt different, as if reality had fell on her so hard and so abruptly, she couldn’t find her balance for a couple of seconds.

The first thing she noticed was a shadow on the corner of her eye, more than one, actually, all moving frantically around her. Then there was a male voice, but it took her a while to understand what he was saying.

“For the Mother, Mare, are you ok?” Azriel’s ragged breathing and furrowed expression indicated his stress and worry.

“Yes I… think so. What happened?” When she finally regained full consciousness of her surroundings, she stared at the male’s hazel, worried eyes in confusion.

“I would like to know that too, you just… disappeared, and when I found you it seemed like you didn’t hear me, you were… paralyzed.”

Mareena stared at a blank spot for a long time, she had absolutely no idea what had just happened. But she felt it, somehow, deep down, there was a voice telling her exactly what it had been.

It wasn’t possible, she could not believe it. She could not bring herself to believe it.

“I think…” she started saying anyway, but her throat got so dry mid sentence, she had to swallow hard, not able to even look at the Shadowsinger’s eyes. “I think my mother’s calling me.”

☪︎⋆

Back at the House of Wind, they didn’t mention a thing about what had happened to anyone. Mainly because when Mareena omitted that part of the story when talking to Rhys, Azriel didn’t make a move to fill his High Lord in either. If she didn’t wanted to talk about whatever that had been, he wouldn’t either.

But right now it seemed she didn’t wanted to talk about much, and that did worry Azriel more than he cared to admit.

After having dinner with the Inner Circle, Mareena made a lame excuse of being exhausted after the mission today to get away and lock herself in her room with the pretense of wanting to rest.

So after spending a few unsuspecting minutes downstairs, he sneaked out of the dinner table, and went upstairs to Mareena’s room.

Azriel stood on the door for several minutes, pondering what to do.

Strange, when it came to his day-to-day life, he was the most organized, decisive male, but when it came to Mareena… he never really knew what to do.

Suddenly, when he was considering finally knocking on the girl’s door, it opened just about enough for the chestnut female to poke her head out.

“I can hear your very loud thoughts from inside, Az, do you wanna come in?” Even tho she looked tired —which only helped to build up more of that worry Azriel was already building up in his chest—, she smiled slightly at the Illyrian, causing him to have to pause and reset his brain before looking for some kind of answer to that.

“No, I-”

But before he could finish that sentence like he always did, Mareena finished opening the door and so out of nowhere Azriel didn’t even had time to react; she grabbed his wrist and pulled him in her room.

Azriel just went static when the door closed behind him. Standing up so tall that his spine began to ache. And gaining such a soft laugh from the female it made his head snap in her direction so quickly it gave him a cramp.

“Now you can say whatever you came here to say,” leaving him standing in utter stillness, Mareena walked to one of the couches in the room, and heavily settled down with a tired sigh.

“I just wanted to, uhm…” he had to clear his throat and stare to the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in order to advert his attention from the fact he was inside her room. “I just wanted to know if you were alright.”

Mareena sighed, and he unintentionally lifted up his head to look at her, as if it was some kind of reflex. He regretted it the moment he realized he wasn’t going to be able to look away now.

She was wearing a simple silk baby blue night gown, but that color looked so good on her it almost made her glow. She wasn’t looking at him, she was staring at the ceiling with her head resting on the back of the couch, her eyes way too pensive, way too troubled.

Azriel found himself swallowing way too hard.

“I don’t know,” she admitted, surprising the male who had sworn she was about to lie and say she was alright, as she always did.

Mareena then lifted her head to look at him, a small, sincere but tired smile arched ever so slightly her lips.

“Maybe I would feel better if you moved at least your little finger.”

He laughed, more out of nerves than anything, and stretched his way too tense neck.

“Come,” Mareena patted the space next to her in the couch, and Azriel had to hold back with all his might another gulp. “Please?”

It was as if the word commanded his legs to move before he could stop them. He moved and sat beside her, holding his breath when, suddenly, Mareena laid down to rest her head on his lap. While his whole body tensed up, hers seemed to immediately relax, sighing deeply and closing her tired eyes.

“I simply don’t know.”

Azriel too sighed then, and letting his body relax a little bit, he couldn’t help himself when one of his hands flew to the curly, brown locks of her hair.

“That’s ok, to not know, most of the times I do not know either.”

She smiled again, with her eyes still closed, and although she couldn’t see him, Azriel smiled too.

“Good,” she shifted a little bit, as if she wasn’t really planning on getting up anytime soon.

He wasn’t really planning on it, either. They stayed like that, in the quiet of Mareena’s room. It was everything far from awkward, it was just… right. Everything about it was right, how they both felt at such ease with each other, even if it was in simple silence. Mareena had needed that, the peace, the silence, the comfort, a comfort she had learned a long time ago, but had never been brave enough to admit; she only got from him.

And so as she felt like she was breathing again while laying on Azriel’s lap, she felt comfortable enough to spit out the words.

“Would you help me go to my mother?”

[daegalfangirl]

╔═════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ═════╗

requesting status: OPEN

╚═════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ═════╝

☪︎⋆｡˚┊˚✩ ┊requests are open for BOTH moodboards and writings, but i will privately log them in the queue list in my drafts ^_^

⋆｡˚┊ i have released the writing section of my blog! the link to the prompt list i used will be linked under the rules section!

although my requests are open i have some rules that i hope for you to follow !

✧.*ೃ༄ no nsfw requests

✧.*ೃ༄ making both moodboards and writings take time and i will not be bothered to do your request if im being rushed

✧.*ೃ༄ i try to put not any limits as to the concept im writing about (besides smut/nsfw) and i don't allow for any taboo fetishes (like what you like i wont shame you but please understand there are some things i'm not personally comfortable writing about)

✧.*ೃ༄ please try to make your requests as clear as possible and if they are vague im either going to not do it all or just nervously assume

✧.*ೃ༄ not a rule but the prompt list i use for writing request can be found here (for those who are interested in requesting or using it) for those who are requesting please try not to submit more than 3 prompts

i will be consistently adding more rules if necessary but for now that's all in regards to requesting rules

HOWEVER....

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ moodboard request instructions

i thought it would be better if i made instructions for it just so that people understand my concept with moodboards and how it needs to be followed when requesting (PLSS IM SO SORRY YALL IM REALLY PICKY AND ITS A PROBLEM)

༉‧₊˚. when requesting moodboards please provide these things or else it will be IGNORED

member

an nct song for me to build a concept around

color/color scheme OR theme (optional)

example provided below

haechan

my first and last

yellow (or) sunflower theme

you don't actually have to provide both a theme and a color i was just giving 2 examples

(it can in be whatever format you want i personally don't care just please fill in this and if you have any extra details you want to request feel free to and i'll try to incorporate it !)

that should be everything, thank you for taking time to read this and if you want to make a request please click here!

-> return to navigation

[filmdesque]

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ☪︎ . *. ⋆ ❝ IT'S REALLY SIMPLE — just try to look as natural as possible. go ahead and change your stance, your posture, your facial expressions as you see fit. as your body and mind want to. ❞

.·:*¨ ✘♚✘ ¨*:·.  "Yeah, yeah," Billy replied as he flicked the ashes from his cigarette. "Alright, what do you need me to do?"

[astrakofe]

tag drop !

[divinemare]

-ˏˋ⋆ 𝔄 𝔠 𝔬 𝔲 𝔯 𝔱 𝔬 𝔣 𝔤 𝔬 𝔡 𝔰 𝔞 𝔫 𝔡 𝔪 𝔬 𝔫 𝔰 𝔱 𝔢 𝔯 𝔰 ⋆ˊˎ-

└──» ✎ 。 Azriel x Oc

part twelve

part eleven

┊✧*｡ ✯┊☪︎⋆✧*｡ ┊

The screaming in her ears somehow intensified as she got farther and farther away from the small cottage. Birds chirped atop of her and howls that sounded like something more sinister than animals combined in an almost unbearable grieving symphony.

Mareena woke up from her nightmare without so much as a jolt. She was used to them by now, she had had them since she had any memory. They had stoped tho, for some time. And then, out of nowhere, had started again.

She got out of bed slowly, taking her time to shake off the side effects of the nightmare, she didn’t wanted to go down looking like this. So she purposefully took longer than usual getting ready to go start the day.

The spring sun in Velaris greeted her with warm when she stepped outside of her balcony, the air was filled with warm smells. She let herself be momentarily carried away by the peacefulness of the moment, until soft, almost inaudible knocks on her door made her open her eyes again.

“Come in,” she already knew that, when she turned around, Azriel would be standing on her doorway with his hands on his back, not daring to come inside, no matter how many times she invited him in.

So she smiled, and turned around to face the Shadowsinger before her.

“Goodmorning,” his deep voice was like morning coffee, and it made her smile grow wider and the feeling of reluctance slip away.

“Goodmorning, Az, want to come in?” Her smile turned amused, and one of her eyebrows shot upwards already knowing what his answer would be.

“No, uhm, I just came to… breakfast is ready, are you coming?”

Mareena laughed softly, and nodded.

“I will, in a minute.”

Azriel nodded too, and turned around as if to leave, but stoped midway. He wanted to say something, Mareena saw it in the way his eyes twitched ever so slightly.

“Another nightmare?” He asked after a moment of silence.

Mareena’s smile disappeared and a heavy expression settled instead. She sighed deeply, and nodded as she closed the window to the balcony.

“Yes, how’d you know?”

“You always go out the balcony in the mornings after a nightmare,” he said as a matter of fact.

Right. Azriel knew her better than literally anyone else. Even herself.

She smiled softly, for she would be lying if she said her heart didn’t beat a little faster whenever he pointed out any small details that only he noticed. But it did.

“I’m ok, same as always,” in his hazel eyes Mareena saw perfectly how her answer hadn’t convinced him at all, and that it only made him much more worried.

But Azriel didn’t argue, he simply nodded softly and looked anywhere else but at her.

“Ok, then… I’ll wait for you downstairs,” he gave her one last look, and when Mareena smiled softly in only response, he left the room in complete silence.

She stared back at the city under her, and sighed one last time, reminding herself that everything she needed was right there, and she didn’t need to look back on old pointless fantasies.

“Oh hey, good morning!” Mor’s sweet voice greeted her first when she stepped into the dinning room, she looked as gorgeous as ever, even if it was only morning.

“Good morning,” Mareena answered with a smile, and gave her good mornings to Amren as well when she saw the female coming down stairs.

Amren was somewhat like a… new friend, if 70 years could really be considered new. She was a petite, strange looking female who really actually frightened her most of the time. Not to mention she was so old not even Rhys knew how much.

But she had become really important to the Inner Circle, not only because she had become part of them, but because of everything she had actually done for them.

Amren had taught both Rhys and Mareena how to control their powers during a time were they were so volatile it became more like a huge problem. Just right after losing Alhena and Valeria, actually.

She had kept them alive, and now they owed her, big time, for it.

“Breakfast is ready, there’s only one cinnamon roll left, so who wants it?” Azriel asked from them kitchen, bringing over the plates him an Rhys had cooked with the help of the violet eyed male.

“It’s mine!” Cassian screamed while he rushed down the stairs, his big and powerful steps reverberating in the walls.

Mareena immediately woke up completely and started running before Cassian gave the last step to come down.

“Uh-uh, it’s mine!” They raced each other, trying to push the other out of the way to get to the last cinnamon roll.

☪︎⋆

Later on that day, Azriel and Mareena found themselves doing groundwork for a mission Rhys gave them.

It was dangerously close to the Middle, so Azriel decided it was a mission he had to take on himself instead of sending any spy.

Since Rhys became High Lord, things had drastically changed for them. Not only the war ended months after, but their lives as they knew them as well.

Cassian became General, it had been an entire problem on its own, since Illyrians did not wanted to accept a bastard as their General, and still were weary about. Azriel had become Spymaster, which, was really the least surprising of them all, he was just born for it, and it finally gave him a purpose in which to use his abilities. After some time, and Amren becoming part of their family, she took the place of Second, and Mor of Third. And for her… well, for everyone else she was still the High Lord’s “puppet”, the Goddess of Death of the Night Court.

Almost immediately after being bestowed as the new High Lord, Rhys had offered to break the bargain that was transferred to him upon his father’s death, but Mareena knew very well that it wouldn’t be a good idea as new High Lord, one that already had much against him being considered a desgrase for being a Half Blood. He needed her as the monster she had served his father. And at the end of the day, Mareena felt a thousand times safer with him that she had felt with Rhett, she knew perfectly well that Rhys would never use his power on the bargain to make her do anything she didn’t wanted to do, and that was enough for her to play the part outside her family.

“Now it can just be a nice tattoo,” she had said to him in response.

And it was. The mark on her body that had meant submission, that had bound her in the body of a monster she had never wanted to become, was now just another reminder that she had too survived that, just as the scars on her body.

“Don’t get too far away, ok?“ Azriel murmured to her, earning a side long glance from Mareena.

He always told her that whenever she accompanied him to any mission. The overprotective ass-bat.

“Don’t… even say it,” Azriel read her thoughts before the nickname could even roll out her tongue, and Mareena had to hold back her laugh at his expression.

She only nodded, and let him get some steps ahead before murmuring:

“Ass-bat,” she could almost hear him roll his eyes, and she chuckled internally.

They spent hours working together, until they finally found what they needed, and decided to go back to Velaris.

It was past midnight when they finally found what they were looking for, so the dangers grew as each minute passed. But Mareena never really felt threatened or scared, just as she hadn’t felt when she first escaped the Spring Court. There was just something unexplainable that kept her calm while being in the most dangerous place of Prythian.

She could actually say, but never out loud, that she liked that place; it felt mysterious, like something was calling her to explore it.

It had always been like that, but tonight it felt bigger, like a real call.

It happened from a moment to another; she started listening a whisper that resembled too much like the sound of her name. A whisper that felt both familiar and unknown, young and old, warm and cold.

She turned around, trying to look for the source of said whisper.

“Az?” She asked, turning back again, only to find she was surrounded by nothing else but trees and darkness.

No Shadowsinger in sight.

What the actual fuck?

She was sure she hadn’t been here a moment ago, that this was not the path she had been taking with Azriel, she was no longer near the Middle, she was now actually on the Middle. How in the Mother’s holy Cauldron had she gotten here, then? And where was Azriel?

He couldn’t have left, he would never leave her here, she had probably absentmindedly wandered away, and he was surely now looking for her with several reproches in mind.

Oh, he was going to kill her, badly.

“Oh Mareena, oh Mareenaaa,” she cursed to herself with a big sigh.

Everything was going to be fine, she knew the way, she could walk without problem, or maybe stay here, Azriel would find her surely in no time.

But then there it was again. That Mother damn whisper. It sounded stronger now, closer, clearer.

“Mareena…”

It was definitely saying her name.

