A Court of Gold and Shadows

Something good and right and real: Chapter 7

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Chapter 7: What if all I need is you?

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The fact that Oriana had taken off her necklace after nearly a century and then promptly left the mountain again after breakfast that next morning...well that probably would leave plenty of Tartera foaming at the mouth.

Enya promised to write to her about all the gossip and theories that would swirl around the mountain after her departure...her grandmother gave her a secret smile, and her mother hugged her...

And then Cyrus and her made their way out of the mountain.

"How are you feeling now that it's gone?" he asked her. She thought about it for just a moment, swallowing against the feeling of a free throat...nothing, absolutely nothing holding her to Wynstan anymore...

"Free," she answered. "I feel free."

"So putting yourself through that was worth it?" Cyrus asked her, no judgment in his voice. "You could have died. I do not have enough sisters that I could afford to lose you." He said it lightly but she could read between the lines.

She tucked herself under her brother's arms in response.

"You aren't going to lose me," she promised him. "But I wanted nothing to tie me to him anymore. Not after what he did."

"You didn't tell Grandma or Mama about it," Cyrus said softly.

"Would it result in anything but to hurt them?" she asked him. "It has been nearly a century."

She was over it. Or at least she liked to pretend she was. Could somebody really get over something like that? Oriana wasn't sure.

But she could try.

"Will you tell Azriel?" he wondered as they reached the entrance.

She hummed. "I think I owe him the truth."

She owed him an explanation...and...well. She didn't want there to be secrets like that. There was no need for that. Not about this.

He was her mate. Created by the Mother to be her second half.

And she did trust him. So why not trust him with this as well?

She was thinking about it when they finally reached the Rainbow. The hike down the mountain had been enough for her, especially with her magic still being weak after she had expelled so much of it, just two days ago.

The tell-tale cramp that nearly made her double over as soon as she walked up the stairs made her groan.

Were six months over already?

It clearly seemed like that.

There wasn't much she could do against it. High Fae cycles were notoriously bad. Tartera were more lucky about it, less painful but seemed to take an awfully long time...well, Oriana already hated the 3 or 4 days that she needed to spend in bed twice a year.

It sucked.

Especially right now.

She just about managed a shower, before the worst of them hit, and she crawled into her bed, downing the first of many pain relief potions she kept stocked in her apartment just for that.

Enya made them especially for her, different for day and night, though right now Oriana really considered just knocking herself out cold to get some relief.

The shadows were swirling around her like they were being worried, but they didn't ask.

Still, crawling into bed under a mountain of blanket and closing her eyes for just a moment seemed...nice.