#acotoar series

[mamadoe]

🍁 The Forgotten Sister - Chapter 5

The group searches for more information in regards to Mother’s disappears and find more than they expect.

~~~

Complete Masterlist

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Warning || brief description of physical abuse (whipping); discussion about affairs; some emotional damage

Word Count || 4044

~~~

The days that follow my meeting with Eris blend together like paint mixing on a palette. Moving from the tower to a small room in the west wing has thoroughly freed up my time. My days once preoccupied with isolation have turned into buzzing activity. Being able to just leave my room whenever I want is freeing in the most blissful way. But with my impending date to leave set in stone, all my waking hours are preoccupied with the search for more of Mother’s letters.

From the moment I wake up well into the afternoon, I spend my time in Mother's room with one of my brothers, finally getting the one-on-one time I only ever dreamed of. Each has their own sense of humor and a different brand of awkwardness as we navigate figuring out each other. We all have come to the understanding that just because Father doesn’t want us interacting doesn’t mean we can’t try to connect in the short time I have left here. A couple of my younger brothers are more open-minded, and it makes it easier to talk with them; the others aside from Eris have chips on their shoulders, but we manage to figure out how to communicate and learn what to talk about to occupy our time together. I quickly realized they are on some sort of rotation - each day I spend some time with someone different. Eris explained on the first day that they had their own schedules around Father’s and each of them had to be available to him when he called. Their lives are far more complicated than I dared try to understand.

After the first few days, though, I realize Lucien hasn’t come to take part in the letter hunt, and one of my younger brothers confirms that he left the castle to live with an old friend of his, the High Lord of Spring, a male by the name of Tamlin. He vaguely speaks of something that had happened recently regarding a curse, something about the Mountain I could see from my tower’s windows facing the west, a diabolical woman named Amarantha, and a human woman who became one of us fae, but when I ask more questions, he recoils from the subject. I get the feeling that Father doesn’t like them talking about it, so I don’t push for answers. I’m sure I’ll get the chance to ask later. Though I would be lying if I didn’t say my interest is piqued.

As the days trickle by and we idly recall stories of our childhoods, we work by flipping through the pages of each and every book from Mother’s extensive collection. She loves to read so much that she has an entire wall of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and since Eris had originally found a couple of her letters amongst some pages, we have been tasked to hunt for more. Since starting a few days ago, we have found three more letters, but their meaning is still lost on us.

“What does this even mean?” Eris growls as he reads the letters. He finally managed to slip away to check on our progress. I shrug, having read them multiple times by now and still don’t understand what her scrawlings were referring to.

“I don’t know,” I call from a stool in front of one of the far bookcases as I thumb through what feels like the millionth book. My fingers are ever so slightly calloused from the edges of the pages skimming past their sensitive tips for hours on end. “It’s obvious she wasn’t happy, but otherwise, none of what she wrote rings any bells for me.” The muffled tap of Eris’ foot on the rug-laden floor carried through the room as he contemplates. The soft shut of a book signals my other brother’s leave. I guess it is about midday already, and he has to meet Father. After he slips from Mother’s cluttered, dark room lit with only a few fae lights, it’s just the two of us. We work silently for a while before Eris stands from Mother’s bedside and comes over to join me by the shelves.

“I know we are missing something.” A book falls into his hand, and he begins to thumb through it. I close my finished book, reshelve it, and move onto the next. “Surely, there has to be something else here.”

“Well, let’s think about it. We know she wasn’t happy. Father has been awful to all of us, and she had no way to stop it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it all just… became too much,” my words drift off as we page flip in silence, both contemplating what that would mean.

“Still… If she were to do that, you would think she would have left an easy-to-find note or something, so we wouldn’t worry.” I can tell; he’s tense and his voice is drawn tight.

“That’s true. I mean, she was keeping secrets, too. Her effort to hide these letters proves that much. She knew Father wouldn’t find them in the books,” I pause and look at the finished bookcases to my left. As we discovered the letters, I made sure to mark the books, just in case they were clues themselves, and the three little paper flags sticking out from between the books almost glow against the darkness of the book spines.

“Right,” he agrees and moves onto the next book. “It’s my understanding that their courting was an arranged one. She was still young when they joined. Well over five hundred years with a male she doesn’t like, building a whole family with him…,” he trails off as if lost in thought. “I can’t imagine that kind of torment, the confusion that would conjure.” I nod and put my book back in its place. How long had I been sitting here? At least an hour, I think. I carefully find my footing and stand, giving my entire body a good stretch, eliciting a loud groan.

“At this rate, we won’t make it through all the books before I leave.” I take a few steps to the nearest paper flag and look at the spine of the book it marks. It’s dark red in color, old, with gold leaf embellishing the indented details on either end of the spine. I can’t read the title; it must be an old language I was never taught when I was getting tutored. “Can you read this?” I point to the spine. He stops and comes over, tracing the letters just as I did.

