A Court of Lies and Secrets | ACOTAR fanfic [Girl x Girl]

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~Alirra~

Ali!

Alirra where are you?

Can you hear me?

Please Answer..

Alirra...

I want to kick myself for drifting of to sleep. I knew it couldn't have been helped but if Ginerva had winnowed in and found me lying there- finally passed out- that would be game over.

I almost want to give into the pull of sleep. It's pulling at my heart and my gut and begging for me to follow and I really, really want to. Every part of me wants to go wherever it'll take me. Perhaps I'll follow it and I'll find the same dream I was having just moments ago. I can't remember entirely but I heard her voice. Renae is at the other end of my dream and it's almost worth it to fall into the mesmerising pull just to listen to it for one last time.

Once again, the familiar tug strikes my gut and butterflies flutter in my stomach. I know that feeling. That isn't sleep or exhaustion. It's not Ginerva's powers lulling me to a trance. Its the mating bond. I can feel Renae on the other side, desperately tugging at her end- begging for a response. It wasn't a dream, she's reaching for me- whispering my name...

Alirra.. please...

Her plea is like a sweet melody that's delicate touch caresses my deepest fears and calms my every nerve.

Renae? Are you really there?

Ali! Oh thank the Cauldron! Are you safe? Hurt? Alone? Did Ginerva touch you?

My mind is way too sleep-blurred for this hurried talk.

Slow down. I'm fine, not a scratch on me. I lie, I'm not sure whether Ginerva's repeated cuts along my neck from her too-tight grips are enough to leave a scar but I do know they healed long ago.

Where are you? Describe everything?

She's here? She knows where I am? I've managed to pull so many answers from Ginerva but never got the chance to ask where she kept me hostage?

A dark room. No windows or doors, no furniture- just a chain and shackles which she kindly has me in.

I don't need to tell her how tired I am, she can sense it through my sluggish tone and slurred words.

You know where I am? I ask her. Are you close? Ren, I can't fall asleep, you can't let me ok?

It's ok, you'll be fine. I am close.

Her voice is so reassuring and the calming tone is enough to make me curl tighter into my foetus position and just let go already. A single tear falls down my cheek and I know that if I had it in me that I would be crying a river by now. That single drop alone is mixed with so many emotions : relief, fear, exhaustion and many more that I don't think I've ever felt before.

Where am I?

I can feel her hesitate on the other end of the bond. I want to give it a little pull and check if she heard me but before I can she mutters a barely recognisable response: Hybern.

My blood freezes in my veins. I feel no relief when it comes to being home. I don't even want to call this place my home. I can't recognise anything because of the severe lack of windows, but I feel it. The chill in the air and the things crawling in the shadows scream home. The smells instantly feel familiar and the room intself, the metal around my wrists and the cool tiles against my cheek all whisper into my mind and toy with my memories. They flash behind my eyes and project vile images of Hybern males and their nightly attacks when I was just a young fae. The struggles of surviving such a restraining environment. The sacrifices I had to make at such a young age just to escape and yet the traumas still haunt me.