Inei laid on a small mattress, staring up at the pale ceiling of the unfamiliar house. Willow had been more than willing to let Inei stay over for the night, helping get her settled in after she had finished her laundry duties.
The female hadn’t questioned why, or who she was hiding from, only asking that Inei would train with them more the next day.
She hadn’t had the heart to tell Willow that she would be gone by the time the sun rose.
Inei watched an orange light flicker against the wall, losing herself in the motion. There was a bonfire near Willow’s house, and if she focused hard enough, she could almost hear them talking.
Azriel had been here today. She had felt him the moment he arrived, but she hadn’t believed it until she actually saw him.
She had seen the pain and desperation in his eyes, invisible to all but her, and she had felt his resolve to fix things.
She didn’t need anymore fixing.
A bitter laugh escaped her, and she found herself doubled over, laughing harder and harder as she thought about it. The sane part of her decided that she was going insane, and it only made laugh harder.
It wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen to her, but it would be amusing if her mate was the one to have finally broken her.
She pushed herself out of the cold bed, wrapping her few shadows around herself.
Willow wasn’t here, instead off somewhere else in the camp, no doubt with a certain someone, which only made it all the easier for Inei to slip out undetected, and into the shadows of the camp.
She didn’t know where she was going until she was there, standing at the edge of that cliff, looking out over the now-dark forest.
Her mind drifted to the stories she heard her first night here, about the beasts in the forest. It would be a mercy to have one tear her to shreds, to end what was no doubt the final breaking of her spirit.
She couldn’t help the wrong-looking smile that drew itself across her lips at the idea, the irony.
She looked down without fear at the ground far below.
She had already jumped once before. Now she truly had no one that would save her if she were to do it again.
Turning away from the edge and sitting down on the same boulder from before, she clenched her hands in her lap.
The darkness had spread to her elbows now, and her hands were in a state of pain constantly. Sometimes she found herself not even being able to move a finger without blinding pain.
Who knew bargains in the Night Court sucked this much when broken.
She leaned back, looking up at the vast expanse of stars, and for the second time since coming to Windhaven, she felt herself cry.
Everything hurt, so badly, and she wanted nothing more than for it all to just end.
Her shadows flitted around her, and she sat up, trying to draw in breath.
She wanted someone to feel her pain, to understand why she was hurting so much.
Her shadows pulsed, once, twice in tandem with her emotions as she sobbed, holding her head tightly between her hands that radiated in pain.
She just didn’t want to be alone anymore.
Her sobs filled the night air, and after another minute her hands spasmed, falling limp into her lap.
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shadows don't lie
FanfictionOnce there was a girl who lived in light. She was strong and smart, and commanded over the armies of the Day Court, until she was burned by one close to her. Then she became an echo, living off the light of her memories to stay alive in the dim cell...