“No. But I can tell it’s old, probably from a few thousand years ago,” he speculates, his fingers brushing the underside of his chin as he thinks.

“But the book isn’t that old, is it?” I carefully pull the book free from its seat on the shelf and eye the binding, which looks fairly crisp and fresh as if it were just bound and only read a couple times.

“Not necessarily. The pages look about that old, but the covers and binding look like it was redone recently, relatively speaking.” His eyes narrow as he catches what I’m throwing out. “She had this rebound.” I nod in agreement.

“I think so, or she got it from someone who did. It’s a shame we can’t read it,” I click my tongue and return the book to its spot on the shelf, before stepping a couple shelves down to the next one. This time it’s a vibrant emerald green spine, silver leaf detailing, but this time, the title is clear. “Adamant, Amethyst, and Opal,” I read as I pull it from the shelf. “Gemstones?” As I’m thumbing through, my eyes catch ink illustrations jumping from the pages.

“Depending on the use, I think,” he states as he takes the book from my hands and skims until he finds a large title page with “Adamant” penned in detail and then turns the page to read. “Adamant is an old word used for diamonds, but more recently we use it to describe indestructible stone.” He sucks on his teeth as his eyes scan the page. “This writing,” his brows furrow in frustration, “doesn’t really say how it’s being used here, but I think this might be an older depiction of using it in spell work. I can’t be sure, though. I’ll have to reach out to a friend to check.”

“Like the friend looking into Farren?” I nudge his arm with my elbow lightly as I turn to go to the last paper flag.

“Actually, the same friend,” he laughs lightly, my nudge taking him out of his seriousness if only for a moment. “Speaking of whom, I should be hearing back from him in the next day or so about our little scholar.” He continues to skim through the pages of the second book as I reach for the first. This was the book we found the first letter inside when we started our obsessive search a few days ago, an old, worn journal, but the pages were empty. No title, nothing on the binding. Just an empty leather journal she never used. I skimmed the pages quickly, fanning them out in front of me, just doing a quick check. Sure enough, not a word is written inside.

“You might want to just give him that book then. See what your little spy friend can dig up.” I return the journal to its spot and turn to Eris, who’s still looking through the pages attentively.

“I will. In fact, I think I’ll give him both of these, just in case. He might know a friend of a friend who can decipher that one,” he gestures to the ancient book, and I step around him to grab it off the shelf for him.

“Think he will be able to get it all back in time?” I question as I slide it under the gemstone book in his hands.

“I hope so, but we will see. If it takes longer, you know I’ll keep in touch,” he smiles and sets the books on the bed before turning to the shelf with me to continue our search.

“Something is bothering me, though,” I pause as I sit back down on the stool to continue my search through the books on the bottom shelf, “In one of her letters, she said she was scared of the consequences of something. What was she so scared of that she couldn’t even write it?” My hands busy themselves with flipping through pages, but after a moment I realize Eris has frozen beside me. I glance up at him, and his expression is that of surprise, eyes a little wider than normal. “What is it?”

“I found another letter,” is all he rasps before he sets the book down and unfolds the piece of paper, his eyes wildly skimming the page. At first I remain perched on the stool, looking up at him waiting for him to tell me it’s just another dead end, but the words that slip from his lips surprise me.

“By the Gods,” Eris whispers as he reads. I quickly stand and press close to try to skim the page. My eyes widen as I get to the part that must have caught his attention. My eyes pinpoint the words - I miss my love.

“What does that mean?” I question, eyebrow raising with my own surprise. I guess technically she could be talking about anything, but in context with the rest of the letter, it sounds more like a person. He doesn’t answer right away as he continues to read. “Eris?” I nudge him. All I get in response is a strangled laugh.

“I always had a feeling, but I never said anything,” he chokes out. When I meet his eyes, I can see a swirl of emotions there - confusion, relief, terror. When he looks at me, it shifts to sadness and concern.

“What?! What is it?” I whisper as if someone is listening behind the door.

“Mother had an affair,” is all he manages, and my blood stills, but my heart feels like it is about to beat right out of my chest.

“With who? When?” I quiz him, but when he doesn’t say anything and instead just stares at me, I realize why. “You don’t think…”

“Well, I-... I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense, you-,” he stutters out before he bites his tongue, processing this revelation. My heart sounds like a drum beating in my ears. Surely, that can’t be true. “You have Father’s fire. I mean, I saw it at dinner, in your eyes! You may not know how to wield it yet, but it’s there. You must be his. At the same time, based on this letter… We need to figure out when she wrote this.” He can barely catch a breath, his mind racing as he spits out his connecting thoughts. We both stare at the letter in silence, reading and rereading her scrawlings. I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around the idea of Father not being mine biologically. And yet…

“You don’t think… You don’t think Lucien…?” our eyes meet again as we both arrive at the same assumption.