Her heart began to race unexpectedly, she looked all around her, not finding anything at all.

“Ok, now maybe I’m scared,” she murmured to herself.

“Mareena…”

But even as she felt a tight knot on her chest, she began walking towards the way where the whispers seemed to be coming from. She couldn’t understand why, it was just as if a force was pulling her closer and closer.

This was so fucking reckless and dangerous and reckless, and good Mother had she done some reckless things in her life.

This definitely topped them all.

“Mareena…”

“Mareena…”

“Mareena..”

And just as when she had gotten lost the first time, she did so again, it had seemed to her that she had walked a few steps, but now she found herself in a totally different space.

In front of her, two big trees made an arc that resembled an entrance, and beyond, a clearing that looked nothing like the rest of the Middle was being illuminated by the moonlight.

Unlike the rest of the forest, that was dark and seemed to have a monstrous vibe in it, this place was colorful, full of life.

“Mareena…”

But even then the whispers didn’t stop, rather became so strong now that it was no longer a whisper.

That voice…it sounded much more clear now, but…

“Mareena…”

Her heart contracted on her chest, her eyes teared up with the sudden necessity of letting tears run.

“Mareena…”

A cottage was sat between a field of flowers not so far away, and she only now noticed it was right there in front of her.

That cottage…it was the cottage.

“Mareena…”

She let out of gasp as realization settled in, and an underwhelming feeling clouded her vision with hot tears.

Then the voice became louder, and louder, and louder, until her ears were pierced with a terrible scream.

“Mareena!”

And then she was awake.

[divinemare]

-ˏˋ⋆ 𝔄 𝔠 𝔬 𝔲 𝔯 𝔱 𝔬 𝔣 𝔤 𝔬 𝔡 𝔰 𝔞 𝔫 𝔡 𝔪 𝔬 𝔫 𝔰 𝔱 𝔢 𝔯 𝔰 ⋆ˊˎ-

└──» ✎ 。 Azriel x Oc

part five

┊✧*｡ ✯┊☪︎⋆✧*｡ ┊

╭────────────

╰─➛ part one, part two, part three, part four

Mareena waited for a long, long time for someone to come and pull her out of that dirty, dark hole. Curled up in a ball, waiting for someone to notice, for someone to come and save her, for someone to…

"Mare?" A male voice called out her name.

"Over here!" She shouted, rising from the ground and putting a hand over her eyes to keep the sun out.

Azriel's face peered through the hole a couple of seconds later, his furrowed brows immediately relaxing and his usually serious expression turning into a smile.

"You fell again."

"I fell again," she confirmed with a heavy sigh.

"What is it, the fifth time?"

"Sixth," Mareena corrected, looking away from Azriel's smirk.

"How could you possibly fall down the same hole six times?"

"I was playing with Valeria, and we were running around, and it was all fun and games until it stopped being fun and games, and it got dark and dusty and-"

"Okay, okay drama queen, I got it. Come on, let me help you."

Azriel, just as he had done the last five times, helped her out of the hole in the ground and back to the surface. Mareena took a deep breath of air and wrapped her arms around the unsuspecting Azriel.

"Thank you for saving me!"

"Mare, you were there for like three minutes," Azriel laughed at the overly dramatic reaction, but still wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him.

"Yeah, but they were three terrible minutes, I was alone and in the dark and full of dirt."

"Yeah, and now you're filling me with dirt."

Mareena took a step back, realizing that she had, in fact, smeared dirt on his golden brown skin and Illyrian leather armor. She smiled in embarrassment and tried to dust the armor off.

"Sorry."

"It's alright, come on, Alhena was worried about you."

Holding her hand "to make sure she didn't fall into any more holes", the two of them headed back to the camp, and to the cabin whose door was open and laughter and loud chatter could be heard, the only place in the whole war camp that seemed happy.

Azriel let go of her hand just as they were about to enter, and before Mareena could even take two steps, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist so tightly that she almost fell backwards.

"Mareena! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I was going to warn you! But when I opened my mouth you were already falling!"

Mareena laughed softly, pulling the girl back enough to look into her beautiful violet eyes.

"Don't worry, precious, it wasn't your fault, you know me, I'm a bit clumsy."

"Oh, come here, sweetie, you desperately need a bath," Alhena grabbed her daughter by the shoulders to pull her away from Mareena, and began to guide her towards the bathing room.

"Oh, yes, she definitely does," Cassian let out a light chuckle, and Mareena turned to look at Azriel, who, with a smirk, sent a shadow towards the big male and knocked him on his ass. Rhysand's laughter erupted in amusement.

"That's not fair! You two work as a team."

Mareena laughed, and so did the shadowsinger, if ever so slightly.

Cassian looked at Rhysand with a raised eyebrow, and the male stopped laughing to shake his head and raise his hands in the air.

"Oh, don't look at me, I don’t want to get thrown over my ass too.”

"Chicken."

"You two, nock it off," Alhena warned, and her son and Cassian obeyed immediately, not of course without quietly pulling their middle fingers out behind the woman's back.

Mareena let out a faint chuckle, just as Alhena turned with a raised eyebrow and made both males act as if nothing had happened.

☪︎⋆

"Come on, you can do it!" Morrigan tried to encourage her, but Mareena grunted.

"No, I can't," she lay on the ground with her arms outstretched, looking up at the blue sky with defeat, a sword lay at her side, and sweat was dripping down her face, she was feeling absolutely exhausted.

"Mare, come on, we've only been training for an hour."

"Exactly, one hour! Mor, I can't move, I can't breathe, I can't even lift my little finger, I suck at fighting, let's face it."

"Yeah, you do."

"Hey!" She groaned, picking her head up off the ground and immediately regretting it when it began to hurt and spin.

"Hey, you said it first. But that's the thing, Mare, you have to train to get good at it."

Mareena considered it. After all, she had been the one to ask Morrigan for help. She had wanted to train since she first saw the boys fight, hoping she could ever in her life move like that, but they were busy training for their blood rite, Azriel had offered to help, but Mareena refused; he had to prepare for whatever that blood rite meant. Then, when she met Morrigan, she hadn't seen the female as a warrior at first, considering the first time she saw her she was covered in blood with a note literally attached to her body. But then, after time had passed and Morrigan had healed, Mareena had seen her train, seen her be a warrior, and she had been so amazed, she had begged the female to teach her.

Bad, very, very impulsive choice, because now there was no way she was getting off the ground and picking up that sword again. Fighting looked nice but training was shit.

"Can we take a break? I..." Before she could finish the sentence, a pair of arms wrapped around her, lifting her to her feet, Mareen screamed, but didn't protest as she already knew who those arms belonged to.

Azriel made her stand, then knelt down to pick up the sword and placed it in her hands, a stern, but somewhat gentle expression on his face.

"I'm..." he didn't allow her to continue speaking, he simply pushed her towards Mor lightly.

"Don't give up so quickly, or the next time you train, you'll be training with me, and I'm not as soft as Mor."

Mareena rolled her eyes and silently mimicked him, the Mor let out a giggle, and Azriel turned to look at her and shook his head, the same expression he always had when she did "silly little things". Mareena just smiled innocently, and pushed him to the side where Rhys and Cassian were still training, the blood rite was a week away, and he couldn’t be all concerned for her when had to be concerned with himself.

His shadows left soft caresses on her skin as he left, as if they wanted her not to give up either. Mareena smiled absently, and turned back to Mor, the female also had a smile on her lips.

"Well, are you ready or not?"

"Do I have any choice?" She sighed, raising her sword.

"No, not really," Morrigan laughed, lunging towards her.

They trained for what seemed like hours, Mareena's muscles were so sore that she had to take several breaks while walking to get back to the house.

Alhena, thanks to the Mother, already had a cup of hot, delicious tea waiting for her. But before she could reach the cup, Cassian came in bare-chested and nearly knocked her over, leaving her to be caught by an already waiting Azriel.

"Oh, I needed that!" He took the cup from the female’s hand and drank it all in one gulp.

Mareena could already hear Azriel's sigh, but it was too late for him to stop her as she instantly regained her strength and leapt onto Cassian's back.

"That was meant for me, you big idiot!"

"Sorry!" Cassian complained as he tried to shake her off, but if there was one thing Mareena had learned in those years, get Cassian, and without the need of any magic.

The spectacle was to be laughed at, really, the biggest and burliest of the males being tickled by a much smaller and more slender female.

"Mother help me," Azriel shook his head, while Rhys just encouraged Mareena to "go for it".

"I want to be tickled too, I want to be tickled too!" Little Valeria burst into the room that was filled with Cassian's pleas and giggles, throwing her arms in the air and leaping towards her brother to obey her wishes.

Rhysand, of course, did so instantly, and now the little girl joined in Cassian's laughter as her brother chased and tickled her.

Everything was far from perfect, Mareena had truly, at last, found her family. From the day of her arrival, Cassian and Rhysand had taught her what it meant to have brothers, good brothers, for that matter, and Azriel? After all that initial awkwardness and mistrust, he had grown to her, if you could call it that. He was always the first to be by her side, the first to come to her aid, for she needed it constantly, the first to be there whenever she had nightmares that made her wake up the whole cabin with her screams. Then she had met little Valeria and they had instantly fallen in love with each other. In a way, Valeria reminded her of Viviane, her first ever friend, and Valeria found a new big sister in the female, and, considering that Mareena sometimes seemed to have the mind of a girl Valeria's age, the little girl didn't want to leave the camp every time she had to. Then Morrigan had become what Mareena was to Valeria; a big sister, she had learned that title only recently, when Morrigan had said that they would always be more than friends, they would be sisters. Not to mention Alhena, the female taught her the very definition of a mother. She was the best of mothers; to her own children and those she had adopted along the way; Cassian, Azriel and, of course, Mareena.

So, yes, everything was more than perfect, she had stopped being afraid that her old family would find her and drag her back a long time ago, she had stopped being afraid of herself, for now she had people to help her control what little bit of power she had left, and it had been a long time since she had used any of it.

She was happy, truly and freely happy. At least for now.

[divinemare]

-ˏˋ⋆ 𝔄 𝔠 𝔬 𝔲 𝔯 𝔱 𝔬 𝔣 𝔤 𝔬 𝔡 𝔰 𝔞 𝔫 𝔡 𝔪 𝔬 𝔫 𝔰 𝔱 𝔢 𝔯 𝔰 ⋆ˊˎ-

└──» ✎ 。 Azriel x Oc

part nine

part eight

┊✧*｡ ✯┊☪︎⋆✧*｡ ┊

Helion —the High Lord of Day—, Beron —the High Lord of Autumn—, Nostrus —the High Lord of Summer—, Vihan —the High Lord of Dawn—, and Kyree —the High Lord of Winter. She had learned the names of every other High Lord in the meeting. It had gone for hours, and Mareena felt her family’s eyes on her the entire time. She did not let it alter her, tho, not with the constant company of shadows at her side.

When the meeting was over, she was anxious to finally get out of there, but a hand clasped in her wrist so hard her body remembered the touch with fear.

She turned around, her powers going wild again, her father faced her with a face red of anger.

“What did you expected running away to him? Huh? Tell me, sweet daughter of mine, did you expected to find a home? To find…what? Love?” She was paralyzed, feeling like a little girl all over again, afraid of her father.

Her chest began to rise and fall heavily, and her insides twisted with the need of unleashing a defensive barrier. But if she did it right now, if she let the fear win her over, she was not so sure she later would be able to control it.

Mareena stared at her father without looking down, while her legs shook and her stomach twisted with nausea. Her father saw something in her faked collected expression that made him laugh sardonically. Mareena wanted to scream, to punch him, to gets his hands off her, she clenched her jaw, about to do just that, but then her brothers joined in, caging her, and panic rose again, the little girl inside her screaming and crying.

“Oh please, I thought you’ll be more intelligent than that by now, you were not born to be loved, Mareena, you were born to be yield. You’re a weapon, a child born of chaos itself. You’re a monster, a pretty one, but still. You have no idea just who you are, you have no. Idea,” he got so close to her she had to tilt her head back.

“Let. Go. Of. Me,” she demanded through gritted teeth, but the grip in her wrist only tighten. “Let go of me, Jalus, or I’ll show you just what I’m capable of,” rage burned through her now, the little child inside her crying for help, and Mareena was furious for it.

She was furious for all the pain and suffering they all made that little girl go through, she was furious of the way her father still made fear have a grip on her, she was furious for all those years she spent defenseless, and like fucking hell, she hadn’t gone through everything she did only to let her father overpower her with fear now.

A cough suddenly sounded at their side, then at the other, and then behind her, her three brothers began choking and their faces became paler as she took power from them, as she left them as powerless as they had made her for so many years. Their mother began crying and asking her husband to let go of Mareena, but the man only turned more red and hardened the grip in her wrist. It was surely going to leave a very bad bruise.

“You’ll know, sooner or later; that I’m right,” then he let go of her, and Mareena did too of her brothers.

They went to launch for her, but a low, almost animalistic growl sounded behind the three males.

Azriel’s shadows had never looked as scary as they were looking right now. The male had a look where Mareena could only read rage and blood written all over him.

Her father laughed sardonically again, and giving a last disgusted look towards her, he pushed his three sons out of the meeting room.

“Are you ok?” Azriel approached her as soon as they were out of sight, his shadows rushed to check every inch of her skin, and froze at the wrist her father had been holding.

Azriel’s face went cold, and Mareena could have sword the temperature on the room drop. He was staring so intensely at the red marks in her he wasn’t even blinking.

Mareena saw the rage in his eyes, saw how tightly he clenched his jaw at the point she feared he was soon going to break it, and took his scarred hands in hers before he could storm out of the room and hunt her father down.

“I’m fine,” he looked at her eyes then, hi softening over when he saw the heaviness in her, the tiredness; using that power had tired her, and the whole encountered with her family had drained her completely.

“No, you’re not,” he freed one of his hands from her grasp and began tracing gentle caresses over the red marks in her wrists, his eyes completely softening now.

“But I will be,” Mareena smiled as best as she could, and Azriel only nodded before completely dropping her hands and taking a step back.

“Let’s go, before Rhett comes looking for us,” then he started walking out of the room, getting away from her, but leaving shadows at her side.

☪︎⋆

Mareena had felt horribly all week. Her thoughts were consumed with her fathers words, her days with the awful tasks the Hugh Lord of Night made her do, and her nights with infinite nightmares of the Spring Court. There was no amount of time she got to rest, not even to cry, she just kept going and kept going and kept going, she hadn’t even seen Azriel after the High Lords meeting.

Then one day, the High Lord sent her to one of the war camps to retrieve some important information, only to find the biggest, and most greatest surprise at her arrival.

Mor was there.

She hadn’t seen her friend in months, and Mareena had missed her, she didn’t actually realized just how much until they were embracing in a long, sigh-escaping hug.

