Crescent (Old Version)

+ Part 65 +

On the night of Ireodran, I dreamt of dread. I'd felt it coiling in my gut all night, tightening around my lungs until even sleep stole my breath from me.
Dread spread through me like ink through water when I saw Rhiannon's blood fall. I replayed the image in between fits of slumber later that night.

Hers hadn't flowed like the others. Hers fell in pearled beads of red, sliding from the slit on her wrist to the molten mix of blood on the pillar. Her eyes melted out of focus when the power hit us.

She had no longer looked at me, rather through me. Dread filled her scent, it filled my very soul, and something like the scent- the color, the taste- of death filled the murkiness after.

Dark and violent. On the scales of serpents, on the wings of ravens. Death- Followed by a light I could only hope was close behind.

When I woke, Ceth was gone.

The dread remained. Nightmares had plagued me since the moment I'd gotten here, but the hole that remained after Ireodran felt not just empty but wrong.

There couldn't be anything wrong about today. After today, I would see them. After all this time, I'd finally see them. I'd finally see sweet Rosie's face again and hold my mother's hands. I would get to see my father.

After all this time, I realized, it didn't matter that I wasn't truly his. He was mine. He had been all those years growing up. He would be forever.

My heart was a racing stampede when Moira found me stepping into the sandals I'd chosen to wear with the cascading lavender dress tonight. Two shafts of lilac tulle covered my chest and between them at a raised waistline was the the golden blade that was strapped down my middle.

It was the last blade, the last night. The final blade was curved to look like that of a bird whose golden wings spread wide at the hilt and flew down the shaft of the blade in a mighty swoop. The length of it fit down my stomach, protected only by the leather guard, and it reflected light like the moon reflected the sun.

Her eyes, despite the billowing fabric that cascaded down my sides like sunlight over hills at sunset, were transfixed on the hilt. "I am sorry. For everything that has happened."

I knew she was talking about the conversation Ceth and I had the other night. About trust. About loyalty. I'd seen the guilt in her eyes- even if I hadn't wanted to believe it.

A part of me had always known she was loyal to him. Despite the pain he'd wrought, he was the father of her son. She loved Nic more than anything. I understood that love more than most. Love for your family could make anyone do terrible things.

I couldn't blame her. But, I couldn't forgive her either. I was here to get my family back. Not to make friends.

"I would have done the same thing," I said on a whim, and it was the truth. But that didn't make accepting it any easier. I looked away from her, focusing on my reflection in the mirror. "I hope that you are able to find your joy, Moira." She snapped from her daze and met my eyes. Hers were sad, as they always were, but I had seen glimpses of happiness in them before. There would be happiness in them again. "There is more than this."

She gnawed at her lips, biting back the words that threatened to spill out of them. "I have never met someone of your quality, Brenna James." She shook her head, flaring the train of my dress behind me. When she stood and finally met my eyes again, her lips curved upward. "I doubt I ever will again."

The door to Ceth's room opened with a clunk. Ajax stood just beyond it, waiting like always. Moira walked with us down the hall. Ajax guided me forward as the music began to play downstairs, but I stared at her as we got to the stairs.