“That would explain why Father hates you both so, if he even has the slightest idea,” he breathes a heavy sigh. “This complicates things. If he has even a shred of evidence that this is true, you both are in serious danger. Even if it’s not true, if he even just thinks this is the case, he will act on it.” I swallow hard as the memory of him whipping my back flashes before my mind’s eye and makes my scars ache. An uncontrollable tremble rocks through me at the thought of facing his wrath again. My shaking draws his attention, and his emotion-filled face eases. “Breathe, Althea.”

“Where were you that day? The day he-,” I cut off my own words to keep a sob from bubbling up in my chest. At first he doesn’t respond as if he doesn’t know what I’m talking about, but as he recognizes my terror, his lips press into a thin line.

“I wasn’t here. I only found out when I returned that night, and I could hear your screams and cries from your care room.” He lightly touches my hand, seeing I’m no longer present with him, the memories replaying in my mind. “You did nothing wrong to deserve that.” Trembling like a mouse about to be stepped on, I look up at him, and the gentle face looking back at me hurts. Where was this tender, caring brother when I was just a child and needed his protection?

“You know that wasn’t the only time, right?” I choke, and his eyes widen in concern, his mouth opening as if to speak but the words fail to come. After clearing my throat hard as if swallowing down the memories themselves, I continue.

“If he finds out, he won’t stop at just a whipping.” A sob threatens to take me, but I persevere. “He won’t stop until I’m dead, Eris. He can never know about either of us.” Shaking like a leaf, I start to fold in on myself, wrapping my arms around my core, making myself small.

“Of course,” is all I hear before he pulls me close, holding me tight. The tears come in waves as he comforts me, his hand stroking my hair. “He will never know, not if I can help it.” He holds me for I don’t know how long, but my shaking frame finally releases its tension and my tears dry up. When I pull back and wipe my tears, his face looks just as pained as I feel.

“The letters, where are you keeping them?” my voice is just a husk of what it was before crying as I compose myself.

“Well, I was keeping them in my study, but now I think it would be wiser to just leave them in here for the time being. He never comes to this side of the castle, so it’s the safest place.” Nodding, I agree. “First things first - we need to find out when she wrote this letter. That is the key to determining if our assumption is right in the first place.” Again, I nod, glancing at the book the letter came from. I recognize it immediately. Damn the Cauldron. My trembling fingers grab it, the maple leaf on the front familiar.

“Mother used to read this to me when I was a child. I would trace the leaf on the front as she read,” I whisper as I hold the book close. Eris lets out an almost disgusted laugh.

“Of course she did,” he scoffs. “That confirms a theory, at least. These books, they mean something to her. It’s why she picked them. Probably so she could find them if she needed to.” We both look at the remaining bookshelves, puzzling how many more days it is going to take to finish going through them all. With the deepest of sighs, Eris brushes back his hair. “We better get to work then.” After stacking the letter with the others on the bed, he rolls up his sleeves and sets to work on the next bookshelf. Taking a moment to just breathe, I grapple to gather my composure more. Gods be damned, we are going to be here all night. After placing another paper flag with the story book, I return to my stool and get to work on the bottom shelves.

As the day ticks by, we work in silence, both processing our revelation in our own time. With renewed vigor, we make it through three more bookshelves but do not find any more letters. As evening approaches, Galena arrives. She is the only maiden entrusted to serve us in here while we search. Thankfully, Eris hasn't said anything about Galena spending her nights with me since the dinner, even if it were just for the comfort of having her there, so he seems to trust her enough. When she brings in the trays with our dinner, our hands are tired and our eyes ache from our search. Her arrival heralds a break, but it is short lived. We set back to work on the books once more, but this time Galena joins the search. Eris raises a brow at her but when she removes her apron and shoes, she insists, and he doesn’t tell her no, so the three of us search well into the night. Eris calls it quits first since he was awake before either of us, leaving Galena and me alone.

“Have you had any luck?” she whispers from a couple bookshelves away. So far, we have only gone through half the shelves, despite our efforts. My hands rub my exhausted eyes as I try to rejuvenate them for a final push.

“We found a letter earlier,” I whisper in return, shaking my hands out before grabbing a new book. “It caused more questions than answers, as usual. We are hoping another letter will clarify.”

“Ah,” she glances at the letters still stacked on the bed. “Do they seem connected somehow?” she questions as she sets her book back in its slot on the shelf and approaches the letters, fanning them out on the bed so she can read them all together.

“I don’t know. Alone, they seem pretty incoherent, jumping from thought to thought. I would think there has to be at least a couple more letters in here, but who knows? Maybe she just wrote them when she was feeling some sort of way to vent and then just stashed them away because she was afraid to throw them out of fear of a servant handing them off to Father.” My tone comes across more stern than I intend because of how tired I am. She hums softly as she analyses the papers side-by-side.