“Rhys told me what happened, I’m so sorry,” the female murmured in her ear, and Mareena sighed in response.

They went over to the blonde’s tent to get some more privacy, and immediately started spilling every detail of the last couple of weeks of each other’s life’s.

Mor had cursed her brothers and father in more ways Mareena thought possible, and expressed just how much pain she would inflict in her brothers if she ever cross paths with them.

But there was something Mareena was dying to ask, something she had thought only Mor could answer her.

“Do you…do you know what love is? I mean, what’s that really supposed to mean,” she took a deep, shaky breath, and looked up to see Morrigan’s confused frown.

“Mare, is everything ok?”

“Yes, yes I just…got curious,” she hadn’t gotten into much detail of what her father had said to her in their little encounter, but his words had been lingering in her mind for way too long now.

“Well, what type of love are we talking about?”

“Type?” Mareena arched an eyebrow, and Mor smiled slightly.

“Yes, I mean…you do know what types of love there is, do you?” When Mareena shook her head, Morrigan laughed softly and took one of her hands to take them both to sit on the bed. “Oh, dear, come here. Where do I even begin, we have…our type of love, for example,” she signaled them both.

“Our type?” Mareena only deepened her frown further, now she was more confused than she had been before.

“Between you and me, and you and Valeria, for example. We’re sisters, we love each other as sisters. Then also how you and Rhys and Cassian love each other, they love you like their sister, and you love them like your brothers.“

“Is that it?“

“No, no, I mean, yes, those things, those relationships; they are full of love, love because I will open you my heart, protect you, be there with you, support you, and advice you, just like Valeria and Rhys and Cass, but there is so much more. Other type of love is a mother’s love, like Alhena’s. She loves us all like we’re her children, and we love her like our mother,” Mareena had known that, Alhena never stopped telling them much she loved them, that they were ‘her children’, Mareena never really grasped the concept of motherhood, never truly understood the love in it until she met Alhena. “Then there’s, love for your hobbies, like you love writing, or the love you have for nature, and the love you have for pomegranates, and the simplest more common things in life that you just…love,” Mor continued, and Mareena nodded.

Well…she did love pomegranates…

“Yeah…I think I understand now,” maybe, a little bit. She felt it in her, the types of love Mor talked her about. “What about Azriel?” She wondered, as she hadn’t heard Mor talk about him.

The female lifted an eyebrow with a sly smile, as if she hadn’t very deliberately and intentionally mentioned him. “I don’t know, you tell me, do you love Azriel?”

“No, I don’t think so,” the smile dropped off the blonde’s face.

“What?”

“Well, if love is all that you told me, then I don’t think I can fit Azriel in any of those categories. I don’t love him like I love pomegranates, or like I love you and Valeria and Alhena, not even like I love Rhys and Cassian.”

She had been thinking of it, of where to fit Azriel in all those categories, but nothing really felt like where he belonged.

“Then how?”

“I don’t know, it’s just…different,” she lifted a shoulder, now knowing exactly how to explain it, or what she had to explain at all.

“Is it…a feeling deep in your heart?”

She thought of it, then answered:

“Yes.”

“And does it make you feel like you could be in a storm, but when you see him, that storm seems like merely a breeze?”

“That’s…a very poetic way to put it into words but…” She considered Mor’s words, thinking of how many times she had been scared, or angry, or felt badly about something, but Azriel was always there to make her feel better, to make this a bit less awful with one of his grumpy scowls, one of his dazzling smiles, or one of his rare laughs. “Yes.”

Mor smiled, a smiled that said that she knew something that Mareena was way too naive to yet understand too.

“Then, you do love him, Mare, you just have to figure out exactly how.”

“Can’t you tell me?”

“No,” Mor laughed, and Mareena huffed, exasperated.

“Why not.”

“Because that’s something you have to do on your own.”

“I really am not understanding this, Mor,” the blonde only gave her a pat on the shoulder, and rose from the bed to walk towards the tent exit.

“You will, someday,” and before she went out, telling her she was to look for some food to bring, she winked at her.

“Mor!” Mareena tried to call out, but the female did not come back. Mareena signed, and huffed under her breath. “I really don’t have the attention span necessary for this.”

☪︎⋆

She hadn’t been able to stay for long in Mor’s camp, but she was grateful she got even the slightest chance to see her friend.

She had also met some other females, like Tanwyn, a valkyrie that had stolen Mareena’s breath not only for her beauty, but for the fact that she had never seen a valkyrie before, and Tanwyn was just as tough as she had ever imagined them to be. And Miryam, a half-breed female who worked as a healer in a human’s army, she had been lovely as well, and Mareena wished she could stay longer with them.

Unfortunately, she had to return to her reality, where she wasn’t a warrior, just a…

Mareena didn’t even wanted to think what the High Lord had turned her into, what he planned to turn her into.

“I’ve got another job for you,” as soon as she was ready to leave the High Lord with the information she had brought with her, he stoped her immediately, making her hair stand on end.

“Yes, My Lord?” She asked, successfully keeping her voice from shaking.

Her duties this last few months had gotten from doing trips to several camps to collect intel, to bring in prisoners, in a not very good way, may she add. And from those prisoners, she had been forced to force information out of them, to torture them until they gave into her power. It had been horrible, every second of it, she had hated it.

The High Lord had only used her to show off her power in front of other important people, but every time he did, Mareena ended up drained for days, and always threw up once she was left alone, feeling disgusted with herself.

“There’s someone coming in this afternoon, someone who needs a reminder of my power.”

Mareena swallowed so hard she feared the High Lord had heard, but nodded before inclining her head in a curtesy and finally walking away.

‘A reminder of my power’, in other words; ‘a reminder that I now hold a weapon who no one knows its limits of, a weapon that is you.’

Her. The weapon, the demonstration, the reminder of power.

The puppet, the doll. Everything her father had said she was.

“Mare, my dear,” Alhena’s voice distracted her turbulent thoughts.

She turned around to face the beautiful female that smiled at her with a sadness of a mother.

“Mare! Mare! Mare! Mare!” She hadn’t been able to brace herself before Valeria slammed herself against her.

Mareena laughed slightly, hugging back the girl with a heart pounding with new how, burying the restlessness if ever for a moment.

“Holy Cauldron, you’ve grown!” She laughed, looking at how much the little girl had grown since the last time Mareena had saw her.

“There’s a surprise for you, there’s a surprise for you!” Valeria said with excitement shining in her gorgeous violet eyes.

“Valeria,” the mother of the half-illyrian scolded her daughter, and looked up at Mareena without being able to suppress a smile. “She’s just overly excited, we’re heading out on our way to visit Rhys.”

Mareena smiled, in that moment wishing to every star in the sky she could go with them.

“What’s this surprise?” She asked the girl, and Valeria looked at her mother with a beaming smile.

“It’s waiting for you in your room, dear, I would’ve loved to stay and see how it fits, but it’ll have to wait a couple more weeks.”

Mareena smiled, already excited to see what piece of clothing had Alhena made for her.

“Say hi to Rhys for me, will you? Tell him I miss him,” she went to hug the older female goodbye, and instantly melted in the motherly embrace of Alhena.

“I will, dear, I’m sure he misses you greatly too. You’ll see each other again soon, I promise.”

Mareena nodded slightly, and then parted so the female could give her a kiss in the head, and walked towards the youngling again so she could say her goodbyes.

“I’m gonna miss you, Mare! But when I come back, can you give me another one of your stories?” The girl raised her head to look Mareena in the eyes, and she smiled lovingly at the youngling.

“Of course, I’ll make another specially for you.”

“Yay! Thank you, Mare,” the girl hugged her more tightly, and Mareena laughed slightly. “Oh, right,” Valeria tugged at her dress so Mareena would bent over, and with a curious look, she did, so the little girl could whisper in her ear. “Azriel is waiting for you at the library. Well, he didn’t really told me he was, but I know he is.”

Mareena’s heart skipped a beat, she hadn’t known Azriel was back from wherever he had been.

She straighten up, and smiled thankfully to the youngling.

They said goodbye one last time, and both Alhena and Valeria walked away while she stood there and watch them leave.

Mor was right, she loved them, she loved them very deeply.

When they were completely gone, she sighed, and decided to see if what Valeria had said was truth and made her way towards the library.

☪︎⋆

Azriel was, in fact, in the library, but he didn’t seem to have been waiting for her.

“Sorry, Valeria said you were waiting for me,” she apologized after interrupting his peaceful quietness.

“Of course she did,” Azriel smiled and shook his head, signaling her to come closer.

Mareena approached him with a sigh and her hands unusually damp from cold sweat. Azriel noticed this immediately of course, and raised an eyebrow looking up from the book he had been reading before she got there.

“What are you doing?” She asked to fill up the silence that was making her more nervous than she already was.

“Looking for some information for my mission.”

“Right, your mission,” Mareena nodded, and Azriel raised his eyebrow even higher.

He opened his mouth to surely ask her if everything was ok, but Mareena blurted our the words before she could stop herself.

“Do you love me?” Azriel’s expression drastically changed from an easy amusement to absolute bafflement after she blurted out the question.

His mouth opened and closed several times before he finally spoke, looking positively baffled.

“I- what? I- what?” He stammered with his words, something Mareena rarely saw him do.

“Do you love me?” She repeated her question, taking a deep breath.

“I-….do I-… do I love you?” He struggled getting the words out at first, while he nervously started to scratch his neck and blink rapidly.

Mareena had never seen him so flustered, Azriel never flustered, in fact.

“Yes.”

“Uhm, Mare, is everything ok? Why are you- why are you asking me this.”

“Because…” Maybe this had been a bad idea, maybe she should’ve stayed with what Mor told her, she didn’t know how to tell Azriel she had let her father get so up her head she was now reconsidering her entire existence.

“Mare?” He seemed to notice her struggle, as he always did, and approached a little, his nerves transforming in concern.

“It’s nothing. I just had a conversation with Mor, I asked her what was love and then she started giving me all this examples and..I realize I can love. I’m capable of it,” Azriel knitted his eyebrows together in a confused frown, but sent soothing shadows at her side either way, like he always did when he knew something was bothering her.

“Mare, of course you’re capable of it, in fact, you are just…love. You love things, small things, but you love them so passionately that you make them big. You love even tho you weren’t taught of love growing up. You love because…because you’re you, but what is the point in asking me if I love you?”

“My father always told me that I had not been born to be loved, but to be yield,” she admitted, and saw the exact moment where his jaw clenched and his knuckles turned white, anger flashing in his hazel eyes like sharp, poisonous knifes.

“That’s what he told you the day of the meeting, didn’t he?” His voice was nothing but icy calmness, something that told Mareena he was actually thinking of more than a 101 ways of killing her father.

She just nodded, and Azriel closed his eyes in an attempt to calm his anger.

“That son of a…” When he opened his eyes and saw Mareena’s troubled eyes, he sighed, and that tension that had built in his shoulders relaxed a bit. “I…” He took a deep breath, and when he met Mareena’s eyes again, they were nothing like they had been moments ago, full of violence; but rather calm and understanding.“I do love you, Mare, how could I not? You’re…”

“I’m…” When he went some seconds without being able to get whatever he was thinking out, she leaned in a little bit, curiosity shining in her eyes.

“You’re…I’m comfortable in darkness, Mare, you know that. I’ve always been. But you…you bring light. You can’t just help it, you bring light wherever you go, including me. I always thought darkness was all that was in for me until I met you. So yes. I love you, Mare, you’re my…”

“I’m your…”

His words had moved something in her heart that never been moved before. It beat with with such acceleration that she began to worry she was having some heart issues or something.

“Friend.”

Then those rapid heart beats suddenly fixed themselves, and now slowed down to an almost disappointing rhythm.

“Friend…” The words tasted strange in her mouth, a feeling she didn’t know at all, a sentiment so strange she made a note to herself to later ask Mor what it was.

“Yes, you’re my friend, and I- yes, friend,” Azriel sighed, some kind of nervousness returning to his eyes and the way he shifted the weight of his wings.

“Friend,” she repeated again, tasting the words.

“Friend…”

Mareena thought about it, thought about the words, what it meant he was her friend.

And so she smiled warmly, taking Azriel’s hand in hers.

He was her friend.

“Then, I love you too, Az.”

[divinemare]

-ˏˋ⋆ 𝔄 𝔠 𝔬 𝔲 𝔯 𝔱 𝔬 𝔣 𝔤 𝔬 𝔡 𝔰 𝔞 𝔫 𝔡 𝔪 𝔬 𝔫 𝔰 𝔱 𝔢 𝔯 𝔰 ⋆ˊˎ-

└──» ✎ 。 Azriel x Oc

part eight

┊✧*｡ ✯┊☪︎⋆✧*｡ ┊

Azriel had heard it from Rhys first, the male's daementi power reaching into his mind to tell him. But still, Azriel refused to believe it until he saw it with his own eyes.

His palms were sweating as his heart pounded hard in his chest. His shadows hid part of his face and body in hopes of concealing his master's unease. There was no way he could calm his erratic nerves as he waited, and waited, and waited.

Until he saw her. Entering the room, with her eyes, normally full of life and curiosity, staring at the floor, lost and unsure.

He almost let a gasp escape as he saw the tattoo that wrapped around Mareena’s arm and disappeared into the shoulders of her shirt. It wasn’t just any kind of tattoo, Azriel recognised it perfectly as a bargain mark.

“You and I are going to cause your dear father an outburst when he sees you with that,” Rhett laughed cruelly, taking Mareena’s arm in his hands and stroking the tattooed skin.

An inexplicable wave of rage coursed through his body, but Azriel kept his gaze fixed elsewhere so as not to look directly at Mareena.

“Shadowsinger,” when he heard the High Lord calling him, Azriel had to muster his most rigid expression to finally be able to look at him. “Would there be any trouble now that Miss Mareena is joining us? I know you two might have been…close.”

Azriel looked at Mareena, who finally had raised her head from the ground as if just realizing he was there, it was just a split second, but he felt a lump in his throat he had to swallow before looking back at the male with no emotions at all.

“None, Sire.”

Oh, there were already a thousand fucking problems going on in his head right now.

☪︎⋆

Mareena had been presented to the Court of Nightmares. And what an awful fucking place.

She had hated the second she had stepped into it. The High Lord made her change her clothes into some trousers and a top in the Night Court style she loved, but the fabric, even tho it was a beautiful shade of shiny purple, was almost transparent. The top didn’t had the right sleeve, so to reveal the tattoo that curled up her arm, while the transparency of the fabric allowed it to show where the tattoo finished at the back of her shoulder.

She was paraded as a new weapon, a new adquisición, and it all fell all too similar to her fathers dungeon, where he showed her off to his awful friends.

