VELARIS
The day Aida was born, thunder rolled over the House of Wind.
Rhysand had been waiting outside his mother's bedchamber, too terrified by her screams and his father's midnight power to enter. But it had been quiet for a long while, and the anxiety was eating away at his heart.
Softly the door opened. Rhys started forward, expecting to greet Madja and ask her a million questions but he stopped short at the sight of his father.
Rhys had never seen him like this; the harsh lines on his father's face softened, his full lips turned up as if in a smile.
Aidoneus closed the distance between them, the child stirring slightly in his arms. Rhys could not quite see his sister's face as it was concealed by the blanket.
"Come and meet your sister, Rhysand," Aidoneus whispered, "your blood and your flesh. A part of your soul, just as much as the other siblings you have lost and mourned."
Rhys' heart jerked in his chest at the mention of his siblings' lost souls. But the words washed over him, there and gone. He'd immediately forgotten.
Instead he snapped his wings wide. "May I hold her?"
Rhys' hands involuntarily reached for the bundle in Aidoneus' arms. His father beheld the look in Rhysand's eyes.
Aida was handed over to her older brother. His baby sister was featherlight in his embrace. Her head fit perfectly in the palm of his hand. Her eyes were wide open and curiously taking in his face, as if she recognized him for what he was to her.
"Does she have a name?" Rhys asked, bringing the child closer to his chest.
"Aida." His father said, softly. "Your mother decided on it a long time ago."
Rhys marveled at Aida. His newborn sister in his arms, making soft baby noises; she had already carved a path towards his soft heart where she lay, where he would always keep her safe and loved.
Rhys carefully rocked his sibling, while he hummed a soft song until her eyelids fell shut and she slumbered.
Aidoneus did not say a word, but if Rhys had looked up at that moment he'd see the pain in his father's eyes.
For Rhysand, unbeknown to him, was humming to Aida the same song Aidoneus had sung to him when he was a babe.
YOU ARE READING
GOLDEN STRINGS
FanfictionKore had feared the Clipping since she was old enough to understand that it would one day be executed upon her person. She'd had countless nightmares about it; they were filled with blood and gore and pain. Such pain, that she woke up panting, compl...
