A Court of Three Stars

13: Interactions

House of Song, Velaris, Prythian

Ruhn

"How long are you going to stare at yourself in that mirror?" Bryce quipped from where she was sitting on my bed, watching me make a desperate attempt to fix what remained of my hair.

I missed my hair.

I wondered where the wounds had been on my skin. Wounds that were now gone, vanished as fast as they appeared. No sign remained of the hell I had gone through, save for a few yellowed bruises. Half of what I had endured, I hadn't even felt.

But my hair was gone, along with all of my piercings. Someone, I wasn't sure who, had at minimum fixed what remained of my hair to make it all even. It barely brushed my neck now, the shaved side gone.

Could they magic my long hair back? Was that a stupid request, in light of everything else?

I missed my piercings too.

I had liked them, my hair, my tattoos, my piercings. My defiance against the Autumn King, doing whatever the fuck I had wanted just to say I did.

I'd paid for them, of course, but it had been worth it.

"You're stalling." Bryce quipped again.

I shot her a look over my shoulder, "You're annoying."

"They don't bite." She shrugged, "Even if they look like they do."

"Shut up." I huffed, turning back to the mirror to run a hand through my hair.

I should look better, for someone who was about to meet their family for the first time. And of course, my sister was pushing every single button I had to get me to talk about what was going on in my head.

What was going on in my head?

It was oddly... silent.

All I could think about was my hair, my piercings, the clothes I wore. They were normal, might have even been my own, a black shirt and black jeans that Leur had brought up here. I doubted that was what they wore here, so she must have done it so that I felt comfortable.

Unless it was a reminder that I no longer belonged here, not after all this time. Some stupid fucking party kid from a whole other planet, sitting in a room of princes and lords and queens. It was a position I had been in before, but this time- I didn't think I could handle these people looking down on me the way the others had. I didn't think I'd survive being unworthy to them.

Unworthy of my power, of those stars, both the one I still had and the other that was stolen from me. Unworthy of the blade I had pulled from the stone, of the crowns that would belong to me.

"Are we just going to stand here and watch you stare at yourself all day, Danaan?" Hunt walked in from where he had been standing on the balcony.

I took one last glance at myself before I turned to him, "I'm pretty sure that's not my name anymore."

"I'm pretty sure I don't give a shit." The angel quipped, Baxian close behind him, "Let's go."

I just sighed and then followed them. I stared at Hunt's back, wondering how long it would take for his wings to grow back as we walked through the halls of this manor. It was the most I had seen of it while I wasn't on the brink of death. Every last ounce of it was beautiful, intricate, perfect.

It looked like a place that Leur would design, looked like she had handcrafted every last inch of it. And what I hadn't realized was that the paintings on the walls weren't just generic art, they were paintings of her life. Her family.