But there was one thing that made everything less horrible, one person. Azriel was constantly, all the time, near her. Even if he had to act like he didn’t care for her, every time she was standing in one corner, shadows caressed her arms in a soft, comforting way. And in every glance they stole from each other across the room, she saw the trouble in those beautiful hazel eyes.

“So she’s what, your new guard?” Keir, Mor’s father, and Rhys’ uncle, asked his brother with a horribly unnerving smile towards her.

“Something like that, yes,” the High Lord nodded slightly, looking at her from head to toe.

Their bargain had left many questions in Mareena’s head. She was to be his new blade, his new weapon. He had said she had a power that not even she could understand herself, and that he would use it as he saw fit, using her against his enemy and anyone that would want to attempt against his crown.

Mareena was simply a weapon to be yield, something to brag about.

Oh, if he knew what she had been capable of before she locked the bigger part of her power inside her…

“What is she, anyway,”

“I’m not sure yet, I guess we’ll know once I see her father next week, but she’s Mother damned powerful, that is.”

A sense of terrible dread filled her entire body at the horrible realization; she was going to see her father again. After all those years running as far away from him as she could, she was going to be forced to see him again.

Panic started settling in her chest, now she was under the relative protection of the High Lord of the Night Court, the bargain she had made for eternity not allowing her to ever leave the Court.

She had to advert her eyes from the two males staring at her in hunger and cringe at the thought of being trapped between her awful male of a father and the awful male that now basically…he basically owned her.

What had she done. What had she accepted. She had traded an evil for another evil, and she wasn’t sure which one was the worst of them.

The panic started to intensify in her chest.

She retrieved to a dark corner in an empty space, she had to calm herself down or she was going to make of herself a bigger spectacle. But the realization of her whole situation was just settling down, and it all was fucking terrifying.

Suddenly, while her chest felt as if it was about to burst out and her breathing became more rapid, a calloused hand grabbed hers and squeezed slightly.

She didn’t startle at the touch; for she knew it all too well. She had held that same calloused hand a thousand times after horrible Nightmares, had held it while she got out of the woods when she fell into that same hole in the ground six times. Those hands had touched her face and healed her wounds when she trained a little too hard with Mor or simply got an injury for doing something incredibly stupid.

She squeezed Azriel’s hand in return. His body hidden in shadows, while she stared at the party with a raised chin and an expression she had learned from the very male at her side right now.

No, being her father’s captive couldn’t be the better evil than this. Because there, nor Azriel or Rhys or Cassian or Mor or Alhena and Valeria were with her. In there, Azriel would never hold her hand like this again, and so she held tight into that hope, held tight to his grip.

Because there was no holding back now, but as long as she had her family, she would not let the panic take over her.

☪︎⋆

Her hands were so sweaty she couldn't wipe them no matter how hard she tried. Nerves were eating her alive, taking over her heart and her entire nervous system. But Azriel's words echoed in her head like a safety mantra she repeated every time she felt her heart was going to burst out of her chest.

"Don't let them see your fear, don't let them take hold of your fear. It is yours, and yours alone."

It is mine. Mine alone. Mine. Mine....

She repeated herself over and over again as she walked behind the High Lord of the Night and his Lady through the corridors of Adriata's castle. Where the meeting of High Lords was to take place.

High Lords…Her father would definitely be there, and her brothers...she didn't know. Rhys wasn't there for the obvious fact that they were at war, and he was too busy leading a squadron to attend these ridiculous meetings. But her brothers were not warriors, Mareena knew all too well, and if they were there too....

At least Azriel was at her side, and Alhena was one step ahead; that was enough to keep her from panicking.

When the doors to the hall opened, Mareena took a deep breath, before being greeted by the image of the 7 most incredibly intimidating men, exuberant with power. Everything inside her trembled in terror, and that power that activated whenever she felt a latent threat pulsed nervously in her veins.

Mareena swallowed dryly and raised her head, forcing her power to remain silent and obey her command.

“Rhett, what a great pleasure you finally decided to show up,” his voice made something feral and wild alter her every insides.

Something she hadn’t felt in a long while, something she had hoped she never had to feel again. But there she was, years after everything she had went through to escape, standing only meters away from her father.

Her blood fell cold and her breathing started to catch up in her lungs. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t do this. She wasn’t brave enough, she…

She felt a little push at her back, and by the way those hands made her skin feel hot and her chest to squeeze, she knew perfectly well who had it been.

Discreetly looking at her side, she saw Azriel’s impassive face, his scarred hands were at his side, but his shadows slightly twisted. She tried hard not to smile, to copy his same emotionless expression, but it felt almost ridiculous, by the way her heart was absolutely betraying her with its heavy rhythm.

Mareena gave a step closer, then another, and then she was close enough for her father —and, her three older brothers, alongside their mother—, for them to see her.

She would never forget their expressions, the absolute masterpiece of the utter shock and disbelief in their pale faces.

“You…”

“Is something wrong, Jalus? You look a bit pale,” The High Lord of Night said condescendingly.

Mareena stared at her father’s eyes and did not avert her gaze with a stolen bravery she did not know where she got from.

“You had her all this time,” her father stood from his seat, his eyes almost out of their pockets.

“Who?” Rhett pretended confusion, and then he looked back at her, as if understanding. “Oh! You mean my beautiful goddess?”

Mareena saw a flinch of something similar to surprise in her fathers eyes for a split second, but it vanished so quickly she could’ve had imagined it, only anger was left in his deep green eyes.

Mareena almost cringed at the nickname. “Goddess”, that’s how the King of Hybern had called her once.

“Who is the beautiful lady, Rhett?” A dark skinned male questioned, a brow lifted in amusement, and Mareena almost gasped at his beauty.

It was as if the sun had taken human form. All its light and roughness and power molded into an almost too rough, yet too perfect male.

“Gentlemen, I don’t see how my company would be of any of your interest, but if you’re all too curious; may I present to you my newest acquisition, a true goddess come to live, just as beautiful, and just as powerful. Mareena, darling, would you come forward?”

He signaled with his hand, and she had no option but to obligue. As she passed by Alhena, the female softened her gaze a split second, telling Mareena she had nothing to worry about, her mother was right beside her, and so she lifted her face just as the female had taught her, and faced her father with unbothered eyes.

The four males squeezed their jaws so tightly she thought they may break at one point, while the Lady of Spring merely…stared at her, Mareena couldn’t exactly decipher in what way. There was no sign of Tamlin whatsoever. Good.

Then her father’s eyes lingered in her bare arm, where the bargain tattoo curled up in a beautifully tragic way.

“Oh, you did not.”

“You bitch,” one of her brother’s laughed drily, and all the other five High Lords stared at her arm all at once.

“Hello, father. Brothers.”

“Father?” The perfect sun crafted male said with amused surprised, and then threw his head back in laughter.

“Father? So she’s the girl your little bitch of a son almost killed mine for,” another male said, his voice so cold she felt it freezing her insides.

Mareena adverted her eyes from her father to look at her side, where a male, pale as snow, with hair as moonlight, sat with a raised white brow. Everything about him was pure coldness, from the way his glacier blue eyes stared at her, to the way his every feature seemed to be as sharp as ice. Besides him, tho, was a male that made Mareena’s heart pound with excitement and nostalgia, a male that almost stole a smile from her lips, hadn’t she been so scared to show anything but complete unbothereness in front of all those people.

Kallias stared at her with cold eyes, but behind them, she saw the same as she felt; the nostalgia, the relief of seeing each other again. It had been so long ago that he found her almost dead in the frozen woods of the Winter Court.

A female that she could only guess was his mother sat at his father’s other side. An impossibly beautiful female that looked too bright, too sweet to be what she imagined of a Lady of Winter.

Wait a second, Kallias had been attacked by one of her brothers? Mareena regained conscious of what the High Lord of Winter had said, and a wave of rage and guilt cursed through her, making her look back at her former family with more will in her eyes.

She took a moment to scan the room at last. Everyone else was extremely confused as they stared at them, the sun god; the dark skinned male, seemed to be enjoying all of this way too much, another dark skinned male, one Mareena could only guess, by his clothing, was the High Lord of the Court they currently were on; Summer, seemed to be completely lost of all context. The one red head male looked completely annoyed, with a gorgeous female at his side that simply looked lost and a little red haired boy who clung tightly to his mother. Then there was a tanned male with a scrutinizing gaze, the one that had to be, by her own conclusions, the High Lord of the Dawn Court, as if he was paying extra attention trying to understand the drama that unfolded in front of him. And Kallias’ father, who stared sharply and bone-freezingly towards one of her older brothers, the one in the middle, the one she hated the most, Reed. So he had attacked Kallias, she was not surprised at all. He used to beat her up too, very often.

The memories of it made her feel that same wild outbursts of feelings threatening to shatter her gained calmness and control. She felt the heat in her face before she realized her hands itch with the necessity of letting her power burst. She felt a light brush of a delicate hand in her arm, and a murmur of softness in her ear. Both Azriel’s shadows and Alhena’s touch brought her back to the necessary control.

“So what, are we going to ever start the important meeting at hand, or you’ll just stay there and stare at each other? Because I would love to go back to my business if that’s the case,” the red haired male said with a bored look.

Her father took a deep breath, Rhett laughed slightly, amused by his own twisted games, and Mareena did not lowered her head until her father arched a brow.

“Glad to see you’re alive, child,” oh, he was anything but glad, and everyone could clearly see it.

“Couldn’t say the same, to be honest,” she didn’t know where all that insolence had come from, but she was satisfied of it when she saw her father’s jaw so tense it almost snapped.

Rhett and that sun male laughed out loud, her brothers stood all from their chairs but their father stoped them immediately. She saw from the corner of her eye how Kallias smiled slightly, quickly taking his smile away but winking at her.

Then she felt the shadows again, caressing her skin with soft proudness, delivering the message from their master.

“That’s my girl.”

[divinemare]

-ˏˋ⋆ 𝔄 𝔠 𝔬 𝔲 𝔯 𝔱 𝔬 𝔣 𝔤 𝔬 𝔡 𝔰 𝔞 𝔫 𝔡 𝔪 𝔬 𝔫 𝔰 𝔱 𝔢 𝔯 𝔰 ⋆ˊˎ-

└──» ✎ 。 Azriel x Oc

part seven

┊✧*｡ ✯┊☪︎⋆✧*｡ ┊

Things just had gotten worse and worse. Now she only received visits from Cassian, and very, very occasionally; from Mor. Azriel had been taken to Court, since his shadowsinger abilities were useful to the High Lord, Rhys was off with his own company, and Mor was also at Court, and off fighting. Cassian had been the only one left at the Illyrian camps, often having to fly away, but still, her only company.

It had also been months since she had seen Alhena and Valeria. But, just about two weeks ago, before things got even more complicated when some of the Courts —including the Night Court—, had decided to free their slaves and fight alongside humans, she had met Tamlin.

Rhysand had come up to her and said it was safe, that he trusted Tamlin to keep it a secret, and so he took her to the forest way past the war camp, where her brother was already waiting for them.

At first, it had been so damn awkward she had wanted to turn back and forget it had ever happened, but then, when he saw the genuine curiosity in his eyes, she decided to stay.

“You don’t look like my sister,” had been the first thing either of them had said, and they had both laughed off their nerves.

They really didn’t had much physical resemblance, only for the deep green eyes flecked with gold. He was much bigger than her, even tho he was younger, with golden blond hair in comparison with her rich brown hair. His skin was also paler than hers, while hers was mixed. He looked disturbingly way too much like his brothers and father, while she could only guess she had taken after her mother, with the exception of her eyes.

Their meeting had been brief, since Rhys had to get back to Court, and so did Tamlin, but they promised to continue to communicate with each other through Rhys. Mareena was very glad that Rhysand had been right; Tamlin was not like the rest of his family.

She hadn’t stoped thinking about their interaction, and they had been sending each other notes with a bit of magic Rhys had taught her, getting to know each other a little bit. Things weren’t as bad as they could be, at least, she had her writing, Cassian, and…

The door bursted open with so much force it startled her. Rhysand entered the cabin in a hurry, his face pale and panting and a look of absolute terror.

“Rhys, what’s-”

She didn’t got time to finish her question, he hurried to her, grabbing her by the arm and almost dragging her with him.

“We have to go, he found out, he found out you’re here, he’s pissed, very, very pissed, and I can’t protect you from him, Mor will take you with Drakon, he’s a friend of mine, Seraphim, so he’s out of our law and-“

“Rhys!” She yanked her arm and stoped him in his tracks, looking at him completely confused.

“Slow down, please, what are you talking about? Did my father…?” She couldn’t finish her sentence, her heart was pounding so heart in her chest she felt in in her ears.

“No, not yours, mine. He found the scripts you gave my mom and Valeria and manipulated Valeria until she accidentally told him. He’s surely on his way right now, we have to go, I’ll explain everything else to you later, just trust-“

“Please, son, why don’t you explain everything right now.”

A voice so deep and malevolent sounded behind her back, making every hair in her body stand on end. She saw Rhys’s face drain of color and in his eyes flashed a kernel of fear before he quickly hide it. His grasp on her tightening to the level she felt it hurt, but said nothing, as she knew he was desperate to try to keep her with him.

But then, she turned around, and right at the opened door, stood the most imposing male she had ever seen in her life. Rhett, if she remembered correctly, was his name, High Lord of the Night Court, and Rhys’s terrifying father.

They shared the same violet eyes, the same raven black hair, but that was it. This male in front of her had not a single but of the gentleness and charming demeanor of his son. This male right here was rough and imposing and even slightly terrifying.

She remembered the feeling that now was cursing through her veins; she had felt that same fear the day she met the King of Hybern. Yet another male that looked like he could absolutely destroy even the her soul. She added him to the already existing list.

“Father,” Rhys’ voice had never sounded so cold, and she had to remind herself who she had behind her to not feel a much bigger tuck of fear.

“Now, I’m waiting for the delightful explanation,” the older male looked between his son and her, and Mareena wondered just how many he had looked like that before killing them.

“Father, she’s-“

“No, no, son, I know exactly who she is, what I do not know, is why she is here.”

He got a step closer to her, and all that crippling fear that triggered the raw power inside her shot through her body.

But no, she had to get a hold on herself, she couldn’t let that power out, the fear to make it explode.

“She’s a friend, Father, my friend, and she’s under my protection,” Rhysand’s neck was so tensed, she feared a vein would pop, his face so cold and serious, but his eyes so troubled, she felt a lump on her chest for him.

Rhett bursted a cold laugh that chilled Mareena’s bones and made her want to back away, but she did not move an inch, she felt as if she was frozen in place.

“Under your protection? And what does your protection mean, boy?”

He got closer again, and Mareena’s panic was rising by the second those hard, cruel eyes stared into hers. She felt it, felt the need to let that thing inside her free and make the male back away, but she couldn’t put herself at risk like that, she couldn’t put Rhys at risk like that. And so she swallow it, and did not look down.

