❝ Sometimes I feel like I have changed into something unrecognizable, but then I see you, and the love I feel tethers me back to this earth ❞
Maiya was walking a fine line. On one side was safety; her brother and mother and love, but the other was c...
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ℑn the years to come, Prythian was thrust into a long seven year war to free the humans. I upheld my promise to fight, leading the Darkbringer legions into battle with impossible odds, yet somehow surviving through it all. My sword had been stained with the blood, dripping red by the end of the battles, and I often found myself trying to wash the blood off though more always came.
I was never free of it.
By no small feat, we had won. I had lived, as had my mate, and that had been something to rejoice of though the death counts were far too high for my liking. Nearly a quarter of the Darkbringers were wiped out and we'd been holding funerals for weeks now.
I'd gone to every single one, needing to pay my thanks and say goodbye to the soldiers that I had led into battle. We'd received no thanks though, merely being shut back into Hewn on my father's orders. That had caused a lot of unrest, and I knew that my home was worried about implications and what would happen. I'd managed to keep them calm, knowing now, in the period of peace, we'd have time to rebuild and grow our home once more.
I'd begun to make the changes when I'd received summons from my father. I was to escort Mother to the southern war camps, where she'd been born, to meet up with my brother, Cassian and Azriel. I'm not sure why he decided to be benevolent, but here we were.
I was waiting in the forest a few miles from the camp, as they had barriers around it to prevent winnowing into it. We'd learnt from the last war, making all of our homes less accessible and less easy to access.
Cold winter air wrapped around me, and I ignored it to look at the environment. Hewn was colder than this, cold air seeming to culminate in the depths of the caverns that created our cities. I turned on my heel, kicking the snow beneath the toe of my boots as I waited.
My mother was late. I wasn't truly surprised, as I was the least favourite child, but I imagined she wanted to go north to see Rhysand on time. But then again, maybe my father wanted her to wait to see if I'd freeze to death.
My father hadn't been killed on the battlefield, as I had hoped, but Mendax had. Of course, I would not be telling anyone that I was actually the one who killed him, whilst he was asleep, in his own tent, and then threw his body in with the pile of the dead. If someone should ask, I would say that it was an accident.
No one would know any better. Well, that was apart from my own legion, who had celebrated greatly that night, all of us happy that he was dead.
"Maiya!" I turned at the call of my name, finding my mother sweeping towards me with a warm grin. She opened her arms to embrace me, but I stepped back, my vision still filled with dead bodies and blood, so much blood. "You look well."