“Well, they’re all written on the same kind of paper, so theoretically they were all written around the same time,” she contemplates, and I hear her pace along the side of the bed, looking at each of the letters in her own time. She is silent for a few minutes as she thinks, and I keep my eyes down at the pages flashing before me. “If that’s the case, they may have come from a journal where she wrote these back-to-back,” she eventually whispers. Galena mulls over this information as I continue the search. Her soft gasp upon reading the newest addition we found today is the only sound in the room aside from the shuffling of the letters and her bare feet crossing the room to meet me. She quickly kneels to my left, pages in hand.

“I don’t want to talk about the letter,” I whisper, figuring she’s about to ask about the new one. I’m too tired to deal with all the emotions that sprout around that entire situation. Instead from the corner of my eye, I see she is holding the original letters Eris found.

“Althea, I think I’m onto something. Look.” She kneels and points to the letter on top of her stack. “In the first one, her writing is extremely vague. She could be talking about anything. The next gets a little less vague, but it’s not much better.” She flips the letters as she whispers to me, but my eyes are on the pages of the book in my hand as I thumb through. However, her nudge pulls my attention to her. “It’s dark in here, so it’s hard to see, but on the other letters, I can faintly see that these were stacked, indentations from writing on the page before imprinting on the next.” I watch her fingernail trace the edge on what looks to be a blank part of the page, but as my eyes focus, I vaguely make out the ghost of a partial letter indentation.

“Huh, good eye,” I compliment as I take the page and hold it closer to my face to get a better look. She smiles proudly from her discovery.

“If we are gentle about it, we may be able to take another sheet of paper and shade on top to get the ghost of the writing imprint. At the very least, we could figure out the order or how many letters are missing between the ones we already have. I doubt we will be able to decipher a whole letter this way, but it would be a start,” she says as she rubs her neck, her bashful nature kicking in. I nod again and pass the letter back to her.

“Think you could do that in the morning?” My voice is dry, my eyes are sore, my back aches. I’m thoroughly exhausted.

“Sure thing.” She nods, giving my shoulder a light caress. “The one from today…” she trails off, gauging where I’m at with it.

“I know. We aren’t certain yet,” is all I can say. I am too far gone to think of a more coherent thought. I want to tell her everything we theorized, but I just don’t have the energy. She nods and gives my shoulder a gentle squeeze to pull my eyes from the book in my hands, and she smiles when I make eye contact.

“Let’s stop for the night. Pick back up in the morning, alright? You already made so much progress today.” She takes the book from my hands when I protest, but I quickly realize my will to fight is gone. Maybe I do need to get to bed. With a sigh, I take the letters from her other hand and go to tuck them beneath the cushion of the arm chair in the corner. Eris took the gemstone book and ancient text when he left, so he would have them on hand when his spy friend reports to him tomorrow. After turning off the fae lights, I let Galena lead me down the hall to my room, and when I see my own bed, I don’t even take the time to change my clothes. The call of sleep draws me into my covers, and I don’t even remember falling asleep. ~~~ Previous Chapter --- Next Chapter

#acotar #acotar oc #acotar fluff #acotar world building #autumn court #vanserra sister #the forgotten sister #acotoar series #sjm trash #sjmaas #fanfic #surprise motherfucker #we're here for the plot

[the-immortals]

Well this is my first attempt at Feyre Archeron from acotoar series ; i used Alycia Debnam-Carey cause she’s my perfect choice for Feyre. Hope you like ;) 

#feyre archeron #Alycia Debnam Carey #sarah j maas #acotar #acomaf #acowar #rhysand #feyre cursebreaker #defender of the rainbow #starfall #book #fae

[mamadoe]

🍁 The Forgotten Sister - Chapter 3

Althea gets some after care after the traumatic dinner.

~~~

Complete Masterlist

Also on AO3

Warning || brief discussion of previous chapter; depictions of burns & scars; explicit sexual content; wlw interactions & sexual content; adult themes

Word Count || 4737

~~~

Everything burns as I lay collapsed on the floor. From the physical to the spiritual, everything feels like it is being burned away to ash. Too enthralled with my pain, I don't even register Galena's gasp and hurried steps as she rushes across the room from my connected bathroom. Only her gentle touch on my arm pulls me from my weeping. Through my tears, I look up at her, but my vision is thoroughly censored with my tears. I can only make out her vague silhouette and recognize her whisper of a voice.

"M-Miss Althea, what's wrong with-," Galena can't even find her words to describe what she is seeing. You’re a collapsed mess, red in the face to the point it looks like you were held to a fire, your body trembling against the stone of the floor. The dress is stained with sweat, and your hair is disheveled from the perfectly-manicured style she had given you before dinner. Of course, Galena has seen you upset before, has been your shoulder to cry on countless times in the past few years of being your primary maiden, but she has never seen you like this. "What happened?" she whispers softly, trying to gauge if she needs to provide aid.