“Your father has been looking for you, child, and he’s been a pain in the ass to everyone about it.”

“He’s not my father,” her tone had been harsher than intended, and when the male raised an eyebrow at her, she cleared her throat with fear clinging at her stomach. “He’s not my father, sire. He’s the man that stole my life away.”

“Sounds like Jalus,” he nodded, and Mareena tensed at her father’s name. She hadn’t heard it since she left the Spring Manor all those years ago.

“Father, you won’t have to deal with her, I’ll take care of her, she’ll go with the Seraphim and you won’t have to deal with the High Lord of Spring,” Rhett looked at his son as if he was a stupid little boy.

“Take her away? I don’t think so, son. I want to know why Jalus was so secretive about you, what is so special about you that he moved heavens and earth to find you. Tell me, child, what is it that you posses that makes you so important to him?”

This time, he advanced two steps towards her, and Rhysand, sensing her terror, tried to pull her away, but Rhett was not about to allow her to go anywhere, and grabbed her other arm with so much force she moaned in pain.

“You don’t even look that much like him, so you’re obviously a bastard, not a common one, for sure, he wouldn’t have cared if you died or lived in that case, but he went mad looking for you, what. are. you.”

He squeezed harder, making her moan again.

“Father, please,” Rhys tried to intervine, but the male pushed his son with a flick of power to the other side of her room.

“What. Are. You,” he screamed this time, squeezing even harder.

Mareena’s fear was too much to control then, the pain in her arm and the panic in her veins made it too hard to control the outburst of power that bursted from her.

In a wave of pure white light, she made the ground at their feet shake, and the man in front of her to feel as powerless as she felt terrified.

She cried and clutched her eyes shot, pressing her palms to her ears while the painful wave of power seemed to talk to her, telling her to let go.

She was at her knees before she knew it, and started hearing a scream in her mind that she recognize as Rhysand’s desperate voice.

A pair of arms wrapped around her and winced at the contact, her skin was burning hot while the white power still poured off her. But when she felt Rhys’s sweet whispers, and his powers on her mind helping her calm down, her cries died down and she stoped slowly feeling the burning.

Minutes passed between her ragged breaths and Rhysand’s. He stroked with gentleness her hair and murmured that he was not going to let go of her.

“Interesting,” a voice sounded far, yet near her.

When she raised her head, she saw the High Lord of the Night Court standing from the floor with the wall’s help. His eyes were hungry, impressed, and even more terrifying.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she muttered with shaky breaths.

“Father, please don’t hurt her,” Rhysand wasn’t letting go of her, holding her while his father approach them with a predatory ease.

“She’s dangerous, son, and I can’t let her go back to her father, he’s going to use it as a weapon to all of us,” he was getting closer and closer, and with each step, Mareena felt that her death, too, was getting closer.

“She won’t go back, he will not find her, I’ll make sure of it.”

“Please, sire, I’ll do anything,” she murmured, looking up at him again.

She wasn’t about to die at the hands of another awful male like him, she hadn’t escaped from her father for things to end like this.

“Anything?” The male raised an eyebrow, cruelty flashing in his violet eyes.

She nodded, and heard Rhys’ loud gulp.

“Then how about a bargain, Miss Mareena.”

[filmdesque]

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ☪︎ . *. ⋆ 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭. he'd always been harboring this 𝙳𝙴𝙴𝙿 , 𝙴𝚇𝙸𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙸𝙰𝙻 𝙵𝙴𝙰𝚁 of judgement or even rejection when it came to discussing the things he was into , but thankfully with heather , he seemed to strike gold. instead of a look of shock or horror crossing her expression , he could practically see the curiosity and perhaps even a bit of 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 behind her dark eyes at his suggestion.

it was as if no time was waste before they were on their way , the young man delightfully surprised to continue to be met with greedy kisses along the way. normally he'd like to keep the 𝙳𝙸𝚂𝙿𝙻𝙰𝚈𝚂 𝙾𝙵 𝙰𝙵𝙵𝙴𝙲𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽 behind closed doors , but he had thoroughly been put in a mood these past few minutes. in fact , he was hoping that at least one person would catch a glimpse of the two of them , getting the message that the both of them were not just occupied , but 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯.

he meets her desperation with the same urgency , attempting to reach over her arms to tug her shirt over her head as her fingers work to undo his zipper. his fingers 𝚃𝚁𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙻𝙴 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝙴𝚇𝙲𝙸𝚃𝙴𝙼𝙴𝙽𝚃 , but he pushes through and manages to unhook her bra , leaning forward to press his lips against delicate skin. he even dared to nibble a bit , 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 against her chest in a way that would cause the skin to brown up into a hickey later. for a brief moment , he's 𝚃𝙸𝙲𝙺𝙻𝙴𝙳 by amusement , chuckling lightly at how needy they are for each other , but the noises are broken off with a moan as he feels her beginning to palm at his groin , his erection almost 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧𝘸𝘢𝘺 through the fabric of his boxers as his hips begin to slowly roll against her hand.

𝙷𝙸𝚂 𝙽𝙴𝙴𝙳𝙸𝙽𝙴𝚂𝚂 𝚆𝙷𝙴𝙽 𝙸𝚃 𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙴𝚂 to this stuff is officially her new favorite thing; getting heather to wondering whether it only increases the further they go. and she can't deny the burning curiosity to find that out for herself… and very soon. her brows lift and a look of genuine surprise crosses the brunette's features when jonathan tells her where he wants this to go.

she'd been expecting something more STANDARD and predictable, like the bedroom, but she definitely has no complaints when it comes to his alternative. actually, it's far more exciting. in fact, so far, he has proven himself the opposite; completely unpredictable and more adventurous than she thought. that, teamed with his willingness to give her control makes him the 𝙿𝙴𝚁𝙵𝙴𝙲𝚃 person to do this with.

"...shower it is."

heather then grabs jonathan's hand and immediately heads down the hall toward the bathroom as requested; only to turn to face him halfway there and tug him into another DEEP kiss; all while still moving in that direction. multi-tasking! she breaks the kiss again only in order to tug at the bottom of his shirt, eventually drawing it up and over jonathan's head before she focuses on unzipping his jeans next. in her mind, messily doing it this way and leaving a trail of clothing in their wake is 𝙸𝙽𝙵𝙸𝙽𝙸𝚃𝙴𝙻𝚈 more fun than doing it all at once when they reach their chosen destination.

[divinemare]

-ˏˋ⋆ 𝔄 𝔠 𝔬 𝔲 𝔯 𝔱 𝔬 𝔣 𝔤 𝔬 𝔡 𝔰 𝔞 𝔫 𝔡 𝔪 𝔬 𝔫 𝔰 𝔱 𝔢 𝔯 𝔰 ⋆ˊˎ-

└──» ✎ 。 Azriel x Oc

part ten

part nine

└──» tw: d3a7h

┊✧*｡ ✯┊☪︎⋆✧*｡ ┊

Mareena stumbled absentmindedly back to her bedchamber at the Moonstone Palace. Her clothes reeked of blood and other substances she hadn't bothered to identify.

Her feet moved mechanically, along a path she had taken so many times before that she could walk it with her eyes closed. Her mind was a spiral of exhaustion and guilt and disgust. Disgust of herself, disgust of the male she worked for, disgust of what clung to both her clothes and her skin as a reminder of what she had done, and what she would continue to do for as long as eternity would give the High Lord who controlled her movements like a puppet.

It was only with the help of the wall that she managed to move at all, without it, only the weight of her actions would be enough to bring her to the ground and succumb to the darkness of her mind.

It wasn't until she reached out to open the door to her bedchamber that she noticed she was shaking, that she noticed the dirt on her fingernails that mingled with the dried blood. She pushed the door open, and couldn't find enough support to keep herself from falling to the floor of her room as soon as it opened.

Something sounded apart from the big crack of the door opening. A voice, or something like it. The only thing she still seemed to be able to hear were the cries of pain and pleas for mercy.

Then something soft, gentle and cool caressed her arms, wrapped itself around her body as if in an embrace, holding her so she wouldn't collapse completely.

"Mare," that sound, that voice, was heard closer this time, allowing her to confirm that it was, in fact, someone speaking.

Mareena didn't have the strength to get up, not even to look up, to see the grief-stricken Shadowsinger kneeling in front of her, not even the strength to realise that what was trying to stop her from hitting the ground were shadows.

"Mare, please look at me," Azriel's voice was distant despite the male being only inches away from her.

Everything was distant in that moment, everything but the realisation of the monster she had become today. Everything but her father's words, that she was made to serve as nothing more than a weapon, to be used in the worst ways, to squeeze out the sick power that lived within her, even if half of that power was trapped in a self-made vault.

Unconsciously, her mouth began to move, the words came out of her mouth in broken whispers, yet they did not register even in her own mind.

She talked and talked, but didn't know exactly what she was saying, what she was mumbling as she trembled with the force of a collapsing mountain.

A pair of arms lifted her off the ground. Not that she grasped that, anyway. Her perception of reality and the present was distorted with images of what had happened in that dungeon, with those Fae, what she had had to do, what the High Lord had forced her to do through that twisted bargain she had made.

Monster. Monster. Monster.

She was becoming a monster, what her father had wanted her to be.

Funny, how after all this time, Mareena was becoming a worthy daddy’s girl.

The door to her bedchamber opened again, and a new, frantic voice spoke over the squeak of voices in her own head. It spoke to that other voice that had called her name earlier, the voice of the one who held her tightly and with certain panic. They were arguing about something Mareena didn't understand, then other arms, these much thinner and softer than the previous ones, guided her somewhere, took her somewhere. Mareena did not know where, she was not aware of her own body, of her own surroundings.

Then there was water. Water soaked her, washing away the horrible scent of death that had clung to her. Her crime-ridden clothes disappeared, and were replaced by a softer, jasmine-scented fabric.

She must have walked, otherwise she didn't know how she got to her bed.

She didn't know when she fell asleep either, or if she had passed out, but all she felt at the end were those strong arms from before, grabbing her again and sheltering her seconds after the darkness came to claim her sleep.

☪︎⋆

When Mareena awoke, she was not in the cold dungeon of her nightmares, but in the sweet, hot comfort of her bedchamber. Only, now, the strong arms that she remembered had held her before she passed out were gone, and instead the absence of something that seemed important froze in her chest and spread throughout her body.

First she let her senses awaken one by one, starting with her touch; feeling the soft fabric of her bed sheets beneath her. Then the sense of smell; smelling the jasmine of her clothes and the smell of wood and cinnamon in her room. Swallowing saliva and awakening her taste; Mareena felt the taste of blood still stored in her mouth, as if the mere memory of blood brought sensations back to real life. And finally, when she felt completely ready; she opened her eyes.

Flashes of last night came to her in waves. One by one, she remembered the High Fae faces she has tortured for information on Hyberns army, how they, at first, had been silent like graves, but as her power creeped upon them, as she made them feel despair and pain and powerless, they had cried and begged for mercy.

Usually, her job ended when the prisoners either gave the information Rhett wanted, or it was clear they knew nothing. But last night, the High Lord hadn’t sent her back to her chambers immediately, but rather looked her dead in the eyes, with the coldness of the crown he carried, and spoke to her in a voice that even made her own back shiver.

“I want to see it all.”

“W-what?” Mareena breathe out her words, her chest already rising and falling heavily.

Behind her, cries of pain still could be heard from the Hybern soldiers, one of them begged her not to do it.

“Finish it, Mareena.”

The tattoo in her arm itched at his order, reminding her that the bargain between them, will she not comply the order willingly, would force her. So she had turned slowly around, unable to keep her hands from shaking as she extended one towards the dying soldiers, and urged her power to pour into their bodies once more, destroying them from the inside-out.

Mareena shuddered at the memory of it all, closing her eyes and putting her head between her legs, trying hard to remind herself she was not this, that she was not the monster her circumstances forced her to be. She was better. She had to be.

The door to her bedchamber cracked as someone opened it, before she raised her head, she smelled the wine in the air and instantly knew who the steps belonged to.

Mareena then raised her head with sorrowful hope filling her gaze, and Morrigan sighed at the expression, approaching faster to her bed.

“Oh, Mare,” the blonde said in a whisper, climbing to the satin sheets and pulling Mareena close to her.

She let herself cry then, let those tears that had been frozen the other night fall freely. Mor said nothing, only held her tightly and stroke her head and back in comforting caresses full of understanding.

“What are you doing here?” When the tears became slower and less prominent, Mareena raised her head to look at the brown eyes of the female, wiping away her soaked cheeks with her hands.

“Azriel sent word to me as soon as he learned what Rhett was going to make you do, I winnowed as soon as I could.”

“You helped me…” She looked down to herself, to her clean skin and clean clothes, and Mor nodded. “Thank you.”

“No need to thank me, Mare,” Morrigan brought her back in a hug, laying back together. “How are you feeling?”

“Like my father’s daughter.”

Mareena saw how Morrigan swallowed hard, how she tried hard not to let the tears show for Mareena’s sake, how Mor had to compose herself before she spoke, and even then, her voice cracked a little bit at the end of her sentence.

“Mare…”

“All my life I tried to be better,” she stopped Mor’s words with her own, staring to the ceiling of her room that showed signs of dawn rising over their heads, the beautiful colors that painted the sky usually made her smile, feel at peace, but now, as she stared at the innocent beauty, she could see nothing pass her father’s twisted grin of success. “Better than him, better than my brothers, I tried to bury the parts of me that were connected with them, the anger and the violence. I buried the most dangerous side of my power because I didn’t want to be what he had so desperately wanted me to be. I wanted to be me, but now I…I feel like I crossed a line, Mor, and that now that I did, now that I let it out, I won’t be able to hold it back in the future.”

“You’re nothing like them, Mareena, don’t you ever say that again,” Mor’s eyes were like crystals now, shinning with tears she still hold back, but her words were hard and stern. “You will never be. You have known both kindness and cruelty, and you chose one over the other. We live in a Court of Nightmares, in a place where dreams are crashed and souls are dark, yet we still choose everyday to be better, to dream and never let darkness consume our souls completely. That’s what you have to do now. That’s what you always gotta remind yourself,” now a tear did escape the female’s brown eyes, but she wiped it away as fast as it came.

Mareena didn’t take her eyes away from the ceiling, didn’t say a thing as Mor sighed and placed a sisterly kiss on her head, getting out of the bed.

“Azriel is sick worried about you. I have to go back to the camp right now, but sent word if you need me, ok?” Mareena nodded, and Mor exited the room with that final confirmation.

She knew the person that had hold her that night had been Azriel, the one that had been waiting for her in this room when she got back from the dungeons.

She should go and look for him, tell him she was ok even tho they both knew she wasn’t, if only to give the male some peace. But she tried, and failed, to find the courage to do so.

