Starless Child

13. Shards Of Poison

Dedicated to Romanted for posting the most amazing message on my feed (you know which one I'm talking about ;) ). I literally couldn't stop smiling like a lunatic for an entire hour after I saw it. And then my cheeks hurt for two hours.

I never thought I'd ever hear someone say that to me. Thank you so much! ^.^

She had never understood the concept of survivor's guilt. The whole thing used to seem a bit illogical and frankly, stupid to her. You survived. Big deal. How on earth does that make you responsible for the death of the people who didn't when there was absolutely nothing you could do to help them?

So why the heck was she feeling this way?

The inside of her ribcage felt like it was stuffed with a pile of rocks. Her guts twisted, the cold sensation running through her body. The more she thought about it, the deeper the cuts in the chest became.

That thing was a demon from hell. And you're just a human. There's nothing you could've done.

It's not my fault that I didn't end up like Alice, she wanted to say. But even though there was no sign of acquisition is Ares's face. Even though all she saw in the depth of his eyes was confusion. Like a solid bile on her throat the inexplicable guilt prevented brain her from forming an answer.

She should not be standing here.

She should have been lying beside Alice. Pale, nearly lifeless and drenched in black blood, just like her.

But she wasn't. She could walk, she could speak. If it weren't for the blood stains on her dress no one would ever guess the same thing that happened to Alice had happened to her too.

"Cavum, where the hell are you?," Bellatrix suddenly stood up. The volume of her voice a little too loud. It could've been imagination but it felt like she was actually trying to help her. "What's taking him so long?"

"It's past midnight. Shouldn't you let your umm...guardians know why you're not home yet? ," the words tumbled out of Rigel's mouth so fast it took a while for Hera to comprehend what he was saying. "They're probably really worried. You should tell them right now."

Hera scrunched her eyebrows. He sounded nervous, like a thief caught red handed, trying to cover up his crimes. And what's up with the rush?

But to be honest she was a little relieved she could escape Ares interrogating her with questions she didn't have answers to. Hera could tell he had more questions on his mind. So did she.

If that cat had been a siren all along how come it never tried to kill her in her sleep when it easily could have?

Were those scenes in her dreams pictures of hell or just her imagination?

Who was the woman holding her in her arms when she was a child?

Was that kid even her?

Who was the man with the same strange smokey grey eyes as her own?

She wasn't familiar with the laws of genetics when she was a child. The freakish fact that her eyes were completely different from her parents or anyone else for that matter had never bothered her. To be honest she had been rather proud of the fact that she was different. Her mom used to say that it was a sign that she was special, a sign that she was meant for great things.

It was grade five when they were taught how genes are passed on from parents to offsprings, how eye colors are genetically inherited. And how unusual it was for a child to be born with eyes that resembled neither of their parents, or anyone in their family. That was when she suddenly became conscious of her peculiar silver irises.