"G-Galena," my voice is foreign as my strained cries break for a moment, "he is selling me," are all the choked words I can muster before the sobs rise again, and I lose myself in another wave of painful tears. Her eyes widen, realizing the weight of my words. She doesn't know what to say or do aside from trying to hold me, but when she shifts to do so, she realizes I'm beyond hot to the touch, heat radiating from my core like a furnace, far hotter than a fever. Nervously, Galena looks around and sees the chair under the doorknob. Ironically, the room I have viewed as my prison for so long has turned into the only space I can find refuge right now. After a moment to process, a heavy sigh passes her lips, and she very gently strokes my arm with the backs of her fingers, trying to draw my attention to her instead, which works if only for a moment.

"Come now, let's get you in the bath, alright?" Her voice is almost a tender coo, her words carefully chosen to ease my pain. A shuddering sob rakes through me once more as I turn over onto all fours. She keeps her hands on me to reassure me and help guide me to my feet before she leads me to the bathroom. Thick steam from the already-run bath that she prepped for me as I had asked before heading down to dinner greets us, but it feels like a cool mist against my exposed skin. The next moment she is pulling off my dress and peeling the corset away from my form, revealing that my undergarments are completely soaked through with sweat. "Oh dear," Her tone comes across as concerned, but she is trying to pull her reins in to not alarm me. She makes quick work of my undergarments, but again pauses when she stares at my back. Before her eyes, the scars that riddle your back look almost fresh, appearing red instead of ageworn and pale. Trying to not draw your attention, though, she guides you into the tub, which doesn't feel as hot as it should be, considering the steam hanging in the air. It barely feels luke warm against my bare skin, but in this case, I’ll take that as a good thing as I allow myself to sink right up to my collarbone. Galena sits on the tub's side, gently coaxing my hair free from the remaining style that hadn't shaken free from my wild run up the stairs, and she very carefully removes the pearls from around my neck, realizing they left small, circular burn marks against my skin. Alarmed, she hurries to a cabinet along the opposite wall and rummages around, but I am not paying her any mind. At this point, I am completely fried. All my focus is gone. My eyelids feel heavy, but I resist the urge to close them for fear of passing out in the bath. Quickly, Galena is back at my side, a salve glistens on her fingertips as she applies it to the little circular burns around my neck, pulling a soft groan from me. It feels almost like a sizzle, a wet blanket being thrown over an out of control fire.

"Thank you," I manage to croak, my throat still feeling the effects of an active blaze. I finally start to come back to the present with her after the burning feeling begins to pass.

"Of course," she tries to smile, but I can see the worry in her eyes now that my tears have finally dried up. We sit in silence together for a few moments, letting the salve do its work and the bath water calm my fried nerves, and sure enough, the almost literal boiling heat that was ablaze beneath my skin starts to falter. "Miss Althea, you don't need to tell me, but if you're comfortable... what happened?" her whisper carries through the silent room and hangs in the air with the steam between us. I sit with her question for a few more moments, recalling the big beats of the evening. After some hesitation, I clear my sore throat and begin to recount to her all that happened, at least what I could remember. It was all a blur already, but I keep a level head long enough to get the main points across. She tries to sit silently through it all, but every so often, her soft gasp or a 'by the Gods' slips from her. She continues to reassure me with her ghostly-light touch on my shoulder. By the time I am caught up to meeting her here, my eyes are burning with tears again, and she has released some tears of her own.

"He made me leave before I could hear who bought me," I whisper across the surface of the bath water. The room is so quiet that the sound of a drip from the tub's old tap resounds in our ears. It was an older, more primitive design than what I knew to be common across Prythian now, unless you lived in a small village where plumbing is a luxury. Galena doesn't know what to say, her thoughts speeding through her own mind, just as mine had at the dinner table.

"We... We will figure this out," is all she can muster, giving my shoulder a little squeeze before standing to put the salve jar away. I let myself sink into the tub until the water is just below my nose, my breath causing ripples in the water. I try to rummage through my thoughts in an attempt to recall all the faces of the males who stood before me, practically drooling over my hand. Which one will my father decide I deserve? What life will I be damned to by his choice? After the soft shut of the linen cabinet, Galena's steps return to the tub, a plush towel replacing her where she once sat on the tub's edge. "I'm going to find you a change of clothes, alright?" she gauges where I am mentally, discerning if she can leave me alone for a while. I give her a slight nod, and she is gone. Just my almost silent breath and the drip of the tap are left once she exits back into the bedroom. I listen to her as she makes her way across the room as if marking off a check list - the shuffling of the long, cascading curtains being drawn, the opening a couple drawers from my old dresser, and the scuffling of her leather-bottomed shoes across the stone are all familiar sounds up here.