☪︎⋆

As Mareena winnowed at the outskirts of the war camp, she took a deep breath in. One she quickly regretted as the smell of blood and ash and death crawled up to her nose.

War smelled just as it sounded; fucking horrible.

She hadn’t had more than a few minutes to bash on her self pity before Rhett sent for her, and now she was here, doing the High Lords bidding once more.

Mareena found only a few seconds of disgust before two pair of arms surrounded her in an embrace she had been waiting for what seemed like an eternity.

She laughed, the first time she did so after last night’s events, and hugged Rhysand back with her heart clutching in her chest.

“I’m afraid to ask why you’re here,” the male said when they finally, after a long time simply hugging, parted from each others arms.

“Your father asked me to bring you some information we got about Hybern’s army,” Rhys lifted an eyebrow, and Mareena knew instantly he hadn’t fully believed her.

“Couldn’t you sent a thought?” The question was only a way of asking her for the complete reason, and Mareena sighed, defeated.

“And to supervise your leadership in this squadron.”

Rhysand nodded with a bittersweet smile, but quickly changed his expression and grabbed her arm to guide her into the camp.

“Where are Alhena and Val?” Mareena asked, not seeing the females anywhere.

“They stoped to say hi to Cass in his war camp, since it was on the way here, but they should be arriving in an hour or two.”

Mareena nodded, and they walked together towards the tent where the leaderships gathered, waiting for the information she carried for them.

“I spoke with Tamlin just yesterday,” Rhys told her, and Mareena smiled slightly.

She hadn’t been able to see her brother as much as she would have wanted in the months she had started to serve the High Lord of the Night Court, but they constantly sent notes to each other, and planned furtive meetings from time to time.

She had grown to like him, they were still in the process of knowing each other, of becoming siblings, but at least for now, they were friends.

“He told me to say hello, and that he hopes you two can meet soon.”

“I have been…occupied,” she didn’t want to specify in what to Rhys, didn’t want to give him something else to worry about, for he had a lot in his plate already.

“Is everything ok, Mare?” They stoped their tracks at the entrance of the tent, and Rhys looked at her with worry in his violet eyes. Mareena summoned the best smile she could, and swallowed down the heaviness in her voice before she spoke.

“We’re at war, Rhys, everything just…is, but we’ll get through this,” he nodded, not so convinced by the way he eyed her suspiciously, but dropped the subject nonetheless, opening the tent’s curtain for her to walk in first.

“We will.”

☪︎⋆

The meeting went on and on and on, discussing strategies and many other things that took Mareena some time to grasp and understand. But Rhys stayed by her side, murmuring occasional explications when he noticed her confusion. That gave her comfort, in a tent full of males that looked warily at her.

By now, her name was more popular than she cared to admit, and so they all knew she was the so called ‘goddess of the Night Court’, a stupid as hell title, if someone asked her. Rhett had had no shame at all in making it very obvious he had a very powerful female in his Court, and he displayed her as a trophy at every opportunity he had.

The only good thing that had come out of all that, was that none of the males that had previously looked at her with animalistic hunger and perverted looks, now had no balls to fuck with her at all. Too afraid to prove all the stories about her right.

As time passed, night settled, and so did hunger in her stomach. When it inevitably roared, Rhys looked sideways at her with an amused grin. Mareena pushed his arm in reproach, and just as she did, his stomach roared too. She eyed him amused as well, and with a look, they both agreed that a rest was very much needed. 
He turned to the other males to suggest a break, but before the words could come out of his mouth, the tent opened, and a frantic, pale looking male entered in it.

Everyone immediately stoped talking to look at the newcomer with raised eyebrows, Mareena eyed him warily, and noticed with something heavy in her chest how the poor male looked like he was about to puke his guts out.

“What is it?” Rhysand asked, his back tensing and his wings spreading behind him in alert. His face becoming every bit the feature High Lord he was.

“There’s…something…they…” The male couldn’t even seem to speak, and so he didn’t, he stepped out for a second, and when he entered again, looking even more sick, he brought two boxes in with him.

The smell of blood immediately filled the room, and now everyone tensed as the male shook violently in his way to the table, and placed the two boxes in front of Rhysand and Mareena.

“What is this?” Rhysand asked, his teeth bared at the smell he too caught coming from the boxes.

Everyone poked their heads in curiosity, looking at the male that was shaking as if he had seen his worst nightmare coming to live.

“They…I don’t…they came down the river, I picked them up and…I…”

Mareena rushed to the male’s side, and took him before he could collapse, then looked at Rhys, who had his eyes hard as stones and body just as tense.

“Come, you need some air,” Mareena said to the male, and almost had to drag him out as he shook violently in her arms.

She felt his terror, his anguish, she smelled it, as well, and that only made her own heart hammer against her chest with violent uncertainty.

Once outside the tent, she called for a healer, and they took the male to another tent just as he completely passed out.

She stood there for a second, her heart in her mouth, taking deep breaths and thinking what the hell could he had seen that put him in that state.

But her thoughts were quickly stolen by the gutural scream that came from the tent behind her back.

Mareena’s heart stoped beating all together, her mind rushing to a state of panic as she ran back in.

Rhysand was knelling in the floor, the other males had taken several steps back, and now looked just as pale and sick as the male that she had just taken out. The smell of blood had intensified to an almost unbearable point, she noticed as well. While her own blood froze in her veins.

Mareena slowly —very, very fucking slowly—, approached Rhys, one of the boxed was open, while the male shook violently on the floor.

At the sight of what lay inside the open box, she then understood the sickness in everyone’s face, the terror reeking out of that male, as well as the gut wrenching despair coming from Rhys.

There, inside, laid Alhena’s severed head.

“Everyone…out,” she said, teeth gritted so tightly they might snap. “Out!” Now she barked, dangerous, dark power pouring from her, and so every other male in the room rushed out holding their own guts together.

Mareena, with her mind blurred with noises and denial, extended a shaky hand towards the still closed box, her heart seemed to have disappeared from her chest, for she no longer could hear it, and only felt a gushing wound were it should be.

She had only managed to open the box for a second, the sight of Valeria’s head finally making her snap.

Rhysand smelled it, felt it, or read it in her horrified expression, and then another scream erupted from him, accompanied with heart wrenching sobs.

Mareena fell to her knees beside him, and as the male cried and shook and sobbed so loudly the whole camp surely heard, the only thing she could do besides silently let the burning tears soak her cheeks, was hold her friend so tightly to her she shook as well with the force of his sobs. Her own scream got stuck in her throat, burning her from the inside-out, making her feel as if something animalistic was ripping her body apart piece by piece.

But she stayed there, completely silent, listening Rhysand’s sobs that would forever stayed inked in her mind, smelling the blood coming out of the boxes, and replaying the image of the little girl’s and the mother’s head while a rage so strong it felt capable of burning that whole camp to the ground, awoke something as dark as the blood pouring down the boxes and into the floor inside of her.

[divinemare]

-ˏˋ⋆ 𝔞 𝔠 𝔬 𝔲 𝔯 𝔱 𝔬 𝔣 𝔤 𝔬 𝔡 𝔰 𝔞 𝔫 𝔡 𝔪 𝔬 𝔫 𝔰 𝔱 𝔢 𝔯 𝔰 ⋆ˊˎ-

└──» ✎ 。 azriel x oc

𝔭𝔞𝔯𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔯𝔢𝔢

┊✧*｡ ✯┊☪︎⋆✧*｡ ┊

╭────────────

╰─➛ part one ╰─➛ part two

A month had passed since Mareena met Viviane and Kallias. A month in which, at first, she had felt a horrible anxiety creeping over her every single day at the “not enough distance” between Spring and Winter, she had insisted —mostly to Viviane— that she had to go to the Night Court, that it’ll be the only place that she would be safe. But then she had learned of the social rank of both of them; Viviane was the second daughter of one of the highest ranked families of the Winter Court, she had an twin sister just minutes older than her. And Kallias…Kallias was the only son of the High Lord, the heir of the ice throne.

That at first had terrified her to the point she almost used her powers against him to escape, even if she had grown to like them, she wasn’t willing to take the risk of being captive again. But then Kallias assured her that he wasn’t going to expose her to her father, much less would he hurt her.

When they had asked about her past and why was she so scared of her family, Mareena had no other option than to tell them everything. Viviane had cried mid story while Kallias’ only palpable reaction had been a subtle flinch once she stoped speaking and the way he seemed not to be able to look at her.

After letting some tears drop, Viviane had bursted in rage, cursed her family’s name and swore that if she ever saw any of them, she’ll freeze their balls out. Kallias had choked to that, while a little laugh escaped Mareena’s rough throat.

“You can stay here. I can protect you,” Kallias’ voice shocked both girls so much that they stopped crying and looked at him in awe.

“W-what?” She stared at the prince of ice with pure confusion in her face.

“We’ll find a way to hide you, find you a new identity, and then once I become High Lord, you can have a place in my court and you’ll be under my protection,” he was so serious, so stone cold faced that it almost seemed he wasn’t offering her a permanent salvation.

Then Viviane gasped and took Mareena’s hand in both of hers, a beautiful smile on her face while she stared at Mareena with big and bright eyes. “You could stay here with us, we’ll take care of you. Maybe I could even convince my father to let you stay in our house. But…” The words got stuck in her throat and the white haired girl had to swallow hard to continue speaking. “If you really don’t feel safe and still want to go to the Night Court —even tho, let me tell you, that isn’t a really pretty place, but rather a nightmare of court—, we’ll find a way to take you there,” Viviane’s smile was genuine, a little bit pained at the thought of Mareena running away, but genuinely understanding.

Mareena’s heart raced so fast she could barely hear anything else. No one had ever been so nice to her in her entire life. Even tho some servants and slaves were somewhat generous, they all had been afraid of her father to be more than that. And she still didn’t knew if what the Lady of Spring had done was out of generosity or pity, either way, Mareena knew the woman didn’t really care for her.

She stared at Viviane and then back to Kallias for a couple of seconds before finally answering. “I-…yes…yes thank you,” her voice was broken and her eyes filled with tears but she smile nonetheless.

Viviane couldn’t stop the cry that left her lips and then throw herself at Mareena’s arms. At first she didn’t knew what was she supposed to do, the female took her by such surprise that even if she wasn’t scared of Viviane anymore, her heart stumble a bit.

“It’s a hug, Mare! You gotta give it back!” Viviane laughed while she still hold her.

Mare, she had never had a good nickname. All of the ones her family had gave her were degrading. But Viviane said it with such a weird appreciation that eased that pressure on her chest. Mareena hugged the ice girl back, and they stayed in that position for a couple of seconds.

No more running, no more hiding, no more fighting to survive. She could find a proper home in the Winter Court, with time she believed she would. For now, she would just held onto the promise of safety. That was more than enough.

☪︎⋆

Another month passed since Kallias and Viviane offered her safety in their court, and it couldn’t be more confusing for Mareena.

Even tho she was beyond grateful for what her friends were doing for her, she still felt a weird sensation deep in her, as if…something was missing. She didn’t tell this to them of course.

A couple of days after the conversation, she had met Viviane’s sister, an equally beautiful girl called Vanessa. Unlike Viv, Vanessa was a little bit more serious and regal, extremely polite and gentle tho, but if one couldn’t tell much of the physical differences between the twins, the personality ones were far too obvious.

She got to see less of Kallias in the next weeks too. Being the only High Lord’s son, he had many responsibilities, besides that also, as Viv had told her, he was looking for a way to get Mareena into the Winter Court.

One day tho, alone in Viviane’s and Kallias’ secret cabin, she felt that something was off. She couldn’t quite place what it was, but there was something making her unexplainably anxious.

She told herself that it was nothing, just the yet too normal paranoia that had been stalking her ever since she escaped her father’s dungeon. But even if she tried her best to forget and push away that feeling, it didn’t quite vanished.

Viviane had arrived at the cabin early in the morning, she was teaching her how to cook at least the basics so that her diet didn’t had to be pomegranates, bread and every amount of food Kallias and the girl could manage to sneak out into the woods. They were going through a simple recipe when Kallias abruptly entered the cabin.

When the door opened with a thunderous bange at the wall both girls jumped slightly, and with sudden fear coating her entire body, Mareena pushed Viviane at her back and started walking away from the kitchen. Her power bursting out of her in an invisible threat to whoever had entered. But when they saw Kallias’ white hair and blue eyes, they relaxed.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to scare you,” even tho the apology was sincere, something sounded off in his voice. Tense.

His face said as much, it was even more contracted than normal and even if he tried to hide his emotions, they were palpable in his disturbed blue cold eyes.

That bad feeling in Mareena’s chest grow even more intense.

“It’s everything ok?” Viviane asked stepping out of Mareena’s back, sensing that same alteration in Kallias.

The boy didn’t say anything for a while, he just looked deep into Mareena’s eyes, trying to say something that his mixed feelings didn’t allowed him to properly express. Then he just sighed and threw his head down. Her heart stopped, she had to swallow hard once.

“You have to go,” he murmured in a rough voice.

Mareena stumbled, but Viviane looked genuinely confused while she approached the male with a frown. “What?”

But Kallias didn’t look up at her, his eyes went straight to Mareena’s. “He is here, they all are here, looking for you. And my father…he’s pissed, very very pissed, somehow he knows that i’m hiding you, he could read it, so he gave your father three days to find you and if he comes near, my father’s magic could be enough to break our barriers. I’m…i’m sorry, Mare.”

She had known it, she had known it all along. That she couldn’t so easily get rid of them, that everything was not fine.

Tears were threatening to escape but she didn’t let one fall. She looked into Kallias’ blue eyes ones more and tried her best not to break while she spoke. “It’s ok, it’s…it’s not you fault. I knew I shouldn’t have underestimated my father.”

Viviane had fallen quiet, when Mareena looked at her she saw that the girl too was trying her best not to cry, but instead she blinked hard and stood tall, looking back at her. “Come on, if we go now we can get to the border by tomorrow, i’ll steal my father’s horses and we can get-”

“No,” Mareena stoped the girl before she could finish talking and shook her head, her eyes were gentle yet pained. “I have already got you both into too much trouble, I don’t even want to imagine what my father could do if he found out you were helping me, i’m not putting you in that kind of danger.”

“But-” Viviane tried to argue, but then again Mareena didn’t allowed it.

“No, Viv, it’s okey, i’ll be…i’ll be ok.” Will she?

Viviane only nodded and like she had done the day Mareena agreed to stay with them, she jumped right into her arms. Only that this time, it wasn’t happiness what bloomed in her voice when she spoke, but rather a sadness that pierced Mareena’s every bones like a cold winter blow. “I’m sorry we couldn’t protect you,” it took everything in her not to cry to that.

“You did more than you could ever imagine for me,” when both girls separated, the white haired excused herself and stormed out of the living room.

