A Symphony of Ice and Shadow

Chapter 7

CW: mention of assault, depression, anxiety, trauma  

Marion approached Rhoe in the library 2 hours past midday, which was the time they agreed to meet for her first lesson on Wyrdmarks. However, after the incident in the courtyard, the prince barely acknowledged her. He had slammed three books in front of her and told her to start reading. She did not push, even though she wanted to give him a sarcastic comment. Marion did read the books, but continually glanced towards Rhoe who seemed to be flirting with every female that passed through the library. Marion rolled her eyes and tried to focus on the book at hand.

When Rhoe came back over to the table where Marion had been sitting at for the past hour, he took a seat in a chair across from her. "Read a little slower why don't you?" he said, putting his legs on the table and folding his hands on his lap. Marion could see at that moment; he was Aelin's son. "I am going as fast as I can" Marion grumbled, not looking at him. "Some of the information doesn't make sense."

"Like?" Rhoe asked.

"Like maybe if you helped me practice writing the Wyrdmarks I could understand better" Marion said, finally looking at the prince. Rhoe had on a loose white shirt and black pants with black boots. His silver hair was nicely combed but was slightly out of place due to him running his hand through his hair when he was trying to impress a female. Another feature Rhoe had resembling his mother was the Ashryver eyes, blue with a ring of gold around the pupil. Rhoe and Elentiya, the youngest of the five royal children, were the only ones to receive the famous eye color. Aside from Rhoe's eyes, he was the spitting image of Rowan. Marion always wondered if any of the royal children inherited the ability to shift into animal form like their father. She knew they probably could since they were full Fae; unlike her father who had a Fae form and a human form being demi-Fae. Marion was only a quarter Fae, so she didn't really know what that meant. She honestly did not consider herself Fae at all due to the human ears and the inability to shift into anything.

Rhoe looked back at her. "You must understand what Wyrdmarks are before you start using them" Rhoe sighed. "That is why you must read about them and learn the histories." Marion continued to read but since Rhoe was across from her, she asked the occasional question when she was confused about the text. After 3 hours, Rhoe finally called it and said they would meet in the library the same time tomorrow. When the prince got up to leave, he told Marion "The next time you are pissed, firefly, find someone else to elbow in the gut."

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"Marion tried to get up, but his hand went right to her shoulder and pushed her back down on the couch. "Seth! Get the fuck off of me" Marion yelled, starting to buck him off. He held her firm and put his dagger to her abdomen and started to cut."

Marion jolted awake from a nightmare. She was sweating and her hair was clinging to her forehead and neck. Marion took in several deep breaths, and she could feel the magic in her wanting to escape, like water building up in a pipe ready to burst. She saw something move in her windowsill and she quickly looked over to find a raven perched on the frame. But when a flash of lightening hit the sky and when the following sound of thunder answered the lightening the raven flew away.

Marion knew she could not go back to sleep so she grabbed the candle stick beside her bed. She lit the candle illuminating the room around her. Her black nightgown was not long enough and revealed too much for her to be walking around the castle in only that piece of clothing. So, she put on a robe and headed from her bedchamber. She made her way down to the library so she could grab a book to escape to another world that was far better from her own.

Marion looked through the collection of romance and fantasy books. The selection did not have the variety that Orynth or Rifthold contained but it would do while she was here. She ended up grabbing a fantasy, placed her candle down, and choose a large chair to sit in by the large fire in the library. She relaxed in the chair as the sound of rain reverberated around the room and the crackling of the fire filled up the space. "Couldn't sleep?" she heard a voice say. She jumped in her seat and whipped around to find herself looking at Rhoe. He made his way over to the other large chair and the smell of pine, snowflakes, and cinnamon filled her nose. "Don't sneak up on me like that" Marion said, glaring at the prince.