Salt and Sorrow ✸ Grishaverse

chapter nineteen.

chapter nineteen / salt and sorrow
❛ in faith-forgotten land ❜

Eulalie's eyes fluttered open, blinking back sleepy grit out of the corners. She passed out as soon as she hit her mattress after undressing. What time is it? She thought as she rolled out of her bed. Eulalie rolled her neck, her vertebrae and shoulders letting out a splitting crack. Her head pounded. She hadn't drunk that much, had she?

Matilda, Eulalie's ladies' maid, came hurrying in. She was a very petite and bony blonde woman, not much older than Eulalie. Matilda had only been with the family for a year, but Eulalie felt the closest to her like they were friends.

"Glad to see you awake, my lady," she said breathlessly as she set the linens down on the dresser across the room. She brushed her palms against her white apron and scurried toward the large window. Matilda ripped open the navy blue curtains, letting the muted morning light into the room. "Come on. Let's get you dressed."

Eulalie sleepily walked to the closet and pulled a violet dress off of a hanger. Matilda helped her get changed, then sat her down at the vanity and began gently brushing her hair. She braided Eulalie's wavy hair into a loose braid that curled at the bottom just above her waistline.

The corridors leading to the dining room for breakfast seemed to stretch longer than usual. Eulalie's footsteps echoed off the high, colorfully painted ceilings. Something had made the air hang very still and terrifyingly cold. Goosebumps rippled over Eulalie's flesh as a pit formed in her stomach. Something was wrong-very wrong, but she shrugged it off.

Eulalie quickened her pace. The faster she made it to the dining room, the faster she would see Killian. She longed for the safety of his arms. Eulalie jogged past the large window looking out on the snow-capped cliffs Fiona fell from, her reverberating footsteps seemingly doubling. She fought the urge to glance behind her, convincing herself that it was just her imagination and not one of her dead sisters coming out of the shadows to snatch her up and claim her as death had done for them.

Eulalie flung open the door to the dining room to find her seven remaining sisters sitting at the long table, alive and breathing. No one had died the night before. No one had a scratch on them, the only blemishes being blisters on their feet from dancing. Iris and Brigid had been getting fresh air by the lighthouse. They hadn't fallen from high cliffs or been kidnapped by horrible men with unspeakable intentions. Dara had found them and brought them back safely to the house.