Mareena left a sigh escape and rubbed her eyes with her fingers. Her throat had a painful ache and so did her eyes. When she took her hands off her eyes she saw Kallias still standing near the door with both his hands behind his back. He stared at her as if wanting to say something but didn’t knew just how to.

“It’s ok, really, back to my main plan anyways,” she tried her best to give the male a convincing smile, but she was sure the only thing that she could manage right now was a weird frown.

Kallias didn’t say anything, he just started walking towards her with his usual stone cold expression, Mareena didn’t move tho, she was curios of what he was going to do. Once he was in front of her, very, very awkwardly, he started leaning towards her, she still didn’t move, completely surprised when he surrounded her with his arms, a hug, one could say. She had seen him give hugs just to Viviane, the female seemed to be the only one that in fact could make that cold gaze of his melt. Mareena considered Kallias her friend, he had helped her in many ways and had been the one to offer her protection, but they were less physical affective friends in comparison with how they both were with Viviane. They had the type of silent friendship with who you could have deep talks, where there was a silent understanding. Kallias was the type of friend that had little details that meant a lot to her. Like making sure she didn’t run out of pomegranates or sending a white fox to make her company when neither he nor Viviane were able to go to the cabin.

And now, she felt other of those little details. His magic washed through her in a quick powerful wave, and before she could say or ask anything, Kallias pulled away, a little smile playing at the corner of his lips. “You won’t have to worry for the cold outside, you’ll be warm until you reach the border of the court.”

Mareena smiled slightly but immensely grateful and nodded. Before she could thank him for everything, he held her words once again, this time his expression was a bit more serious, yet concern flicked in those ice-like eyes.

“Be careful at the Middle, it’s really dangerous out there. You have the winter’s favor here, i’ll try and make sure nothing bothers you on your way out, but I can’t promise anything once you cross the border,” something like sadness shifted slightly the usual regal tone in his voice.

“I will, thank you. For everything, Kallias,” she’ll never forget the way those two had treated her. How she had found immense warm in a kingdom made of ice and those that were meant to rule its coldness one day.

“Hope I see you again, my Lady,” he bowed with a charming smile playing in his mouth.

She laughed, and like she had seen Vanessa do, she made a curtsy. “May we meet again, Prince of Ice.”

He laughed at the title, and then Viviane was back in the living room. Her bloodshot eye twisted something in Mareena’s heart, but the girl quickly smiled at her as if the tears were nothing. She had one of her big cozy coats and Mareena’s bag in her hands.

“Here, you won’t run out of pomegranates on your trip, and I hope this can give you a sense of comfort,” The white haired said raising the big coat and passing everything to her.

“Thank you,” she smiled to the girl, just a few years younger than her and yet with much more life.

She was going to miss that place, the cabin, her friends and somehow the beauties she had found in the winter. But with her father following her so closely, living in peace, living at all, wasn’t yet an option, wasn’t yet even an aspiration. She had to run until her feet were numb. Then she’ll find a way to live.

☪︎⋆

She was desperate to know what day it was, how much time had passed since she left her temporary refugee in the Day Court. She didn’t even knew if she was still in the Day Court.

It was a horrible feeling, it took her back to the years locked in her dungeon where she had had no track of time. At some point she even forgot how old she was. How much time had passed since she had been stolen from her mother. It was the most horrible feeling. When she started growing up, when she started getting more conscious, that feeling of being so lost almost drove her insane. It would have, if it hadn’t been for the Lady of the Spring Court. The woman who barely acknowledged her, who never listen to her begging and didn’t even spare a glance towards her, was the one who saved her from that insanity.

One day, one of those where she believed she was finally going to die, some human slaves descended to the dungeon and helped her —basically carried her— out, she didn’t knew what was going on, but she was not in the conditions to ask, not even to think properly. They bathed her and feed her and got her ready, she was barely conscious the entire time. Once they had finished with her they gave her some kind of potion that would help her stay conscious and give her some extra needed energy. They took Mareena out of the Manor and even if she was curious, she didn’t ask, she hoped her father had gotten tired of her and would finally kill her. But it wasn’t even close to that.

They introduced her to her knew brother. A little, blond hair, fragile baby named Tamlin. Something in her heart twisted at the sight of him. He looked so different to the other three bastards that had tortured her alongside their father. She wanted to hold him, to look into those beautiful green eyes and be filled with the innocence that radiated from him.

“Why am I out?” Her voice was so rough, so broken. She barely used it, never spoke to them. Never even cried, not anymore at least, when they were doing their twisted things. She cried after in her sleep, she cried once they were out, she screamed when she dreamed of them and her mother and a live she once thought impossible.

“Isn’t it obvios? To meet your knew brother,” her father had said, with such a sweet, fake tone that made Mareena want to throw up.

“And what do I care about him?” She spoke with so much venom, with so much resentment that even the baby seemed to have noticed, for he started to cry and twist in his mother’s arms.

She didn’t intended to hurt him, not him, not that pure and innocent child. But rather her brothers and her father and that fool of a female.

And she did, not her brothers, she saw that they couldn’t care any less for her or even for that baby. She didn’t hurt her father either, she infuriated him. But she did hurt the female she so much resented, for a reason she couldn’t understand. The hurt flashed in that delicate face while she tried to calm her baby down. And when Mareena stared at her father’s face with no more than hate, the male went red, he approached to her in only two big furious steps and stroke her hard in the check. His ringed fingers drew blood from her face, but she didn’t even bothered to clean it, not even to move.

“You’ll show some respect to your brother and mother,” he spit at her with his teeth clenched.

Mareena felt a wave of hot rage going through her at his words, at that she did looked up at him and imitated the way he was clenching his teeth, she had never felt so bold before, but with this new found braveness and scare-less feeling, she spoke with rage and a deadlier venom than before. “She is not my mother.”

She braced herself for the next hit, but it never came, the female behind him stoped her mate before he could tear his daughter apart. “Darling, let’s not scare Tamlin, please, I don’t want him to see his 14 year old sister bleeding when he’s just a baby.”

14 year old…she was…she was 14?

She stared at the lady with wide eyes, the woman stared back at her. She had spilled her age with all the intension in the world. Why tho, she never knew.

That day, the female convinced her mate to let Mareena stay out of her dungeon longer than he intended, to “help her with the baby” and “learn to respect him”. But in truth, the female explained her how much time had passed since her imprisonment and other little aspects of the live she was missing.

Mareena learned that day she had spent 11 years in that hell, that she was actually three months away from her 15th birthday. Once she was back to the dungeon, she made a whole calendar in the wall with a rock and started pointing and noting important things. And then all her plans began to take form.

She hated the female of spring. She resented her. For all those times she had begged for her attention and received non, for all the times her father called her “her mother”, when her real mother was out there and she had already forgotten her face. But she’ll be forever grateful for what she gave her, for what she taught her.

Now, two years after that, she was again forgetting time. And she hated it. She was desperate. She wanted to stop, to have a proper night of sleep, a proper meal, someone that would make her laugh like Viviane had done, someone that would hear her like Kallias had done, she wanted a place to rest. Not in the woods, not in a cave. A warm place.

Nights had become restless when she was in the Middle. That place was awful. At every step she felt observed, everything was colorless and numb. Horrible things crept in the woods, she felt them. But she was grateful she never saw them. For a reason neither of this things approached her, as if she was one of them.

Maybe she was, she would never know.

The Dawn Court had been beautiful, but she didn’t stay more than a week in it, then she had no idea when she reached the Day Court. The solar courts weren’t like the seasonal ones. The seasonal were always ruled by their season, it was always spring, always autumn, always summer or always winter. But in the solar’s it wasn’t always dawn or always day and she supposed already that also wasn’t always night.

Having had repressed her powers showed its disadvantages soon. During her time in the Middle she felt unprotected, even if she didn’t knew how to use her powers, the things lurking that dreaded place bursted with a dark power that made her shiver. She tried to liberate what she had caged deep beneath her, but it didn’t respond the way she expected. It did moved, she felt it twisting in an uncomfortable and awful way, she was afraid of whatever it was, afraid of herself in a way, but yet that thing didn’t came out of its cage, it didn’t matter how hard she tried to liberate it.

That, plus all the other dreadful things happening, was too much. It left her exhausted.

She didn’t knew how long she had traveled by now, day and night had come and go. She had traveled and traveled and traveled, yet she didn’t knew where she was. For now the only thing that was clear was that she was up in a mountain full of forests and that she was so tired she stumbled in the floor.

She didn’t even tried to stand up, she sat in the ground and let her cloths get dirty. Then she started crying. Out of exhaustion, out of frustration, out of rage, out of many other things she couldn’t even named them all.

Then a sound not so far away from her made her tears and sobs abruptly stop, fear took their place instead. She stood up as quickly as her shaking legs allowed her and started backing up trying her best not to make a sound. It was useless tho, whatever it was out there already had heard her crying, smelled her tears and sadness.

Mareena panicked, her heart started beating so fast she thought for a moment it’ll come out of her chest. That also, the thing must be listening, following right now. That terrifying panic made her shot her eyes close hard and burst the remainings of her power out, covering her like an invisible shield, an erratic, unstable shield. The thing felt that power, and then it wasn’t one but two things approaching her.

She bumped into a tree and cursed to the Mother and Cauldron with tears rolling down her face. Nothing had bothered her in all the months she had traveled alone, but now whatever was approaching her felt so powerful, somehow so scary and uncontrolled that it gave her the sensation it was brutally lethal.

Before she could think of an escape, the two things came to view. They were two males. Around her age she could tell, a bit older if so, but they were big, mostly the one with the long hair and hazel eyes. He was at least three times her, intimidating in a way she remembered her father’s soldiers to be but much more than those spring soldiers. But the other one…he was the one with the lethal power she had felt, his violet eyes had a different kind of piercing stare. His body was big —not as big as his companion tho—, and toned, that power rolled around him in a similar way she had felt Kallias’ the first time they met but stronger than even his. He was a different kind of intimidating, he felt her power, she could tell by the way his beautiful eyes searched for her in the shadows. Both males had tan skin and…and wings. Those membranous things were like nothing she had ever seen. Bat-like, bigger than the ones who carried them in their backs.

“Show yourself before we get you ourselves,” the bigger male said, while the one with the short black-blue hair looked to her figure in the shadows like looking into her soul, or trying to, at least, he was somehow surprised, or even annoyed, that he hadn’t found what he was looking for.

When Mareena didn’t responded nor moved, they both did what the long haired one said and came closer to her. She was beyond terrified, and that panic became even bigger than her and released a blow of her power. It took the males by surprised and they both ended up on the floor, baffled.

That burst of power had been more than she expected, leaving her already tired body almost drained. She had to help herself up with the tree at her back, and that left her unprotected for the power of those violet eyes.

Claw-like things suddenly pierced her mind. A weird feeling of being invaded washed through her and she tried to push that thing back. It pushed back, with so much more strength that she had. She did not moved tho, she tried her best not to let it in, but it pushed, and pushed, and pushed. And then it saw something and it stopped, abruptly releasing her mind from those claws. She gasped, confused and terrified of what that had been.

“Are you ok?” The most intimidating male said. His voice was soft, much more than she had expected, and when she looked up at him again, his face had softened, so did his eyes. A weird sincere feeling flashed in his beautiful eyes. When she didn’t answer, he swallowed as if ashamed and stood up from the ground, trying not to wince for the hit he had received from her. “I’m sorry about that. For scaring you and entering your mind. We weren’t sure what or who you were, i’m sorry,” the apology sounded so sincere she was beyond shocked.

The bigger male looked at him with a confused frown and stood up as well, looking between her figure in the shadows and the other male. But before he could say anything, the other spoke again.

“I’m Rhysand, and he is Cassian, if you come out I promise, we promise, we won’t hurt you, we just wanna know who you are,” Mareena looked to the other male, the short haired one sounded and looked sincere, but she wouldn’t move a finger if there was a chance that the other big male would attack her, she was too weak to protect herself from someone like him, he’ll surely tear her apart before she could even scream.

The short haired one —Rhysand— seemed to have understood that feeling, for he looked at his companion in reproach, and they seemed to talk mind to mind for her not to listen for a moment before the long haired —Cassian— looked at her and sighed, something in his face relaxed and she wondered if Rhysand in deed had spoken with him mind to mind and showed him whatever it made him soften towards her. “Yes, i’m sorry, also promise I won’t hurt you.”

There was sincerity in them, also a brutal familiarity Mareena couldn’t understand. Against her every survival instinct shouting, she stepped out of the shadows and into the moonlight. Both Rhysand and Cassian soften even more at her sight.

“I’m…Mareena, and i’m also sorry, for…that,” whatever that had been.

Rhysand smiled warmly, and Mareena felt instantly safe in that charming smile.

“Don’t be, it was impressive, and we kinda deserved it for scaring you,” he laughed a little.

“Yeah, it hurt like a bitch, but it was impressive” the other male said with a more amused laugh and a humor that, surprisingly, made her laugh too.

Both Cassian and Rhysand smiled when they heard that faint laugh coming from her. And Rhysand took a step towards her. Mareena didn’t backed up this time, even if Rhysand’s power was still something that made her uneasy in a way, she also felt somehow save in their presence.

“What are you doing here? It’s not safe to be alone in this woods at night. Did you escaped your camp?“

Mareena stared at them in pure confusion and shook her head. “No, no I-, I did escape but not from a camp, I escaped from my…family”

A painfully deep understanding flashed through both males eyes, as if they too were escaping their own families.

“But you should know that already, don’t you? You were inside my mind,” she told Rhysand, not with resentment, but with genuine curiosity.

“I did, i’m sorry for that again, I saw enough to know that it wasn’t correct to keep digging,” he saw enough. What was that supposed to mean? What was enough? “Also I saw that you’re probably in need of help, if you allow us to provide that for you, I can explain you how did I do it,” his warm smile returned to his deadly handsome face.

“Did you enter again?” She raised a brow at the way he had read her confusion and curiosity.

He laughed at that and slightly shook his head. “No, i didn’t had to.”

Before she could talk tho, something in the air shifted. The shadows that were previously hiding her seemed to recoil and start moving, creeping in an odd way that made her bones go cold and her relaxed face go rigid again. Her heart started racing in a unexplainable way, the air around her was suddenly too heavy to breath. The two males noticed that shift in her, but before they could talk and try to calm her down, her power reacted first, trying to protect her of this new energy around. Then, another male came out of the shadows, no, he transformed out of them, as if he had been the very night shadows before taking the appearance of the most handsome male she had ever seen. And probably, after Rhysand, the most deadly as well. His cold piercing gaze froze Mareena in the spot, she wasn’t able to move or think or talk while her insides were fighting between approaching the male, or running far, far away of him. That last option seemed to be the most rational one.

When the male lifted his gaze to her, he froze as well, his shadows started to move too wildly for their usual stillness and calmness. Some of the shadows around them closed up to her, as if studying her without him commanding them to do so. Something burned inside him, something unknown. She was dangerous, he could feel it deep in his bones.