With my internal heat finally succumbing to the water's pull, I relax, my eyes closing, letting my mind wander. I always knew that my father's power of fire was bestowed to all his children, but by the time I was born, the power was weak, and all I was left with were cinders. While my father is able to summon flames right from his fingertips, I can only manage to make my own blood boil, never able to cast the heat out beyond myself. I guess tonight was the closest I've ever gotten to doing just that. He had to have seen my skin flush red, the fire in my eyes as I cast my anger towards him, and yet with a slight tone of his voice shifting, the air in the room was stifling. To have such power in the hands of a man so cruel is dangerous. I wonder if Eris can manage the same mystical prowess our father has or if he, too, only bears cinders until Beron passes.

With a sigh, I grab the rag set atop the towel and start to gently wash my raw skin. Already it is beginning to heal from my burning from within, one of the perks of being high fae, but it is still tender and sensitive to the rough texture of the rag. Even the little burns around my throat are already fading, thanks to the salve doing its work. Shortly, I'm clean and drying myself, padding my way to the bedroom. It's dark with the curtains drawn, but I'm sure the sun has set by now. The only lights are the small fae lights on the nightstands, casting a warm glow over the cream bedding. Galena stands from her seat at the table in the middle of the room, nodding to me as she quickly scurries to the bathroom to drain the tub. The stone feels cold under my wet feet as I ruffle the towel over my hair. My change of clothes lays neatly at the end of the bed, set out with the utmost care. After draping the now damp towel over the back of a chair, I pull my night dress on. I decide against pulling on my undergarments to limit friction as much as possible. Without hesitation, I pull back the covers and slide in between the linen sheets on my bed. Snuggling into the pillows and pulling the covers tightly around me to the point of almost disappearing in a blanket heap gives me comfort. Galena returns, putting away my undergarments and taking care of my towel. My eyelids are heavy, but I can't sleep, not with my mind buzzing with the events of the evening and the anticipation of what is to be my near future.

The patting of Galena's shoes on the floor is rhythmic and calming as she paces around the room, busying herself with her nightly routine. Before long, she pauses, contemplating what she should do. On one hand, this is when she usually dismisses herself for the evening, but on the other, with the chair in front of the door and Althea's situation a complicated one, she doesn't feel right leaving her friend. Instead, she goes to the end of the bed.

"May I join you?" she whispers, testing to see if I am still awake. I give her a nod, and she sits on the edge to slip off her shoes. Galena has a certain way of doing things. Once the sun has long since set, her time is her own to do with what she sees fit. However, some days are longer than others, and she doesn’t allow herself to take off her shoes until her work day is completely finished. It’s her way of distinguishing her straight-laced professional worker self from her relaxed self in her private hours. It’s also how I know she is stepping into a friend role over her maiden role, and the boundaries that are in place during the day are gone.

Admittedly, this isn't the first night she has stayed in your bed. Some nights you would stay up and laugh like children until the early hours of the morning or stay up late talking about the books you both had been reading. Other nights, she would tell me about the world beyond the walls, the places she had traveled before finding herself here, and the unique faeries of all sorts who call Prythian home. Listening to her stories was always more entertaining than the dull depictions your tutor used to give you of the outside world. On the rare occasion, though, you would enjoy each other's company, if only for a few hours of tender care and connection ending with you both holding one another slicked with sweat in a passion-filled heap in the middle of the bed. It's not like anyone knew - no one comes up to your room except other maidens, and Galena was careful to only stay on nights she knew she was on duty the next day, so no one would surprise you in the morning. It was all casual anyway. You both understood that.

"You can wear one of my nightgowns," I whisper hoarsely and watch her as she starts to undress, draping her apron, then her top dress, and then her under shift over the back of the same chair as before, bearing herself to me. While she no longer blushes for me when I am naked before her, I can feel a blush rise to my cheeks from seeing the light skin of her back as she goes to grab a nightgown from the dresser. My eyes wander across her skin, so pale and unmarked, the occasional mole or freckle breaking up the texture of her skin. Just as my wandering eyes are traveling down her back to her cheeks, she pulls the gown over her head, blocking my view. She makes quick work of her dark chestnut hair, which she always keeps up in a braid wound into a bun at the back of her head, now letting it drape down over her shoulders. Before returning to the bed, she grabs the bread and fruit that she had brought for me earlier from the table.

"Hope you don't mind. I haven't had my dinner yet," she smiles cheekily, trying to lighten my mood, as she pulls the blanket over her legs once she slides in beside me. I nod and watch her as she pulls the bread apart. My eyes continue to wander over her figure again as she eats. With the fae light on the nightstand behind her, I can see the silhouette of her small figure through the thin linen shift. My hand moves slowly beneath the blanket to find her thigh. While I'm much cooler than I was before, I can tell my hands are still very warm against her cooler skin. She looks at me, the round features of her face contorted slightly while she chews the bread in her mouth. "Hm?"

