Ùna: Like All & Like None

Chapter IX

Ùna's POV

My body stirred; buttery soft sheets caressed my skin. A plush mattress cradling me. Faint warm light peeked through my eyelids waking me gently. Opening my eyes I examined the ceiling, rolling my head side to side capturing the rest of the room. It was all completely unfamiliar. The oddity of my surroundings did little to rouse my still sleepy mind. Instead, something humored from my center. All those events must have just been a nightmare. Maybe the drinks I was fed altered my mind more than I thought. It seemed probable that I had simply slept for far too long, my body and mind completely worn from my new married beginning only to be drowned in liquor. Thats it- I must have simply slept through the move. Theodore had delivered us safely to the mainland and I was none the wiser. This was my new room, my new life. I laughed softly to myself; it really was just all a bad dream. I really did make it to my new life on a new land.

I took in a deep breathe through my nose. The air was fresh and sweet, like rose petals were fluttering in the air around me. I snuggled into the sheets a bit deeper trying to shake the vile imagery that stained my mind. I was safe.

Theodore must be waiting for me somewhere in this house. He probably didn't want to disturb my long slumber. I stretched wide to wake my body up. But as my arms reached up, my fingers splaying- a sting shot through them. Pulling them quickly to my face, pure disbelief sank in. My knuckles were scabbed over, the edges splitting back open with a burn. The flesh was all black and blue. No. No. No, it couldn't be.

I shot fully awake, sitting up. Where was I? Had Ernest drugged me? Was I unsuccessful in killing him? Had he taken me far away? Then it came back to me. That monster's eyes the last thing I remember before collapsing unconscious. Reexamining the room, it was like that of folktale. Everything crafted from light wood. Vines of morning glory wrapped up the ceiling high bed posts. Candles twinkled in sconces, illuminating the soft pink color of the walls. I jumped out of the bed. Across the room was a small gold framed mirror atop the dresser, to which I darted to examine my face. The whole right side of my head was swollen in a hideous bruise. Spats of dried blood on my temple that caught some of my hair in it. I had never seen my appearance so broken. The realization of my fragility quaked through me. The pain and soreness rushed to my flesh making it all too real.

But I just couldn't will my mind to believe it. My world was caving in on me. Blood sank to my feet as if gravity was preparing to swallow me whole. Nothing could be pieced together. I had to look in the mirror again just to confirm. I traced my fingers over the hurt. It was dreadful. This wasn't the face of a doll kept on the shelf. It was broken, stomped on, trauma seeping from every inch of my expression. The last thread of who I was and what I knew snapped.

The girl I was just two days ago suddenly seemed like a stranger. I thought I was witty and brave. Slipping out my window in the night was the pinnacle of my identity. I thought I had broken the bounds of girlhood. My jaw locked; I was so ignorant. Far, far more than I thought at the time. I knew there was more to the world than my life, but I thought it was just a bigger version of what I already had. I would have never imagined that such disturbing corners of the world would circle me, reveal themselves with such glory, and taint me with their touch. That mirror became speckled shards on the floor as that snapped thread disintegrated in me. I was no longer that girl. I was born anew.

My feet dragged me to the window, carried by a tranquil breeze that blew through the open window. The air pouring in carried that delightful scent of roses. For just a moment I considered if it were possible that I was dead. That wild beast probably shred me apart faster than I could perceive. I focused my senses to my surroundings, which only did more to confirm my thoughts. This place seemed too quiet. No voices stirred through the air. No movement rumbled through the floors. I couldn't feel anything but absolutely alone. The sensation caused me to shiver a bit. I peeled the curtain back for any sign to show otherwise.

The scene was beyond me. Gardens of every flower imaginable, continuing almost endlessly. Every color grew more and more vibrant the longer I looked, the intensity breaking the bounds of my imagination. Foxes, bunnies, and deer frolicked throughout. The sounds of wind whispering through the trees, birds and crickets chirping, all of it filled my ears like a song. But none of it answered the call of my confusion- Where was I?

Would the heavens be cruel like that? Dropping my soul into a lush panorama only dreams could conjure- only to be festering in the memory of the atrocity I was an actor in? All alone? My soul the only human thing pulsing through this place? At this point no such cruelty would surprise me. I was a soul cracked apart in an instant left to rebuild for an eternity, all while the gorgeous surrounding taunted me.

It had now completely set in that my hopes of Theodore were long gone. I questioned for a moment if I should even leave this room. But is was as if all the fear I had experienced had emptied me completely, like it was impossible for my body to produce that emotion any longer. I felt disbelief, disgust, pain. But they all sat empty in me absent of fear. I was left with no excuse preventing me from opening that door. So, I ventured out.

The hallway was tall with vaulted ceilings. All that same light wood. More flowers and vines grew up and around the walls. I followed the twinkling candles down the twisted hall.

Tamlin's POV

It had been silent for far too long, until Lucien let out a winded snarky sigh, "You really believe her to be the one?" Neither of us had been looking at each other. I held my gaze down the table before me. He rolled his head in my direction, "You really think this will all finally come to an end?" I rubbed my jaw, only answering his question with an affirmative nod. "Honestly, what makes you so sure this time?" Lucien pressed. But I couldn't place what exact thing made me so sure. "The circumstances of which I found here were unlike any other." Lucien's stare told me he was not satisfied with that answer. I knew the tire of all these years showed in my face, "Truthfully Lucien, it is simply hope."

Lucien raised a brow letting out a light chuckle, "How long ago was the last one? 30 years would you say? I just hope you even remember how to woo a lady." I shot him a knowing look and laughed, "You really think this blight has affected me so?" He tapped his hand on the table, "Well- we will just have to keep waiting for her to wake up to actually see", a big grin mucked his face.

"Speaking of, how much magick did you even use on her? Three days is a long time for her to be sleeping, no?" He was right. This length of slumber was unusual. I had even checked on her a few times to ensure she was not comatose. Her positions had shifted between my checks, so I knew she was well. She had just looked so peaceful that I did not want to wake her. "I had not used much- Well I did not have much to use. . . just making the journey to her had worn me." My ears perked and my eyes caught the flowers above signaling me. She had finally awoken.

I could feel my palms sweat and I tried rubbing them together to ease it. Another snarky comment was forming on Lucien's lips, "Don't get nervous big guy". I couldn't even tell him to shut up before I heard light footsteps approaching. Then her hand was placed gently on the doorway as she fully came into view. Her eyes met mine immediately, those same round blue eyes that emptied into me just a few nights ago. They were piercing me now as I could feel her examining me as much as I was examining her. She didn't look frightened, just solemn. I had hoped her long rest would have worked to heal her battered body, but she was still bruised and bloody. Her complexion was washed of color and her hair practically a nest.

"Gee, she is not much of a sleeping beauty, is she?", Lucien laughed looking her up and down. She didn't even pay him a glance; she only held her attention on me as she asked, "Am I dead?"