A Dark Heart - Rhysand's Sister Fanfic AU

T W E L V E

scars

🌌

"It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.'

I do not agree.
The wounds remain.

In time, the mind, protecting
its sanity, covers them with scar
tissue and the pain lessens.
But it is never gone."

ㅡRose Fitzgerald Kennedy

🌌

+

The silence ensued heavily. No one moved or made a sound. 

Rhysand, however, had a different plan, his impatience overtaking him.

Everyone watched as he took slow steps toward Eralyn, his movements slow like he was drugged or had too much to drink. The latter was probably true.

Words were too weak to explain the experience, but the actions displayed by Rhysand did all the talking anyway. Shocked could never describe what was written on his face, but Eralyn read all that and more as she slowly turned to him.

After all this time, she finally had the chance to see him in person. For once, he wasn't just a figment of her imagination but a real living being.

Her brother.

Eralyn was beyond coherent thoughts and speech when her brother reached her. His scent enveloped her magic and relaxed when it recognized him. After all, it was the same magic that dwelled in his veins. The recognition her magic verified had a cataclysmic effect on her emotions and she gasped at the weight of it.

It seemed to shake Rhysand as well because slowly, ever so excruciatingly slowly, he raised his hand and caressed it down his sister's cheek. The touch was light as his hand was shaking, but it was all the confirmation Rhysand needed to know whom he was seeing in front of him was very, very real.

Words seem to come to him as a small voice finally escaped the silence. "H-how? How are you alive?"

Tears welled in Eralyn's eyes as she gripped her brother's hand tightly with a vice-like grip. That wasn't how it used to be. Little Eralyn gave feather-light touches only. The thought snapped Rhysand out of his stupor. He was past sober, far past sanity.

He stepped away from her in an instant, his hand slipping from hers when she loosened it. He turned to Mor who had tears in her own eyes as she masked her small sobs with her hand. "Is this real?" he panicked. "How can this be real?" He turned back around and gripped his hair. "I'm going insane-"

"Rhysand!" Eralyn cried, almost as hysterical. "It's me, Rhysand. I'm here." She sobbed harder. "I'm here."

"How?!" He shouted back. "Someone, answer me," his voice became quiet, hoarse, "please."

"I didn't die!" Eralyn didn't bother to wipe off the tears on her face. They streamed down and hit the floor, wetting the elaborately fashioned marble.

"Shouting at each other isn't going to make the situation any better," Amren said as she pressed her lips together.

Eralyn whipped around with a vicious expression on her face. Cassian knew the gentle girl his sister once was could never look like that. That expression was a warrior's battle face and only a warrior's battle face. Perhaps this wasn't Eralyn at all. "You! Keep your mouth shut."

Amren wasn't fazed by the threat, however, she just glared in return before storming inside muttering about eating something.

Rhysand opened his mouth to say something else, but Azriel stopped him. "We should go inside," he said in a hardened voice, different from the soft tones he used when speaking to Eralyn all those years ago. "Speak with her, hear her out, and let Cassian and I assess the city."