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"Just like her daddy, her temper could break the world"
The Residue of Love
~
"Acacia."
Jolting upright, I cried out as I head butted a thick branch leaning over me. Coming back to reality, and waking up fully, I noticed tree branches and bushes had sheltered me from the elements as I'd fallen asleep during a snowfall, out in the middle of a mountain.
"Are you okay?" I jumped slightly, remembering somebody had in fact woken me up as they spoke once again.
I turned to notice Cassian, who's wings looked quite cold from the snow that was still falling. He was staring at me with such intensity, I realised I must have been missing for a few hours.
"I think I fell asleep." I said quietly, looking around me at the white layers of snow as I stood myself up with the help of a tree branch.
Why don't I feel cold?
"Alakai's scent is lingering here. Did you see him?" Cassian questioned, watching me brush snow down from the casual dress I was wearing.
"Yeah, but..." I thought back to mine and my brother's last conversation, about the true depths of my power. I gave Cassian a sideways look, not ready to reveal what I'd been told just yet. "He only dropped by to torment me, and then he vanished."
"Does he know your mother is alive?"
It all came rushing back. My mother. After all these years of believing Alakai had killed her, and she was in fact alive. A foreign, burning hatred for the woman kindled within me. She allowed her son to believe he'd killed her, allowed him to live with that guilt and go insane because of it.
"Acacia?" Cassian nudged my shoulder, and I blinked, coming back to reality once again.
"Uh, no, he doesn't. But he should know." I stated, not caring whether I was sticking up for my brother in some sense.
He reached out a hand towards me, "let's go back to the house."
Conflicted, I thought about how I'd see my mother, but then I'd also get to see Kaleb. Either way, was it a good thing me going back to the house? Probably not. But knowing this Illyrian warrior, he wouldn't leave me out here on my own.
"Before we go..." Cassian had mixed emotions running across his face, but he managed to school it into blankness as I took his hand, and he managed to say; "your father is here in Velaris."