"I don't know what's going to happen," I whisper. "I don't know when whoever bought me will take me. I don't know-" She cuts me off.

"Where you go, I go." She smiles once more, letting her free hand tuck my loose hair that had fallen into my face behind my ear. "I'm not bound to Lord Beron's estate. You don't have to go alone." My chest tightens, but my breathing becomes easier. The relief that statement brings me almost brings tears to my eyes.

"Good... I don't know what waits for me there, the life I'm to live. But knowing you're there will bring me some sort of solace." I give her thigh a squeeze before withdrawing my hand to let her eat in peace. Her smile is soft and genuine when she returns to eating, leaving her remaining hand on my head as a comfort. Her fingers comb my damp hair as I relax into the bed. Before long, she sets what is left over on the nightstand, and she slides deeper into the covers with me, closing the gap between us. She breaks my heated bubble, and the cool skin of her legs meets mine as she slides closer still.

"You're still so warm," her breath washes over my cheek's heated skin. "Need anything else?" I pause and peer into her eyes. Innocence still twinkles there - she's asking a genuine care question.

"Water would be nice," my voice counters her whispers as I nudge my face closer to hers still, leaving only inches between us. With a quick nod, she practically hops from the bed and carries herself to the bathroom to fetch some. Her quick retreat leaves a cold spot where she once was, so I roll onto my stomach to heat it. With her presence gone, my mind immediately begins to spiral. What if they don't let her come with me? What if the person who bought me is worse than my father? He must be, if he's going along with this plan of his. What if life is a living hell there? At least here I can hide in my tower, no one to disturb me most days. What if my days become a melting pot of just being used and abused in the most unspeakable ways, sleep being my only peace? What if they try to breed me, make me-

The tender touch of Galena's fingers between my shoulder blades immediately pulls me back.

"Here." She offers a glass of water, making me sit up to drink it. My throat finally starts to relax as it cools. I drink deeply, letting the water drown my thoughts as well, calming my mind. I thank her, and she takes the glass to place it on the nightstand alongside the abandoned food, and she slides between the sheets once more. "Scooch, you bed hog." My soft laugh starts as I turn back onto my spot, and her giggle follows as she slides in more, her legs again rubbing against mine, her arm draping itself around my waist and my hand finding its familiar spot on her hip. Our faces are close once more, eyes meeting, glancing between one another, analyzing as if we can read each other’s thoughts. "Are you tired?" Her question is an open invitation, which is her way of trying to distract me from the complicated circumstances, and she knows I'm not going to sleep anyway. Even after this evening, though I am absolutely exhausted, she's right; my mind is still too wild for sleep. Her slender fingers start tracing small circles on my back through my gown. Our eyes stay linked as I pull her closer, parting her legs with mine.

"Just one more night," I whisper, my forehead lightly resting against hers, our noses nuzzling as she tilts her head slightly to allow us to get closer still. Her nod is affirming as I press my thigh up between hers, pressing it up against the mound between her hips, drawing a soft, heated breath from her. My body closes whatever distance is left between us, pressing flush against her, the fabric of the nightgowns the only thing keeping us apart, our lips mingling in a dance as we trade tender yet hungry kisses. Her hand glides up my back over my gown, pulling it up slightly before letting her fingers lightly trace where the pearl necklace once draped around my neck. Even with her lips on mine and eyes closed as she deepens our kiss by tracing the seam of my lips with her tongue, she can feel the slight heat beneath her fingertips left behind from the burns. A subtle groan works its way from my chest as I allow her to part my lips, her tongue slipping in to meet mine. They dance, twirling together as I return her passion, my free hand making its way between us and caressing up her slender neck to hold the side of her face. Her lips continue to melt with mine as her hand caresses my side once more before both hands glide up my front to cup my breasts, eliciting the quietest of moans from me as I break the kiss to breathe. She doesn't stop, though, her tender kisses leading from the corner of my mouth across the side of my face down my jaw to my neck. I tilt my head down into the pillow more to let her trail where she wishes, and her lips continue their way down, stopping only when the softness of her lips meet the little red burns that remain.

"Do they still hurt?" she breathes against my skin before kissing one of the spots, sending a shiver down my back.

"Not really, but they're sensitive." My grip on her hip tightens as her tongue lightly dances over one, and I pull her hips closer still, giving her a grind of my thigh, pulling another breathy pant from her lips.

