A Court of Sun and Flame

CHAPTER TWO

                "Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up"

 ~ Dean Karnazes

TRIGGER WARNINGS: BLOOD, TRAUMA, IMPLIED DEATH

"Aurelia, listen to me, darling," a voice whispers to me somewhere in the darkness. I don't know where I am as I attempt to take in my surroundings but the attempt is futile as darkness is caged around me, denying any light to shine through.

"Aurelia," the voice whispers again, although this time it sounds closer. "Who are you?" I ask back, into what seems like a never ending void of darkness. "Aurelia you must keep fighting. Keep fighting, darling." The voice pleads as I suddenly feel a prink of recognition run through my mind.

"M-mum?" My voice quivers, as tears threaten to spill from my eyes. "Mum I-is that you?" I ask the darkness, begging for some kind of response.

"Aurelia, my darling flame," the darkness says, as a sob breaks free from my mouth, "I need you to keep on fighting for me, darling. I know it's hard, and you see no light but hear me when I say, help will come. It's coming, darling. I promise." Now, with tears spilling down my face endlessly I feel my heart being clawed out, piece by piece, as I wait for there to be nothing left.

"M-mum, I-I can't go on. It hurts mum, it hurts. I want it to stop, stop, stop, stop!" Feeling the emotion take control of me, I let out a horrifying scream, laced with the pain and suffering I have endured since that night. The endless amount of pain that I have kept bottled up as he used me, again and again and again. "I can't do this anymore! Mum, please help me. I need you!"

"I'm sorry baby, I tried, I tried to protect you, I did all I could my darling flame. And I know it hurts, I know that your heart breaks with every passing second but just keep going for a little longer. Just a little longer." My mother's voice gets quieter and quieter as she speaks, and I feel as if someone is pulling her away from me, again.

"Mum?!" I yell, desperate to hear her voice again, for the comfort it brings is the only reason I am still here.

"Promise me, my darling." Her voice was so faint that it was nothing but a caress against my ear.

"I promise! I promise, but don't go, don't leave me I ne-"

My eyes fly open as my body jerks itself awake, leaving my wings to stay tightly wrapped around me like a safety blanket that I can only use when I know he won't be back for some time. If he notices, he will cut them off, and if that did happen, I would grab the knife and end it there and then. An Illyrian's life without their wings, is no life at all.

No longer as disoriented as before, I can finally remember the dream I had that caused me to wake up with tears still running down my face. Mum.

The last time I heard her voice was when she told me to run, run from the Illyrians who tried to clip my wings, run from the place that called me an outcast, a bastard, a mistake and a bitch.

Run, she said. And so that's what I did.

And yet, when I flew off into the ice-owned sky, I realized I had nowhere to go. The camp had always been my home, there was never anywhere else that would allow some female, Illyrian half-breed, high fae into their court, let alone homes. Although I doubted the trip would be successful, I had no other choice but to go to my Father's court first, and my sixteen year-old self still had some hope that he would accept me.

Unsurprisingly, I was wrong. My father disowned me whilst looking into my eyes; my mother's eyes, as if I wasn't his daughter, as if I didn't have his blood pumping through my veins.