“Who are you?”

[divinemare]

-ˏˋ⋆ 𝔞 𝔠 𝔬 𝔲 𝔯 𝔱 𝔬 𝔣 𝔤 𝔬 𝔡 𝔰 𝔞 𝔫 𝔡 𝔪 𝔬 𝔫 𝔰 𝔱 𝔢 𝔯 𝔰 ⋆ˊˎ-

└──» ✎ 。 Azriel x Oc

┊✧*｡ ✯┊☪︎⋆✧*｡ ┊

╭────────────

╰─➛ part one ╰─➛ our lovely shadowsinger may or may not appear in the next chapter 👀

It had took her almost two months and a half to get to the Winter Court. After leaving the Autumn Court, she had traveled by foot to the Summer Court, relying on her powers and the sense of trust she gave the nature surrounding her. It was weird, as if the earth didn’t wanted to bothered her nor threatened her but rather help her. She had arrived to Summer a couple of weeks after and had settled there for another few weeks, just to gather strength and more supplies for the next trip.

Some nights she woke up abruptly to the sense of being dragged away, sometimes her consciousness went to the lever of torture of hallucinations, wether they manifested while she was walking in the woods alone and for a second thought of seeing the shape of her father or one of her brothers, hearing something behind her, or even sometimes it manifested on smelling them, the decadence and filth of the dungeon she had lived in. It was a terrible constant feeling of unease, but she knew that feeling wouldn’t stop unless she did what she had to do; put the biggest amount of distant between her family and her.

So she kept urging her feet to walk even if they ached, she urged her senses to awake and to be alert and to not drive her insane. She sang herself to sleep every night. That lullaby that once had been a terribly sweet nightmare was now what kept her mind away from insanity. She thought every night of the possibilities she now held in her hands. She could look for her mother. Once she was somehow settled, she could train the power inside her to be what her family feared, train to be even more powerful than her father. How she would that, she didn’t knew just yet, but she’ll figure it out.

That new goal, that sense of longing and wanting once again kept her head busy, mostly from the paranoia and the risk of falling insane from it. Her mother was out there, somewhere in this vast continent trapped in her cristal prison, as her father had claimed once. Mareena would find her and a way of freeing her. She had a weird hope very deep in her that her mother, if the only memory she had apart from the song was true and not just her imagination, that if her mother had screamed in such rage when she found out her father had stolen her daughter, that the woman would desire nothing more than revenge. Revenge for stealing her from her, revenge for tricking her. And then her father and his entire disgusting family would face the wrath of a full born goddess.

☪︎⋆

At some point, the summer warm weather had started turning into a cold, uncomfortable one. She had been sure to take with her the coats she had stolen in the Autumn Court, thinking that if she had learned anything of the seasonal courts, it was that they followed their names in every sense of the way, and even if she had never experienced winter before, she knew it would be cold for the many stories she had heard of the human slaves at the Manor.

But this, this had turned into too much, she didn’t quite conceive that the cold would be bone-breaking, that it would steal the breath out of her lungs, that her uneven breathing would come out in a cloud of withe mist. The two coats she was wearing weren’t enough, they had kept her warm in the light chilling weather of autumn, but they did no good to keep away the piercing and freezing cold of the winter.

She shivered with a cry, her limbs were hurting in an almost unbearable way. She knew she didn’t have much time left before her body gave up. She thought of going back, of running to the border of summer and winter where the cold was so much more bearable and at least it combined with the summer sun. But now, when she looked back she couldn’t see much more than snow. The wind was blowing violently, snow was falling from the sky so rapidly she couldn’t quit register it. She had nowhere to run, nowhere to go. Then, Mareena felt her whole body go finally rigid and her bones completely freeze. The cold had become unbearable once and for all, piercing through her skin to her very core.

She fell then, collapsed on the floor and fell on her knees, her breath got stuck on her lungs, she couldn’t properly move without every of her limbs screaming in pain. How had she come to this? She left another desperate cry.

She felt that wild power inside her become even more wilder, urging her to stand up, urging her to survive. But she couldn’t, she just couldn’t. So she cried out in pure rage and frustration. It had been that same stupid power that had led her here, that had drove her to her father’s claws and for the one she had suffered so much, for the one she had been tortured and tormented for years. Even now, that same power was mocking her. Pointing all her weaknesses and failures. She hated it. She hated it. She didn’t wanted it.

So she screamed, she screamed as loud and fiercely as her current state allowed her, she screamed at her father and her brothers and even the lady of the Spring Court, at the King of Hybern and Amarantha, at herself, at the supposed Mother and Cauldron she had so many times heard her family claimed as divine, at her powers. She yelled at that that lurked beneath her skin until her throat was raw and her lungs empty of hair. It had taken her last bit of energy out of her. But now she didn’t care, she just didn’t care. Everything had been for nothing.

And all thanks to this stupid useless power.

☪︎⋆

Mareena didn’t quite recall when she had fallen unconscious, there just had been a moment where she stoped feeling and left herself be drove away from all the pain, into the empty darkness that greeted her. It was better than her suffering, she had thought in those last moments of consciousness. But now something was pulling her out of that peaceful darkness, urging her to open her eyes, to rejoin the world. She didn’t wanted to. The world had caused her so, so much pain, she wanted to stay in that peaceful darkness, she had learned to feel comfortable in the shadows, as if they constantly soothed her and tried to take her pain away.

But then a trickle of warm spread down her body, a soft, comfortable and delicious feeling of heat replaced the late mortal cold. Sounds started to come to live and so did other sensations in her body. She was probably dead, because there was no way her unconscious body had carried itself to a warmer place than the killing cold she had been through.

A fire then cracked in the distance. Where the hell was she?

A shiver went down her spine, forcing her to open her eyes. She regret it instantly. Once her eyes were open, they started hurting and taking that pain up her head too. Images were blur, she couldn’t focus anything surrounding her but it was more than evident that she wasn’t in the cold forest anymore. There were no trees, no snow, but…a fire.

“She’s awake!” Then she heard a voice. A female, delicate one. Her senses jumped awake at it, she jumped slightly when she was finally able to focus a girl seated in-front of her. Fear began creating in her now warm body and the urge of defending and protecting herself called every bit of power inside her.

But then she realized, she didn’t quite…felt it anymore, no, that wasn’t right. She did felt it, it was just that now it was deep inside her, locked. Her power was locked. Not all of it, she could still feel the remains twisting more calmly inside her, but that deadly part was gone, locked very very deep in her, so that if she concentrated enough she could stop feeling its throbbing and instead felt a weird ease. She didn’t knew how she had done it, maybe that intense hate for it minutes before she had fell unconscious had been enough to cage that part of her. Whatever it was, a sigh of relief almost escaped her.

Almost, if she hadn’t have two total strangers in front of her.

Mareena made a desperate move to get away, tried to call the remains of the power she could still strongly feel. The male, who she hadn’t seen until now, made a quick move to take the female away and put her behind him. A deadly threat lingered in his eyes and Mareena could feel his power surrounding him and the female he was now protecting with his body. That just made the situation even worst for her, left her more afraid and more protective, she too let that piece of remaining power escape her and surround herself, she, and both strangers, were surprised of how much it was, of how strong it felt. Mareena then remembered what using her power caused on her, and she looked to her body in search of that unnatural glow. But there wasn’t one. Whatever she had done to contain her magic had had an effect on the qualities of it.

She was relieved tho, that this strangers would not see that part of her, that she wouldn’t see that part of her anymore.

“No wait!” The female, who now that she had a better vision of and could make on her white hair, icy blue eyes and soft delicate features, stepped out of the protection that her companion gave and instead put herself between Mareena and the male. The young female first looked at her with something like awkward regret and then at the male with reproach, Mareena braced herself, waiting for whatever the white haired was going to say but never lowering her shield of power. “She’s afraid, can’t you see? Don’t be an ass, Kall.”

The male, with the same white hair and almost-gray blue eyes, but much taller and with harder features, opened his mouth in disbelief. But the girl didn’t let him speak, instead she turned to Mareena and gave her an apologetic smile, she didn’t came any closer than a step but didn’t looked a bit scared, more like she wanted to give her some space to brace herself. “I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to scare you, I was just relieved you woke up, I have been worried about you. I’m Viviane, by the way, what’s your name?”

Mareena opened her eyes in surprise, this female was claiming to have been worried about her, even tho they didn’t even knew each other. She didn’t answer for a while, just stared between the female, named Viviane, and the male that Viviane had called Kall. They didn’t looked like brothers even tho their hair and eyes were almost the same. While Viviane had this sweet, warm and friendly aura, still smiling at her, Kall was more…cold. Ice. Mareena saw it in his eyes, in the way he stood and the air that flowed around him. He was like ice, as if snow had slowly build a male and it had come to live. For the way he stared at her, Mareena could just figure which one of the two had been the one to propose saving her from the cold.

She stoped staring at him, something in his cold stare froze her bones, reminding her of how she had felt outside in the freezing winter. Instead she looked at Viviane, the beautiful female was still waiting patiently for Mareena to say something, smiling lightly and resourcing. Even if her eyes were like ice, Mareena felt an unfamiliar warm in her chest. She was younger than her, or at least looked younger, the male looked her age if not a little bit older, but she focused on the soft and friendly stare of Viviane’s blue eyes. Maybe…maybe she had good intentions.

“I’m…” She said in such a low voice that Viviane had to lean a bit over, even Kall did so too.

The white haired noticed the anxious and unsure look in her eyes and somehow she managed to softer her gaze, sitting again slowly in font of her. “Don’t worry, Kallias can act like an idiot, but he’s actually good and won’t hurt you, nor will I,” somehow those words managed to calm Mareena a bit more, and she showed that by releasing a breathe and relaxing her shoulders a bit.

She dropped her gaze to her hands, just now she realized she was wrapped up in an enormous blanket, it was white with blue patters, beautiful and incredibly cozy and warm. “You were so cold when we found you out there that Kallias had to use his own powers to extract some of the cold,” Viviane said, bringing Mareena’s attention back to her and then to the male. Kallias was now looking at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the room and refusing to keep the intense eye contact they had held just minutes ago. “Thank you,” Mareena said, surprising herself with how rough and deep her voice sounded, it was probably due to her screaming.

Kallias raised his eyes at her again, and after a moment of nothing more than pure icy seriousness in his face, he relaxed just a bit when he saw the sincerity in Mareena’s gratitud. “Your welcome.”

Viviane tried and failed not to smile, happy to see that they weren’t starring at each other as if waiting for the other to attack so the other could do so too. Mareena looked at the female again, and a bit more relaxed now, letting her power settle down again, answered Viviane’s question. “Mareena. I’m Mareena.”

Viviane smiled wildly and Mareena could see she was restraining herself and her excitement, Kallias saw it too and decided to step closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder, as if speaking to her in a language Mareena couldn’t understand but sure they could. Kallias then looked at her, and with a softer look in his face, yet still cold, he spoke; “We got to go now, someone will come looking after us if we don’t go back. Do you need us to take you somewhere? Perhaps, with your family?”

Every warm her body had recovered instantly drained off her. “No! No please don’t,” the fear in her voice left Viviane and Kallias so surprised they couldn’t hide the looks of it. Something like pity and concern flared on Viviane’s face. The girl leaned over and took Mareena’s hand in hers. To her surprise, the female that seemed to be as cold as the weather was as warm as her smile, and again, another unknown feeling filled her.

“We won’t. You can stay here and no one would find you, don’t worry. Kall it’s right, we have to go back before someone starts looking for us. But we will come back, I promise, and you can tell us what happened if you’re comfortable then. We will bring some food, too, we don’t have much here. Are you hungry?” Viviane asked softly, still holding her hand and with the same concern slightly twisting her face.

Mareena shut her eyes and sighed in pure relief, she trusted Viviane’s words for a reason, and to show her gratitud she slightly squeezed the female’s hand in hers and when her eyes where open again, relief washing away the fear in her face, she shooke her head. “No, i’m okey, thank you,” then, a thought crossed her mind and she stared looking for something in the room. “Where’s my bag?”

Kallias didn’t say a word as he walked away from them and went to a pick something from the floor across the room that was beneath a pill of much bigger coats than the ones she had wear. He handed it to here and Mareena smiled slightly in thanks. When she opened to check if her food and stolen things were still there, she sighed in relief at the sight of them.

“I’ll be ok, I have enough for the night,” she smiled to Viviane showing the girl one of the pomegranates and pieces of bread she had. Viviane smiled back and nodded, releasing her hand and standing up from the couch. “Well then, we’ll see you later! Please feel at home, I promise to come as soon as we get rid of the annoying court people,” Viviane rolled her eyes, and at that she received a stern look from Kallias but she completely ignored it.

Kallias showed her the entirety of the cabin then, they had brought her to one of the two bedrooms of it after finding her in the woods. There was a bathroom with a bathtub that he promised it’ll be hot whenever she would feel in need of a bath, and for the way he said it, she figured out she was in need of a bath. There was also the little and cozy kitchen and living room, the living room had also a fire, cracking and warming comfortably the place. Kallias had assured her that the cabin was enchanted and that no one apart from them both was able to see it or enter if they didn’t allowed it. That caused her to release a big sigh of relief, and she suspected Kallias had said it to help her undo that pressure on her stomach and the tightness that still hung her shoulders.

Then he and Viviane were gone. The female told her again that they’ll come back, as if she was afraid that Mareena would ran away, but what Viviane didn’t knew was that she had nowhere to run, that, currently, was the safest place for her. Where her family couldn’t find her. If what Kallias had claimed was true.

When they were gone, Mareena explored a bit more in deep the cabin. “Feel at home”, Viviane had said, but even if she meant it right, Mareena could never feel at home, would never want to be at home. Home had been a nightmare, a suffering place that had left scars on her skin.

Quite literally.

Once she finished her tour, she went straight to the bathroom. The bathtub was already full and steaming water. She took off her clothes and stared at herself in the long mirror. She had very, very slowly been gaining weight in this last three months. Her bones where still visible but at least she wasn’t mere skeleton anymore. Then she turned halfway around and stared at her back with a frown. It was full of scars, horrible scars covered almost all her of it. She didn’t let herself think of what had caused each of them, in which situation they had come to be. One tear spilled down her face but she wiped it away fast enough for it not to get halfway.

She stoped looking at her damaged back and wiped away all those horrible memories before sinking into the bath, the heat of the water made her release a sight. It felt so, so good. She had never had such a bath before, she could barely bath back at the Spring Manor. Just when the stink was too much, her father ordered the servants to bath her while the human slaves cleaned the disgusting and beyond filthy dungeon.

Now she was in a hot bathtub, in a beautiful cabin. And she was, for once, truly relaxed.