"Careful," she tries to pull away from my leg, but my grip on her keeps her in place, "you should take it easy." Her worried eyes glance to my face as she continues to plant kisses on the base of my neck and across my shoulder. "Let me." Her hand lands on top of the one that's been planted on her hip. "Let me lead." My eyes meet hers - her face is open and gentle. I know she will be good to me as she plants another kiss on my shoulder and guides my hand up to cup one of her breasts. They're smaller than mine, and I love the way they fit in my hands. Giving her a gentle squeeze, making her breath hitch, I nod in acceptance. She quickly gives me another tender kiss on the lips before I let her turn me from my side onto my back. She shifts to be over me on all fours and pulls my gown up to reveal my lack of undergarments, which she knew since she is the one that put them away in the first place. My gaze is locked with hers as she plants a kiss just between my breasts, eliciting a soft moan from me, and heat rises across my cheeks, giving me a red blush. With light precision, her fingers caress the sensitive sides of my rib cage, calling goosebumps to form there. My hands make their way up to hold onto her head as she plants a string of kisses directly down the middle of my chest, down across my stomach to my belly button where she pauses to spend a little extra time as her fingers continue their voyage down my sides, finding their place in the dips formed by my hips. A groan bubbles up, and I let my head slack back as I shift beneath her, my back arching slightly off the plushness of the bed, feeling my eagerness begin to ball in the pit of my core. Her name falls off my lips when she dips her tongue just past my belly button and trails it down slower still before glancing back up at me, her lashes long as they flutter. Her elongated pause is another ask, ensuring it's okay for her to continue. With another reassuring nod, she slides down to be between my legs, her face just inches from my sex, her hands continuing their caress of my hips as she moves her arms to wrap around my legs and cradle me to her. I feel her eyes roam from my face down my body until she's staring at my heat, seeing I'm already wet for her sweet touches and my apex swollen, eager for her. Without hesitation, her lips plant themselves directly around my clit, my sigh of relief drawing harchly through my nose, thankful for her not teasing me this time, and my fingers tangle into her loose hair. Her sweet hum against me drives right through my core, and I already can't help but pull her closer, trying to rock my hips against her face despite her secure hold on my hips.

"Don't stop for anything, alright?" I pant, my eyes half-lidded as I watch what I can see of her face from this angle. Her eyes are closed as she focuses, pinpointing me under her mouth. Her nod is the only pause before she laps me with her tongue, twirling it around my most sensitive part, my back naturally arching in response as a moan releases itself from my lips. Her grip around my hips keeps me steadfast against her. I can already feel my need heightening and coiling, preparing to release like a spring snapping as she keeps her precise tongue busy with me, occasionally breaking up her rhythm with a tight suck, making a shudder sweep through my entire body. I guess, it has been a while since we have spent the night together, so I shouldn't be surprised when my subtle moans turn more feral as my inhibitions are abandoned as my initial want and desire pushes into a need to feel my release and to have her pull it from me. My walls tremble around nothing, my grip on her head tightening and pulling her hair as I try to somehow draw her closer, make her tongue press harder against me to make as much friction as possible. Her soft pain-laced groan makes her nose and forehead scrunch cutely, but she doesn't stop, just as I asked. Mindfully, I release my grip on her to instead squeeze my bare breasts tightly. They feel hot against my hands and the pressure of feeling my nipples trapped between my fingers makes my head spin as Galena refocuses her endeavors. I don't even realize she has freed up one of her hands to caress my wet folds until her feather-light touch tantalizes and teases my entrance.

"You're already coming undone, dear," she whispers into my skin as she pauses to catch her breath, letting her fingertip slowly lull across my sensitive heat.

"Galena, please," I practically beg her with my voice taut in my throat, my opening twitching eagerly for her long, slender fingers to play with me. Her playful smirk as she looks up at me from between my thighs is almost too much for me to take, and then she returns her lips to my clit, immediately making my breath hitch and my moans echo off the tall walls of the room. Two of her fingers make their way in, gliding across my wet walls, and when she curls her fingers around, my breath catches, and I see stars behind my clamped eyelids. I tighten around her exploring fingers, and her groan against me sends me just to the edge, my stomach tighter than ever. With a strong arch of my back, I throw my hands into the blankets instead of her tender scalp and a string of slurs, moans, and her name fall from my lips as I stand just on the edge but unable to fall. She can feel just how close I am, my walls trembling against her finger’s skilled caresses. My words drive her fingers into my core and her consistent sucking finally work in tandem to push me over the edge. Spasms washing through me, my legs tremble over her shoulders, almost closing to encase her against me as I ride it out, moaning weakly as the soreness of my throat starts to overtake my need to vocalize. My mind is swimming from my high as I slowly come down, and she carefully withdraws from my core and then from the bed entirely, disappearing into the dark of the room. My heavy pants, the dull ache from my sex, and the burning of my throat are all I can focus on once I start to gather my awareness after cumming. Her returning with a warm, damp cloth to clean up my mess between my thighs draws my eyes to her. I watch her as exhaustion finally greets me, even though my want to return her kind favor is on the forefront of my mind. But knowing her, she can see my absolute exhaustion on my face. When she meets my gaze, her sweet smile and nod is permission enough for me to lie back and finally drift away, and I do without a second thought. ~~~ Previous Chapter --- Next Chapter

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